Plotted in 1869, Pine City took its name from the Chippewa word "Chengwatana," meaning City of Pines. In its early days it was a rough lumberjack town, and logs were floated from here down the Snake River into the St. Croix River to Stillwater. A rich deposit of copper was discovered here, and a $250,000 company was formed that sank some 150-foot shafts. On Lake Pokegema, three miles west, Rev. Frederick Ayer and others established a Protestant mission and school for Chippewas in 1836.