Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 11/09/1995

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lifestyle from the later groups of Ojibway (Chippewa), Dakota (Sioux),'h,Vinnebago,)Menominee that inhabited the upper Midwest. Mound builders were agriculturalists, planting corn and squash while later groups had a more strict hunt&~g and gathering lifestyle. At the time of European exploration, the land which is now occupied by the cities of Ramsey and Anoka was the territory of the Dakota tribe by rite of the treaty at Choking Creek between the Dakota and the Ojibway. However, for practical purposes, it was used mo~_ by the Ojibway. Regardless, neither group stayedAlong became a sort of neutral ground between the Dakota and Ojibway When a fur trading post was built at the mouth of the Rum River, it was the Ojibway that participated n~in trading with the Europeans. Beaver and bear hide(~rnong otherl~ere waded for weapons, ammunition, liquor and other European items brought from the East coast.2 The first European settlers to Anoka County came in the spring of 1850 and built what was known as the village of Itasca (or Itaska), located in ~,ections 34 and 35 of Ramsey. Named by Minnesota Governor Ramsey, Itasca was not only a European settlemen~ut also an Ojibway trading post. One of the fLrSt post offices of Anoka County was located in the village of Itasca in 1852. The township of Ramsey was organized in 1857 and was originally known as "Watertown". In t858, it was renamed "Ramsey" for Alexander Ramsey, the fn'st governor of the territory of Minnesota from 1849 - 1853 and the second governoref the state of Minnesota from 1860- I863.7 ~A. Definition of a Recreational System~, [2~.[$L 4¢1(,q' Ramsey's recreational system attempts to provide for the diverse recreational needs of a community. This is a system of park lands including areas of active recreation such as ballfields, hockey rinks and warming houses, football and soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts. Trails 6 Goodrich, Albert M. History_ of Anoka County, Hennepin Publishing Co.: Minneapolis. 1905. 2The location of the fur trading post is now pan of Peninsula Park in the City of Anoka. ? The names of the original settlers: Daniel Harthorn, John, Emerson and Penuel Shumway, Penuel Shumway senior, and Cornelius Pitman.