BRAINERD

city, seat of Crow Wing county, central Minnesota, U.S. It lies along the Mississippi River, in a forest and lake-resort region south of the Cuyuna Range. Created in 1871 as a logging camp by the Northern Pacific Railway, it was given the maiden name of the wife of the railroad president, John G. Smith. The city's Paul Bunyan Amusement Center has lumbering exhibits including an animated figure (26 feet high) of the legendary lumberjack and holds an annual carnival in June. Lumbertown, USA, 12 miles (19 km) northwest, is a replica of a Minnesota camp in the 1870s. Lumbering, however, has declined, and paper and clothing manufactures, railroad shops, tourism, and Brainerd State Hospital are the major sources of income. Brainerd Community College was founded in 1938. Inc. 1881. Pop. (1992 est.) 12,648.