In 1870, a local Northern Pacific surveyor by the name of Nathaniel Tibbetts established the townsite of present day Aitkin. He recognized the importance of the site as it was the first access to the Mississippi river by rail from the inland of Duluth. The town quickly blossomed as a lumber industry boom town. Because of the close proximity of rail transportation and Mississippi river access, Aitkin also became a major river boat transportation center. No less then 14 boats operated out of Aitkin between 1870s and the early 1920s. Among the notables of river transportation were CHARLES VIEBAHN and W.F. PUNTNEY who formed the Mississippi Transportaion Co. in Aitkin and operated the steamboats Irene and Oriole.The riverboats served the logging encampments and homesteaders up and down the Mississippi between Brainerd and Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids itself was a product of Aitkin and the riverboat industry. As logging camps expanded ever further north, they had to wait until supplies reached "the rapid" and then had to transport them by boat or wagen road camp. WARREN POTTER, Aitkins pioneer business leader, got the idea of building new buildings near the landing at the rapids to supply the camps quiker and beat out his competition back in Aitkin. His competitors were still shipping orders via steamboat. The idea caught on and soon his competitors from Aitkin followed, thus the town of Grand Rapids became a product of the Aitkin business community.
Aitkin was a wild and wooly logging boom town that supported a record 17"we never close" saloons and several houses of ill famed to keep up with the lumberjack tide that poured from the woods each summer to rollock in 'civilization" with fresh money burning a hol;e in their pockets. Fisticuffs, knifings and shootings amoung these rough and tumble lumberjack were not uncommon in the early days.
A sawmill was built by D.J.Knox in 1881 employing 70 men and was a main supplier to the railroad. Later a cooperage mill and additional sawmill operations were added to answer the millions of board feet of timber that poured down the Mississippi each spring
Aitkin began to tame into more respectable community by the late 1800s. Masquerade balls, ice cream and church socials were far more commonplace than rowdy lumberjacks and saloon fights. Houses of ill-fame were banished from the city limits. In 1873, the first school district in Minnesota was established in Aitkin.
By 1883, Aitkin had its own newspaper, The Aitkin Age and Aitkinites were treated that year by the special train stop by former president U.S. Grant. By the end 1892, a new telephone exchange was serving the area. In 1895, the first electric power was generated in Aitkin. In 1903, the entrepreneur and lumberman Samual Hodgedon brought serious cultural entertainment to the community when he built the two story Opera House building.
The Mississippi river's involement with Aitkins history continues to modern times. Heavy spring flooding culminating in the flood of 1950 caused local goverment to lobby for a solution. The Mississippi River Diversion Channel north of Aitkin was part of that solution. It stands as the only diversion channel on the Mississppi river between Lake Itasca and the Gulf of Mexico. Later in the 1970s, a dike system was established to further protect the city.
