Hermantown

History

The first inhabitants of the area were Native Americans. They lived in the area often called in early Duluth references "the land up over the hill." In 1867, August Kohlts and his friend Lambert "Pat" Acker filed for homesteads in Section 18, Township 50 North, Range 15 West. Both families had emigrated from Prussia. Acker arrived at about age five with his parents and siblings around 1835 and settled in Erie County, New York. He married Emelie Louisa Wilke on January 12, 1850. Kohlts and his wife, Emilie, immigrated in 1860. The Kohltses and Ackers resided in the town of Tonawanda on the Niagara River for some years with many other German settlers in the area. Citizenship was granted to Kohlts on March 20, 1868. Soon afterward, the Kohlts and Acker families set out from Buffalo, New York, heading west via the Great Lakes for the Hancock, Michigan, area of the Keweenaw Peninsula and its copper mines. Perhaps lured by the availability of free land under the Homestead Act, the Kohlts family left for Minnesota. The federal census of June 1, 1870, records their presence in the Second Ward of the newly formed city of Duluth, while the Ackers arrived in Duluth in 1871. By January 1872, August Kohlts had established an 82-acre site in the wilderness outside Duluth. He and Acker were the first settlers in the area now known as Hermantown. The area was named for the Germanic chieftain known as Arminius or Herman. Kohlts and Acker alternated between working in Duluth and clearing land at their rural homesteads on what is now Five Corners Road in Hermantown. They traveled between Duluth and their homesteads on a Native American trail that later became Piedmont Avenue and the Hermantown Road. Hermantown's population got a boost from a new wave of homesteaders just before World…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of ; is land and is water. U.S. Highway 53, State Highway 194 (MN 194), and County Road 13 (Midway Road) are three of Hermantown's main routes. Others include Maple Grove Road, Haines Road, Arrowhead Road, Stebner Road, Morris Thomas Road, Ugstad Road, and Lavaque Road. Miller Creek flows through Hermantown's northeast corner. Keene Creek flows through the southeast and east of the city. Kingsbury Creek briefly enters the south-central part of the city near Ugstad Road. Merritt Creek briefly enters Hermantown's southeast corner. Rocky Run flows through the northwest and west-central parts of the city. The Midway River rises in Hermantown and flows generally southwest through the city's central and southwest portions before entering Midway Township. The Midway River flows into the Saint Louis River in Thomson Township near Cloquet. Seville Road runs east–west along Hermantown's northern boundary with Canosia Township in northwest and north–central Hermantown. Solway Road runs north–south along Hermantown's western boundary line with Solway Township. Saint Louis River Road runs east–west along Hermantown's southern boundary line with Midway Township in southwest Hermantown. Haines Road runs north–south along Hermantown's eastern boundary line with Duluth. Duluth International Airport is immediately northeast of Hermantown. The Pike Lake Business District of Canosia Township is immediately northwest of the city. The city of Proctor is immediately south of Hermantown. The Bayview Heights neighborhood of Duluth is immediately southeast of the city. The Piedmont Heights and Duluth Heights neighborhoods of Duluth are both immediately east of Hermantown.

Race & ethnicity