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HINES, a community in Hines Township, section 28, was established in 1904 with its post office, located one mile east of an earlier site settled in 1892 on the south shore of Blackduck Lake by William Hines, who operated a farm and sawmill, and named for the Hines family; it had a station of the Minnesota and International Railway. A railway station in Black Duck Township was also named for William Hines.

Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

Settlement of this area of Beltrami County really took off in 1896, although an 1893 survey of the area that was to become Hines Township listed the names of Crandel and Torrey as already living there. It was the proposed railroad, the opening of the land for homesteading and the logging of the virgin pine that drew the pioneers to this area. Among the early settlers were G. Hower, Z. Theriault, M. Phibbs, T.C. Newcomb, W.F. Tripp, Olaf Enstrom, William Hines, and Arthur Page. The first woman homesteader was Sarah Crandall, whose claim was on the east shore of Blackduck Lake. A daughter, Kate, was born to Mr. and Mrs. William Hines in 1897, the first white child born in Hines Township. She later became Mrs. John Erickson and died in 1975.

Hines Township was organized in 1899 under the name of Blackduck Township. However, because of the confusion this caused in the mail delivery with the town of Blackduck, the name was changed in 1915 to Hines Township. Settlers moved into the area, near Blackduck Lake, thinking a town would be located there. When the railroad came through in 1901, the town moved to the railroad, its present site. With the arrival of the railroad came the logging industry with Crookston and Weyerhauser as the biggest logging company.

William and Jabe Hines built a spur from the railroad in Hines to Blackduck Lake and it was used for about seven years. About 40 million feet of timber was taken out through Blackduck Lake in 1903 alone. The Bovey and Delator logging company built a spur from the railroad to Funk Lake in 1902 and another spur was built to Rabideau Lake by the logging company of Walker and Akeley. It took about seven years to get all of the timber out of the area and when the logging industry went, so did many of the residents of Hines. Among the loggers to stay were William Hines, Arthur Page, and Charles Johnson.

View of Hines Minnesota in 1999   Click for more Hines current and historical photos

Early businessmen included Virgil M. Owen (general store), Charlie Carter (mill), and Goldie Collison (confectionery). The Hines State Bank was started in 1919 with H.C. Baer as President, E.E. Schulke as Vice-President, and Herb Swanson as manager and cashier. It had a capital of $12,000. The bank was located next to the confectionery until the bank closed in 1929 because of the stock market crash. At that time Goldie moved his store into the old bank building and used the old confectionery as living quarters. Oh yes, the bank was even robbed at one time!

The first school in Hines was held in the H.C. McBride shack in 1900. There was one long desk made of plain pine boards with the nine students sitting at this desk. The students were Howard, Clara, and Ethel Newcomb, Olive and Kate Hines, and Axel, Selma, and Lena Peterson. Mr. McBride was the teacher and he used books brought from North Dakota by Mrs. Newcomb. In the spring of 1900 the school district granted $500 in bonds to build a school. However, two schools were built, one in town and one called the Lakeview school, located north of Blackduck Lake. There was also one in the northwestern part of the township called the Cedar Park School. In 1913 a two story consolidated school with all modern facilities was built in Hines and the pupils from the other two districts were bussed into town. Besides the elementary grades, two years of high school classes were provided. In 1957 the school was closed and the pupils were transported into Blackduck.

Post Offices were located in several places throughout the area. Hines-Summit Post Office in Blackduck was established in 1900; Raelph Post Office on the northwest shore of Blackduck Lake; Dysart Post Office on the west shore of Blackduck Lake in 1898, and the railroad appointed Melvin Johnson as postmaster in Hines until V.M. Owen became the first official postmaster in 1904. His post office and store burned in 1908 and three lives were lost. Mr. Owen rebuilt and this building also burned; then he built what became the Pioneer Store. The post office was moved to the west side of the depot in 1922.

O'Brien's were the operators until 1963 when the Blackduck Telephone Company took over. The depot was built in 1922 with Ed Spitskey as agent. The town hall was built in 1921 and was used as a gym for the school but was also rented out for dances, talent shows, basketball games, and church activities. This hall served the community until 1977 when it was torn down and the present town hall was built in 1997 in the same area.

Hines Township celebrated its 100th birthday on August 29, 1999 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at Pine Tree Park on Blackduck Lake. Two hundred and forty-six registered guests enjoyed an old-fashioned picnic and lots of memories. Several residents talked about old times in the township. Much of the discussion centered around the weather, transportation, and making a living. A centennial scrapbook was made with pictures, newspaper articles, etc., and this is available for viewing at the Hines Town Hall; as well as copies of the centennial celebration booklet. Information for this article came from the "Hines Township: 1899-1999" - written by Betty Rossi, Jan Oslund's "History of Hines, Minnesota", and the Hines Township article written by Mrs. Erbert Ostlund, which was in the Blackduck Bicentennial Booklet in 1976.

From Blackduck's First Hundred Years
 

Hines Town Hall 22009 Wood Lane NE  Hines, MN 56647  Phone: (218) 835-5817 Regular Business Hours: not available Township board meetings: not available
Title	Term Ends	Name and Address		Phone
Clerk	12/31/2022	Jeff Wiebe  15041 Sharp Rock Road NE Hines, MN 56647		(218) 835-4738
Treasurer	12/31/2024	Tami Nendick 16467 Aksarben Lane NE Hines, MN 56647		(218) 835-7841
Supervisor - Seat A	12/31/2022	Patrick Kovar  16676 Stoner Memorial Drive NE Hines, MN 56647		(218) 835-4755
Supervisor - Seat B	12/31/2024	Milo Barclay  26002 N Point Lane NE Hines, MN 56647		(218) 835-4314
Supervisor - Seat C	12/31/2024	Bill Rabe 26032 N Point Lane NE Hines, MN 56647		(218) 835-7223

Minnesota State Highway Map of the Hines Minnesota area

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Lakes:

Lake Name	Size (acres)	Lake info	Lake Map	Rec Map	Topo Map
Big Rice	618
Blackduck	2686
Gilstad	294
Gull	2243
Island	3108
Kitchi	1785
Medicine	446
Pimushe	1268
Puposky	2142		n/a
Rabideau	577
Turtle River Lake	1740