Brainerd, Minnesota

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Brainerd City. It lies in ZIP code area 56401. The Survey maps it on the Brainerd quadrangle. 14,395 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,217 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Brainerd within Crow Wing County

On record in Brainerd

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 7 records

Brainerd Public Librarylisted 1980
Brainerd Water Towerlisted 1974
Crow Wing County Courthouse and Jaillisted 1980
Franklin Junior High Schoollisted 2009
Werner Hemstead Houselisted 1980
Northern Pacific Railroad Shops Historic Districtlisted 1989
Parker Buildinglisted 1980

Population over time

2 figures

Brainerd grew from 13,590 to 14,395 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	13,590
2020	14,395	+805 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 15 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1915 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1918 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1953 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1957 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
1965 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
1973 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1986 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Fires near this place

291 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 291 fires within 5 miles of Brainerd between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,891 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 35 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	141
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	43
Arson/incendiarism	35
Equipment and vehicle use	31
Recreation and ceremony	16
Smoking	9
Railroad operations and maintenance	5
Misuse of fire by a minor	5
Power generation/transmission/distribution	3
Other causes	1
Fireworks	1
Natural	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 2003	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
8 September 1997	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
23 September 1996	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
19 September 2012	Recreation and ceremony	5.0 acres	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
19 September 1998	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
14 September 2004	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
10 September 1995	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
1 September 2012	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Crow Wing County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 20 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Brainerd: 11 past producers, 6 prospects, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Clay, Manganese, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Crow Wing County Clay Deposit	Clay	Occurrence
East of Town Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Polk Reserve X-58	Iron, Manganese	Prospect
Barrows Mine	Iron	Past Producer	Hematite, Magnetite
Barrows Mine	Iron	Past Producer
Barrows Reserve H-1	Iron	Past Producer	Hematite, Magnetite
Brainerd-Cuyuna Mine	Iron	Past Producer	Hematite, Magnetite
Brainerd-Cuyuna Mine	Iron	Past Producer
Cuyuna Reserve	Iron	Occurrence	1915
Cuyuna Reserve X-61	Iron	Past Producer	Hematite, Magnetite

Every working recorded in Crow Wing County

Storms near this place

60 of 103 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brainerd in 103 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 56 thunderstorm wind, 37 hail, 4 lightning, 2 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 1997	Lightning	Brainerd	$1,500,000	According to a deputy state fire marshall, lightning caused a fire that destroyed a landmark restaurant on Gull Lake. No one was injured.
September 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	$1,000,000	no account filed
July 2002	Flash Flood	Brainerd	$250,000	no account filed
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	$200,000	A microburst approaching 100 mph hit Brainerd, damaging several buildings and knocking down numerous trees.
May 2012	Lightning	Brainerd	$140,000	Two homes were completely destroyed by the lightning-induced fires.
March 2000	Lightning	Brainerd	$50,000	Lightning struck and demolished the chimney on a downtown furniture store. Large chunks of bricks crashed through the roof, causing additional damage and allowing rain to enter.
October 1996	Tornado (F2)	Brainerd	$50,000	no account filed
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	$19,000	no account filed
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	$6,000	Many trees and power lines were blown down.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	$6,000	Many large oak trees were blown down.
July 2000	Lightning	Brainerd	$1,000	Lightning struck a house causing $1,000 in damage.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	$500	Trees and power lines were blown down in the Brainerd area.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	A large tree was down at the spotter's location.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Trees stripped of leaves, a grill was blown around a yard, and several four inch diameter branches were down.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Photos were received of trees down along Oak Avenue in Brainerd.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	A photo was received showing a tree that fell across a road nearly landing on a parked car.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Several trees were downed by the winds near the North Memorial Ambulance Station in downtown Brainerd.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Widespread trees and tree branches were snapped and covering a road.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Roof damage was reported due to a large attached sign being ripped from the building.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Multiple trees broken as well as signs blown off buildings.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	An oak tree of about six inches in diameter was snapped about twenty feet above ground level.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Seven inch diameter tree branches were broken and shingles were ripped off a house in the storm.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Outflow winds from nearby storms lifted and flipped several pontoon boats and boat lifts on North Long Lake.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	A birch tree of unknown diameter was blown over by the storm.
July 2020	Flood	Brainerd	-	Photos were received showing water covering the intersection of Washington and 8th Streets in Brainerd. Additional reports of water covering parking lots were received as well.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Numerous small trees and branches were reported down in Brainerd.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Eight trees were blown down with some uprooted and snapped. A shed was destroyed and corral fencing was blown over.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	A 12 inch diameter tree was split in half by the wind.
September 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Numerous tree branches varying in diameter from six to eight inches were knocked down. In addition, a few pine trees were stripped of their needles.
September 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	A few trees were knocked down within the city with widespread tree damage across portions of Crow Wing County.
August 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Trees and large branches were blown down across the east side of Brainerd, including in the Brainerd Mall area.
August 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Several trees were blown down and tin roof sheeting was scattered on the road near Southeast 13th Street in Brainerd near the county fairgrounds.
August 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	A pontoon boat on the southwest side of North Long Lake was flipped over by the winds and the dock was damaged.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	The emergency manager estimated gusts to around 60 mph.
July 2016	Hail	Brainerd	-	There were dime to nickel sized hail.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	There were 6 large healthy Oak trees down in the yard and many other trees down across the neighborhood. Power was out until 2:30 am. There was an estimated 2 of rainfall, but the gage was taken out by a falling tree.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	There was a large tree down on a house. Also, there was hail between 1 and 1.25 in diameter.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Five oak trees were blown down.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	There were trees down.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	The anemometer measured winds as high as 69 mph. There was roof damage to the home of the spotter.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Power lines were reported down between Brainerd and Baxter.
September 2014	Hail	Brainerd	-	The largest hailstones were dime size with a lot of pea sized hail covering the ground.
August 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	The wind gusts were measured with a handheld anemometer. There was hail and wind damage to the home, including holes in the siding.
June 2012	Flash Flood	Brainerd	-	Water was over the road at Washington Street. Other roads in the area were also flooded.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Pea-sized hail fell during the strong winds.
August 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Pea size hail also fell.
May 2011	Hail	Brainerd	-	There were several reports of dime to nickel size hail covering the ground.
June 2009	Hail	Brainerd	-	The hail fell in downtown Brainerd.
July 2009	Hail	Brainerd	-	Heavy rain fell prior to the hail, causing some street flooding.
July 2008	Hail	Brainerd	-	Some quarter-sized hail was reported, although mostly penny-sized hail fell for much of the storm.
August 2007	Hail	Brainerd	-	A wind gust to 50 knots was also recorded.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Two large trees were blown down by strong thunderstorm winds.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Hundreds of trees were blown down. SOme homes were damaged by falling trees and limbs.
August 2007	Hail	Brainerd	-	The hail covered the ground. A six-inch diameter oak tree was blown down by strong thunderstorm winds.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Trees and power lines were blown down at East Gull Lake.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Hundreds of electric customers were without power as high winds downed power lines and lightning hit transformers.
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Numerous trees were blown down.
September 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Numerous trees were blown down.
June 2001	Tornado (F2)	Brainerd	-	The tornado tore roofs off houses and blew out exterior walls. Pole barns and sheds were destroyed, and windows were blown out. Thousands of trees were knocked down, and 41 head of livestock were killed. The average path width was 1/4 mile, with the widest being 1/2 mile.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Brainerd	-	Large trees were blown down.

Every storm recorded in Crow Wing County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Meadow View Manor	1.8 miles	15
Baxter	4.7 miles	18
Barrows	4.8 miles	18
Legionville	6.2 miles	15
Woodrow	7.0 miles	14
Crow Wing	7.3 miles	18
Loerch	7.5 miles	14
Merrifield	7.5 miles	15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Brainerd	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q897435	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 640426. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.