At the meeting of the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers, a favored hunting area of both the Dakota and Ojibwe nations became a famous fur trade location, was described in the journals of some of Minnesota's first European visitors, and in the 1860s the village of Crow Wing was the foremost trade, travel and political center of the region. Crow Wing State Park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was established in 1959 through the efforts of local citizens who recognized the importance of preserving this heritage for future generations.