Since 1973, all incorporated towns were declared officially to be ‘cities’ by an act of the Minnesota Legislature. Ever wonder about those ‘little cities’? This series of 100 waymarks will take you to all corners of the great state of Minnesota to visit the 100 smallest of the incorporated cities in the state. All have a great story to tell.
This is the 98th of 100 of the cities described in the book LITTLE MINNESOTA. The city of Wolf Lake was settled around 1880 and incorporated in 1949. The city was so named by the early settlers because of the large population of wolves in the area.
One of the earliest settler families, the John & Minnie Wirkkanen family, arrived in the area in 1888. Other Finnish families were soon to follow, including that of Jacob Aho, who wanted to go just far enough so that they ‘wouldn’t be anyone’s way’.
Featured prominently in the center of town is the hand-hewn millstone carved by John Wirkkanen and is a testament to the first Finnish settlers.
This series of waymarks is tuned to getting people to visit these wonderful small communities before they disappear completely. To validate your ‘find’, please post a photo of you with your GPS at the coordinates and please relate a little tidbit about what you learned about the town and its people that is not in this narrative or the book. You can learn more about ‘LITTLE MINNESOTA’ by logging on to (
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