Mission Township History
Mission Township is located in the heart of the Minnesota Lakes Country
Mission Township is a rural community located in the center of Crow Wing County and has a total area of 34.7 square miles. The majority of the township’s area (85%) is land covering a total of 29.6 square miles with the remaining fifteen percent (15%) being comprised of water. Unlike some cities and townships in Minnesota, Mission Township is well endowed with natural resources and has retained the majority of them.
Mission Township History
Prior to settlement, much of the area of Crow Wing County, including the land which is now known as Mission Township, was inhabited by the Ojibwe. One of the earliest settlers of Mission Township came to the area in June of 1857. In that year, Reverend Ottmar Cloetter, who was a pastor of a Missouri Synod Lutheran congregation at Saginaw Michigan, was called by his congregation to the Indian Mission in Minnesota. Cloetter expanded this Mission by building a residence, and had planned to build a school just prior to the uprising of 1862, however in the uprising his residence was destroyed and, as a result, the school he had planned was never built.
Mission Township received its name due to these series of events. Mission Township was organized as a Township in 1912 and prior to that time existed as unorganized territory. The settling of Mission Township was much like many of the other areas surrounding the Township which was spurred by logging, trapping, and other early economic endeavors.
In the mid-Twentieth Century, Mission Township began to develop along many of its shorelines while much of the development withinthe Township remained predominately as large-tract rural developments. This shoreline development included mostly small cabins and recreational or seasonal homes through later in the Century. Beginning around 1990, Mission Township began experiencing tremendous growth in the number of permanent residents which also brought a conversion of small cabins and recreational dwellings to large year-round homes. This trend is continuing today.
