Guide to Grand Portage Minnesota

Grand Portage
(unorganized territory)

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2000-2010 Change

Actual

Percent

Population

324

321

557

565

+1.44

Land Area (sq. mile)

0.00

77.24

74.37

74.21

0.00

Density (persons per sq. mile)

4.19

4.32

7.51

7.61

+0.10

+1.44

Housing Units

162

202

286

313

+27

+9.44

Households

117

131

247

257

+10

+4.05

Persons Per Household

2.77

2.45

2.26

2.20

-0.06

-2.65

Grand Portage is an unorganized territory in Cook County, Minnesota, on Lake Superior, at the northeast corner of the state near the border with northwestern Ontario. The town of Grand Portage lies within the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. Minnesota Highway 61 serves as a main route in the community. According to the United States Census Bureau, the unorganized territory has a total area of 192.5 square miles (498.7 km²), of which, 74.2 square miles (192.2 km²) of it is land and 118.3 square miles (306.5 km²) of it (61.46%) is water.

As of the census of 2000, there were 557 people, 247 households, and 137 families residing in the unorganized territory. The population density was 7.5 people per square mile (2.9/km²). There were 286 housing units at an average density of 3.9/sq mi (1.5/km²). The racial makeup of the unorganized territory was 35.73% White, 57.81% Native American, 0.36% from other races, and 6.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.97% of the population.

There were 247 households out of which 31.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.8% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.5% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the unorganized territory the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.

The median income for a household in the unorganized territory was $30,326, and the median income for a family was $31,771. Males had a median income of $26,458 versus $22,232 for females. The per capita income for the unorganized territory was $15,782. About 18.9% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.1% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

GRAND PORTAGE, a village and formerly an important trading place, at the head of the bay of this name, and at the southeast end of the Grand Portage, nine miles long, to the Pigeon River above its principal falls, has the distinction of being the most eastern and oldest settlement of white men in the area of Minnesota. Probably during the period of VTrendrye's explorations, this place became the chief point for landing goods from the large canoes used in the navigation of the Great Lakes and for their being dispatched onward, from the end of this long portage, in smaller canoes to the many trading posts of all the rich fur country northwest of Lake Superior. In 1767, when Jonathan Carver went there in the hope of purchasing goods, Grand Portage was an important rendezvous and trading post. At the time of the Revolutionary War, as Gen. James H. Baker has well said, it was the "commercial emporium" of the northwestern fur trade. A post office called Grand Portage in Hovland Township, section 4, was first established in Superior County, Wis., 1856-64, and reestablished in Minnesota, 1864-71.