Osakis, Douglas County, Minnesota

Osakis was first settled by Euro-americans in 1859. The town of Osakis was established June 15, 1866, this and Alexandria being the oldest townships of Douglas county.
The town was built on the south shore of Osakis lake. The word Osakis is derived from an Ojibwe word, "Sakis," meaning "place of danger." This area was once along a dividing line between territory controlled by the Dakota and Ojibwe nations.
In 1859 the stages running to Fort Ambercrombie had a station on the site of Osakis village, and the earliest settlers took claims; but the Sioux outbreak in 1862 caused these claims to be abandoned.
During the Outbreak, the maintenance of this line of communication was vitally important, and the route was constantly patrolled by troops.
The Minnesota Stage Company, owned by James C. Burbank, had begun as a stage and mail delivery company in the early 1850s, and by 1865 had gained a statewide monopoly, operating over 1,600 miles of routes. The 1856 legislature had authorized the opening of the St. Cloud to Fort Ambercrombie (near Breckenridge) Road, on which Osakis was located, but by 1859 it had yet to be developed. The route, which began at St. Cloud and traveled up the Sauk River Valley to Fort Ambercrombie on the Red River, was developed by crews of the stage company under the general management of Captain Russell Blakely. For the next ten years, this route was used by the military and the Red River stagecoaches.
The village was founded in 1866, and was incorporated February 21, 1881. The date of the first passenger train was November 1, 1878.