Paynesville History

 Paynesville has a rich history of inhabitation that reaches back as far as the Hopewell Culture that existed over 2,000 years ago.  Evidence of burial and effigy mounds, as well as camp sites littered with pottery and stone tools, abound in the area.  One such site, known to locals as Behr's Hill, is crowned with an "altar" mound that overlooks Lake Koronis and the waterways flowing into it.  It was a religious site that was once surrounded by effigy mounds.  The Hopewell flocked to the site and summered on the beautiful lake with it's three islands.  They were the area's first tourists, and began a tradition of summering in the area just as people still do today. 

The fur trade was vital to the economy of the Northwest Territory.  French, British, and later the Americans, depended greatly on Dakota fur trappers to supply traders with quality pelts in exchange for valuable European goods.  Various trading posts were built throughout the region and were regularly visited by Dakota trappers.  Though it is unknown who owned and operated these, one of these posts was still present when white settlers first began arriving in Paynesville.  

 Minnesota gained territorial status in 1849.  By 1856, immigrants from the east began flooding the territory in search of land.  A man named William B. Reed led a party of settlers to a place he called "Onawa" near a ford in the river that ran through the site.  Reed failed to file a town-site claim and abandoned the area, leaving the settlers to build their own town.  A second attempt at creating a town was made but failed.  Finally, in 1857, the Paynesville Townsite Co. successfully plotted out and claimed the site.  It would be named after the town's first recorded settler, Edwin Ebenezer Payne. 

 From the start, the Paynesville area was highly prized by both white settlers and the Dakota.  In 1862, after a number of dishonest treaties with the U.S. government, and the threat of starvation, a large portion of the Dakota began attacking white settlements in the region.  Upon hearing news of the attacks, the settlers in Paynesville hastily built a sod fortification to house refugees.  The town was soon evacuated and the settlers moved to Richmond and St. Cloud for refuge.  A group of men soon returned to salvage their crops.  While staying in the fort, they were surprised by 250 Dakota.  A small skirmish ensued and the men escaped.  The Dakota destroyed the entire town except for two buildings who were owed by friends of the War's leader, Little Crow.  The settlers believed, and some evidence backs up their claim, that it was Little Crow who led the attack on the town.