Central Minnesota is the central part of the state ofMinnesota. No definitive boundaries of the region exist, but most definitions would include the land north ofInterstate 94, east ofU.S. Highway 59, south ofU.S. Highway 2, and west ofU.S. Highway 169.
The northern part of the region contains manysoftwood forests, including the expansiveChippewa National Forest. The western and southern parts are dotted withrolling prairie, and have the region's largest agricultural operations. The region's eastern part has manyhardwood andsoftwood forests, and once had richiron ore deposits. The now depletedCuyuna Range, which formed the southwestern border of the largeIron Range, was nearCrosby andIronton, at the region's eastern edge.
One thing all of central Minnesota has is abundant lakes. A typical image of central Minnesota includes the many large and small lakes that surround the cities ofSt. Cloud (by far the region's largest city),Alexandria,Brainerd, and other settlements.
Two lakes in the region,Mille Lacs Lake, with an area of 206 mi2 (534 km2), andLeech Lake, with an area of 175 mi2 (453 km2), are, respectively, the second- and third-largest lakes entirely within Minnesota. TheMississippi River winds extensively through the region from its source atLake Itasca.
Area high school athletic conferences acknowledge the region's location and natural geography with names including Central Lakes,[1]Granite Ridge, Great River,[2] Heart O'Lakes,[3] Mid-State,[4] and Pine to Prairie.[5]
Central Minnesota's economy, like that of the United States as a whole, has recently shifted away from agriculture and mining toward industry and service. But agriculture is still important in the region, especially the southern and western parts, where the land and soil is conducive to crops such ascorn andsoybeans.Dairy farms also dot the region in areas where crops cannot easily be grown, but their numbers have been drastically dwindling in recent years. Paper companies own expansive amounts of land in the region's heavily forested eastern and northern parts, butlogging activity has long since peaked. Paper production mills continue to operate inBrainerd.
Tourism has become an important industry in the region in the last few decades, fueled largely by its lakes. Many of the region's cities see their populations swell in the summer, when people from the larger metropolitan areas ofMinneapolis/St. Paul,Duluth,Fargo, andGrand Forks come to enjoy fishing and other outdoor activities on the region's lakes. The cluster of lakes around Brainerd known as the Brainerd Lakes Area are probably the best-known, thanks in part to the many Twin Cities residents who own cabins or land on or near the area's biggest lakes. In addition, several esteemed resorts are onGull Lake.
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The ethnic makeup of central Minnesota is largely representative of the first settlers who came to the region. People ofGerman andScandinavian heritage are the majority of the region's residents, though there is also a sizableNative American population. Two of the state's largestreservations, theLeech Lake Indian Reservation and theWhite Earth Indian Reservation, are in central Minnesota, as is the smallMille Lacs Indian Reservation, along the southern shore ofMille Lacs Lake, from nearGarrison toIsle.
The region has a prominentCatholic population, and correspondingly has many Catholic institutions such as churches, schools, and colleges.[1]
The 1996 filmFargo and itstelevision series are largely set in the region's cities of Brainerd and Bemidji, but central Minnesotans' accents are not as pronounced as those in the franchise. The central Minnesotandialect resembles that of the entireUpper Midwest.
Central Minnesota is home to oneMSA and 5μSAs.
St. Cloud MSA (pop. 201,868)
Brainerd μSA (pop. 99,222)
Willmar μSA (pop. 43,813)
Fergus Falls μSA (pop. 60,626)
Alexandria μSA (pop. 39,933)
Hutchinson μSA (pop. 36,785)
Other Central Minnesota cities include:
Central Minnesota is home to the following colleges and universities:
Four-year colleges
Two-year colleges
Notable people who hail from central Minnesota, with the names of cities they are associated with listed in parentheses, include:
