Editing Crookston, Minnesota (section)

==History==
===Early history===
The Crookston area was virtually unoccupied until European contact and remained little more than a hunting ground associated with the [[Pembina Region|Pembina]] settlements until the 1860s.<ref name="LakesnWoods">{{cite web |title=Crookston Minnesota Community Guide |url=https://lakesnwoods.com/Crookston.htm |publisher=LakesnWoods |access-date=April 15, 2024 |archive-date=April 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414175815/https://lakesnwoods.com/Crookston.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The land in Crookston's immediate vicinity is not connected with any verifiable [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] or European historic events or circumstances until transfer in the [[Treaty of Old Crossing|Treaties of Old Crossing]] in 1863–64.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} Before that, the territory now included in Crookston was part of [[Rupert's Land]] and [[Assiniboia]] before becoming part of the United States as a result of the boundary settlement in the [[Treaty of 1818]].<ref name="LakesnWoods"/>

The Crookston area was traversed by trappers and traders, including [[Ojibwa]] and [[Lakota people|Lakota]], [[Métis people (United States)|Métis]], and European settlers, between 1790 and 1870. A branch of the [[Red River Trails]] passed nearby; it was used by [[fur trade]]rs between the 1840s and 1870s.<ref name="UMC - Polk County">{{cite web|title=Compendium of History and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota|url=http://umclibrary.crk.umn.edu/digitalprojects/polk2/index.html}}</ref>

===Settlement===
The present-day site of Crookston first saw settlement by non-Indian people around 1872.<ref name=EB>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Crookston |volume=7 |page=502}}</ref> It was the site of a federal land office<ref name=EB/> by 1876 and sited on a portion of the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] that began operation by 1880. The town was incorporated on April 1, 1879<ref name=EB/> as "Queen City".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Kristina |title=Crookston, a Railroad and River Town |url=https://www.oakridger.com/story/lifestyle/2012/03/14/crookston-railroad-river-town/63548838007/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Oak Ridger |language=en-US |quote=in 1872, the name for the new settlement was the "Red Lake Crossing" ... As people began to populate the new community, the name of Crooksbury was chosen, but that only lasted for a short time. This was to honor Colonel William Crooks, an official of the railroad company. Then it was permanently changed to Crookston. |ref=2012 Oak Ridger / Crookston Times article}}</ref> By the end of that year, the town had a jail, graded streets, and a few plank sidewalks. Soon, it was decided that the town needed a new name. Two factions emerged supporting two different names. One wished to honor the town's first mayor, Captain Ellerey C. Davis, with the name Davis. Another group picked the name Crookston to honor Colonel William Crooks,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=EB/> a soldier and railroad builder. The name was reportedly chosen by [[coin toss]].

Soon, Scandinavian, French-Canadian, and German immigrants began populating Crookston. At one point, eight different railroad lines reached the town, and it became a center of commerce and manufacturing.