Clitherall began on May 6, 1865, when Cutlerites, a branch of the Church of Latter Day Saints, arrived on the north shore of Clitherall Lake and established the first permanent, non-Native American settlement in Otter Tail County. Their move grew out of turmoil after Joseph Smith's death in 1844, when Alpheus Cutler led some followers to Iowa, where by 1858 they had built a prosperous village but faced persecution from pro-secession neighbors because of their strong antislavery views. Cutler urged his people to leave Iowa for Minnesota, seeking both safety and a home beside a lake, but he died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1864 before the migration began. Seven families then set out on an eight hundred mile journey, paused at Red Wing through the rest of that year and part of the next while they worked and gathered supplies, then continued north through severe dangers, including a blizzard that lasted three days and a burning forest where they saved a bridge that was on fire in order to cross a stream to safety. After reaching their destination, they quickly planted 60 acres of grain and vegetables, built crude log cabins, and were joined by others, giving rise to the village of Clitherall. The lake, village, and township were named for George B. Clitherall, a United States land agent at Otter Tail City from 1858-1861, who had been born in North Carolina, lived long in Alabama, and returned south at the outbreak of the Civil War to join the Mobile County Home Guard. In 1881, when the railroad placed its tracks two miles away instead of through the townsite, the roughly 40 buildings of the original village were moved, razed, or abandoned. The area later became known for Camp Corliss, a pioneer resort begun by Eben E. Corliss with a summer cottage in July 1886; it was well established by June of 1893, gained a telephone line in 1902, was sold by Corliss in 1911, and was later renamed Bonnie Beach by the Walter Millers.