 Agricultural expansion and the establishment of Willmar as a division point on the Great Northern Railway
determined the growth of the community. The first settlers arrived during the 1850s attracted to the fertile land
and an abundance of timber and game. The Dakota War of 1862 left the township abandoned for several years. The advent
of the railroad in Kandiyohi County in 1869 brought new settlers. Many were of Swedish and Norwegian origins; hence
the predominance today of residents of Scandinavian heritage. In 1870, Leon (Chadwick) Willmar, a Belgian
acting as a European bondholder of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company, purchased the title to Section 1
of Willmar Township. Willmar was established as the county seat in 1871, was incorporated as a village in 1874 and as
a city in 1901.
The slideshow below with images found in early photo postcards captures
Willmar from 1904 to approximately 1950.
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