Lake Itasca, a small glacial lake in northern Minnesota’s Itasca State Park, is widely accepted as the symbolic headwater of the Mississippi River, though its exact status has long been debated because longer tributaries feed it from nearby streams and lakes. In 1832 Henry Schoolcraft identified it as the river’s primary source and gave it the name Itasca, replacing older Ojibwe and French Canadian names. Jacob V. Brower later defended that designation and helped secure protection of the area, leading to creation of Itasca State Park in 1891. The lake also became a shaped visitor landscape and remains an important ecological and scientific research site.