A MOMENT IN HISTORY: The creation of Line O' Lakes
Much like the moving staircases in popular fantasy novels, the borders of towns, villages, townships, and even the county itself have shifted through time.
The community known today as Centerville has gone through a host of changes since the first settler built a structure there in the 1850s. In the earliest years of the Minnesota Territory, Centerville belonged to Ramsey County. When impending statehood caused the government to redraw the county lines, Centerville became part of Anoka County. Unlike what we know today, the boundaries of Centerville differed significantly, encompassing not only what is now Centerville, but all of Lino Lakes and a small section of Circle Pines.
Centerville organized as a community on August 11, 1857, with the first town officers being Oliver Peltier, Stephen Ward, Charles Peltier, and Francis LaMotte. Charles Peltier, F.X. Lavallee, and Francis LaMotte laid out and platted the town, naming it “Centerville” due to its equidistance between Stillwater, St. Paul, and Anoka. The spelling has changed over the years as well, with the French spelling, “Centreville,” used for some time.
Today Centerville comprises only 2.15 square miles of land but is home to 3,792 people as of the 2010 U.S. Census. It is in a high-growth area of Anoka County, with more history being written every day.
In 1953, Centerville Township encompassed the area that would soon become known as Lino Lakes. Area residents alerted the town board and resident Arnold Kelling, in particular, to the fact the township had lost 120 acres of land in the southwest corner to the newly formed community of Circle Pines. As Centerville Township, they were “fair game” for a higher form of government to annex contiguous property, as the village of Circle Pines had just done.
The idea came forward that perhaps incorporation as a village would protect their boundaries, but that idea did not gain much support until 1955. In that year, residents of the Lakeview area rallied against the loose sand roads and blowing dirt, requesting their roads be surfaced. The township did not have money for such a project and couldn’t petition or borrow money unless they incorporated as a village.
Kelling successfully worked for the incorporation of Lino Lakes, receiving the designation on May 11, 1955. Kelling was elected to the office of mayor in the spring of 1955, a position he held until 1963.
The name “Lino Lakes” is unique and, according to the United States Geological Service, only one community by that name exists—the one located in Anoka County, Minnesota.
Unusual names most often have unusual origins and this story begins at a meeting in a small room in Tim Manning’s barber shop in 1955. The community, then called Centerville Township, would begin its life as a newly incorporated village and needed a name.
Kelling recounted how the name was chosen: “Paul Schmidt was there and as he was loyal to the name Centerville, he proposed the name be Centerville Township Village. Most of us thought that confusing and too much of a mouthful. Paul had been the town assessor. Dolor Nadeau mentioned Line ‘O Oakes, then a tavern, as bringing to mind a line of lakes or some such thing. I then proposed Line O’ Lakes reminiscent of Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin. Harry Proulx objected to such a split-up name as he had to write the name on the mail and into the minutes—we had no typewriter—so we settled on the simpler Lino Lakes.”
— Rebecca A. Ebnet-Mavencamp, Anoka County Historical Society
Originally published in the Quad Community Press on Feb 16, 2016