Search Results for: naming medicine lake

Naming Medicine Lake, Part II

In Naming Medicine Lake, Part I, we explored the origin of Medicine Lake’s name. According to legend, the Dakota named the lake Mde Wakan or Lake of the Spirit. In Dr. Franklin Curtis-Wedge’s The Story of Mission Farms, Medicine Lake Camps, Conferences, and Conventions (Minnesota Historical Records Survey, c. 1942), the author notes: To a Sioux, anything that is spiritual, mysterious, or supernatural is ‘medicine,’ and this was the word they imparted to the Whites as the equivalent for their ancient name….

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Naming Medicine Lake, Part I

According to the chapter on “Plymouth” in Edward D. Neill and J. Fletcher Williams’ History of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis (Minneapolis: North Star Publishing, 1881): The lake derives its name from an Indian legend, which says that an Indian in his canoe was capsized by a sudden storm, and the Indians not being able to find his body, gave it the name of Medicine Lake. This story was expanded in Neil O. Nielsen’s “A Brief Look at the Early History of Plymouth,” which explains: Medicine…

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A Story of Many Plymouths, Pt. 2: When Plymouth was Medicine Lake

In our journey to commemorate the naming of Plymouth, it is now time to re-center on our very own Plymouth, Minnesota. Returning to Upham’s text, the entry reads: Plymouth, first settled in October, 1853, organized May 11, 1858, took the name of its village previously platted on Parker’s lake, in 1856; but the village was only of short duration, in contrast with the township name, which, however, some of the settlers at first wished to change to Medicine Lake. Like…

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A Story of Many Plymouths, Pt. 3

As we have explored in our past two posts, many connections can be made through the very name of a place. It can draw associations to far away locales. It can remind an area of its historic roots. It can also act as a form of historical amnesia; as a place is re-named, its former iterations and associations can be lost or forgotten. We explored how Plymouth was briefly named Medicine Lake, which was thought to be an association to…

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