History · Wadena

Wadena’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Wadena. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

3old images & papers
3historic places
0recent photos
From Wadena’s archive · credits on each photo

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

The first permanent settlement at Wadena was made in 1871. The city is named after Chief Wadena, an Ojibwe Indian chief of the late 19th century in northwestern Minnesota. A post office has been in operation at Wadena since 1873. Wadena was incorporated in 1881. Four properties in Wadena are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Commercial Hotel built circa 1885, the Wadena Fire and City Hall built in 1912, the Northern Pacific Passenger Depot built in 1915, and the Peterson-Biddick Seed and Feed Company built 1916–1936.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

built from the dates on the items below
1923Untitled photoCommons
1930s2 items · Highway U.S. No. 10 near Wadena, Minn…LOC
1940–1999Nothing yet. Family albums go here.
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Start Wadena’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wadena’s history is told.

2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewUntitled photo, 1923: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Famous people from WadenaWriters, athletes, leaders and more who were born in Wadena.Meet them →
By decade

Wadena, decade by decade

1940s–
1990s
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album

Then & now

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Untitled photo (1923) and it appears here side by side.

🔁 Retake this view · +15

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (2) and the National Register (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Wadena

Minnesota · MN · Wadena County
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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01