Tordenskjold was a settlement consisting of a saw mill and general store that, although never platted, was named the county seat of Otter Tail Co. by legislative act on Feb. 28, 1870. The county commissioners met there and took steps to erect county buildings, but a law of Feb. 16, 1871, returned the county seat to Otter Tail City, which had originally been named in the County Organization Act of 1858. In 1872 the county seat was finally moved to Fergus Falls, and Tordenskjold soon became one of Minnesota's vanished towns.