Editing Stillwater, Minnesota (section)

== Name ==
The name "Stillwater" was proposed in 1843 by John McKusick, who built the settlement's first sawmill. McKusick was later a state senator.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n588 571]|title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance|last=Upham|first=Warren|date=1920|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|language=en}}</ref> The name derives from the St. Croix River's calmness near the town center.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA165|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|year=1908|page=165}}</ref> It is also believed that McKusick had fond memories of [[Old Town, Maine|Stillwater, Maine]], where he had migrated from.<ref name=":0" />

Long before European Americans arrived the area was occupied by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The [[Dakota people]] called it ''Hoġan Wanḳe Kin,''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/dakota-spoken-here-mni-sotas-dakota-indian-heritage-topic-minnesota-book-award-winne/ |title=Dakota spoken here: Mni Sota's Dakota Indian heritage topic of Minnesota Book Award winner |website=www.tcdailyplanet.net/ |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> a term that encompassed not only the St. Croix River but also Lake St. Croix and a large sandbar across from present-day [[Afton, Minnesota|Afton]]. The name, meaning "the place where the fish lies", derived from a legend in which a man was transformed into a giant fish (a catfish or a pike, depending on the version) and then into a sandbar.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wchsmn.org/afton/ |title=Afton--Washington County Historical Society |website=www.wchsmn.org/afton/ |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> In English, Hoġan Wanḳe Kin has been spelled variously as Hogan-wahnkay-kin, Hogan-wauke-kin and Hogan-wan-kee.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog|page=[https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/wch/id/70276]|title=History of Washington County and the St Croix Valley, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota |last=Neill|first=Rev. Edward D|date=1881|publisher=North Star Publishing Company|language=en}}</ref>

The [[Ojibwe]] name for the place was ''Giigoonzh-agomod'', with the slightly different meaning of "where the fish floats".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bemidjistate.edu/airc/wp-content/uploads/sites/85/2016/03/onj-vol1-num2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723153109/https://www.bemidjistate.edu/airc/wp-content/uploads/sites/85/2016/03/onj-vol1-num2.pdf |archive-date=2019-07-23 |url-status=live |title=Nookomis Gaa-Inaajimotawi: What My Grandmother Told Me," in Oshkaabewis Native Journal |website=www.bemidjistate.edu |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> The Ojibwe origin legend is very similar, also involving a man transformed into a giant fish and found floating in the lake. He was ultimately transformed into "a piece of land crossing the lake there" (i.e., the sandbar). In English renderings, Giigo onh-zhagomod has been spelled as Kee-go-shagewa-minnie<ref>{{cite web |url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/24/v24i03p195-206.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019084921/http://collections.mnhs.org/mnhistorymagazine/articles/24/v24i03p195-206.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-19 |url-status=live|title=How Stillwater Came to Be |website=www.mnhs.org/ |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> and Kegan-Shaw-Ga-Nut.