Red Wing City

Red Wing City Hall is located at 315 West 4th Street, Red Wing MN 55066; phone: 651-385-3600.

Beginnings [1]

Red Wing, the location of a mission to the Sioux in 1837 by two Swiss missionaries, Samuel Denton and Daniel Gavin, was first settled for farming and Indian trading in 1850-52; was chosen to be the county seat in 1853; was incorporated as a city March 4, 1857; and received new municipal charters on March 3, 1864, and February 21, 1887.

Doane Robinson, historian of the Sioux, writes in the "Handbook of American Indians" (Hodge, Part II, 1910, page 365) : "Red Wing. The name of a succession of chiefs of the former Khemnichan band of Mdewakanton Sioux, residing on the west shore of Lake Pepin, Minnesota, where the city of Red Wing now stands. At least four chiefs in succession bore the appellation, each being distinguished by another name. The elder Red Wing is heard of as early as the time of the Pontiac war, when he visited Mackinaw, and was in alliance with the English in the Revolution. He was succeeded by his son, Walking Buffalo (Tatankamani), who enlisted in the British cause in 1812. The name was maintained during two succeeding generations, but disappeared during the Sioux outbreak of 1862-65. The family was less influential than the Little Crows or the Wabashas of the same tribe."

1. Warren Upham, Minnesota Geographic Names, Their Origin and Historic Significance, Minnesota Historical Society, Saint Paul, 1920.