Pequot Lakes

Pequot Lakes, Minnesota

Type
City

Background information

First episode
A Trip to Yellowstone

Last episode
A Trip to Yellowstone

**Pequot Lakes** is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,162 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History
Pequot Lakes was platted in March 1900. It was named by a postal official for the first Indian-sounding name he thought of, which is the name of a former tribe of Algonquian Indians in eastern Connecticut. A post office was established at Pequot Lakes in 1896.
According to the Pequot Lakes Heritage Preservation Commission, the city once called Sibley and Frogtown was renamed as Pequot. In 1900, Walter and Flora Brown filed their plat for the E 1/2 of the SW 1/4 section 10 in T136N-R29W under the title Pequot. The Pequot Indians are a tribe that used to dominate southeastern New England before the English colonists arrived. While no Pequot tribe members lived in Minnesota, they spoke an Algonquian language related to that of the local Chippewa (Ojibwe) tribes. Author Herman Melville named his lead ship in his novel Moby-Dick as the Pequod.
**Two possible explanations for the town's name arise:**
1. The local historian Carl Zapffe suggests that a variation of the Chippewa word for arrow (bikwas), as listed by Father Barroga in his Chippewa dictionary, gave rise to the word Pequot.
1. In a 1936 interview, Laurence Anderson, who moved to the town in the mid-1890s, gave the following explanation. "A daughter of 'Waubanaquot,' Chief of the White Earth tribe, was named 'O-Pequot' and lived north of the town on the north end of Sibley Lake. She graciously allowed her dugout home to be used as a school and a church for the early settlers of the town. When she died, she was buried in the town cemetery."

Because there was already a town named Sibley in southwest Minnesota, the U.S. Post Office said the second Sibley had to take a new name. In any event, the town officially became Pequot in 1902.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.15 square miles (47.01 km2), of which 16.43 square miles (42.55 km2) is land and 1.81 square miles (4.69 km2) is water.
Pequot Lakes is part of the Brainerd Lakes Area.
Most of the current area of Pequot Lakes was gained through an annexation of the entirety of the surrounding former Sibley Township on June 4, 2002.

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,162 people, 955 households, and 576 families living in the city. The population density was 132.4 inhabitants per square mile (51.1/km2). There were 1,392 housing units at an average density of 85.2 per square mile (32.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 97.3% White, 0.4% African American, 0.8% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.1% of the population.
There were 955 households, of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.5% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.7% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.89.
The median age in the city was 40.6 years. 24.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.1% were from 25 to 44; 26.7% were from 45 to 64; and 18.5% (sic)

Arts and Culture
Festival
A tradition beginning in 1938, Pequot Lakes annually hosts the Bean Hole Days festival in July. It is centered around an old tradition of cooking beans in pots in pits. The festival originally began when store owners in the town hosted a bean feed for the local farmers, and the tradition continued. Over the years, new traditions were created, such as giving pots Scandinavian names like Ole and Sven, and electing a Bean Hole Days "King" and "Queen."

Infrastructure
Transporation
Minnesota Highway 371 had served as a main route in the city, until a bypass was put in and the previously named Highway 371 was renamed Patriot Ave. after the local high school sports team. Other routes include County Roads 11, 16, 17, 29, and 112.

Appearances
*TylerTales*
*Live-Action Series** **Season 1** - A Trip to Yellowstone