3 - Old Crow Wing

The historic community of Crow Wing City (Old Crow Wing) formed on the east bank of the Mississippi river opposite the confluence of the Crow Wing River, about 10 miles southwest of the current city of Brainerd, beginning in the 1820s. Crow Wing became an important link in the fur trade between Saint Paul and the Canadian Red River Colony and attracted a mixed population of European, white American, Ojibwa, and Metis settlers. Clement Beaulieu, a fur trader of French-Canadian and Ojibwa descent, built a prominent house at Crow Wing about 1849. Between 1870 and 1880 Crow Wing was abandoned in favor of Brainerd when the Northern Pacific Railroad routed through the latter community. Beaulieu’s house was relocated south, to the vicinity of Fort Ripley in 1880.

Birk’s involvement with the Beaulieu House began in 1985 when the property owners offered the structure as a tax-deductible donation to any interested cultural agency or nonprofit. A coalition including the IMA, the state Department of Natural Resources, the state Historic Preservation Office, the Crow Wing County Historical Society, and interested citizens organized as the Friends of Old Crow Wing formulated a plan to relocate the Beaulieu House back to its original location in what was now Crow Wing State Park. Birk conducted in-depth research on the house, its occupants, and the community of Crow Wing, and helped lead the relocation effort on behalf of the IMA. In 1988 the house was moved to a temporary storage area in the park. In 1990 Birk and IMA colleagues conducted a brief excavation of the original house site in preparation for the permanent relocation of the house, which was accomplished in 1993.