Thief River Falls, Minnesota Thief River Falls, Minnesota Location of the town/city of Thief River Fallswithin Pennington County, Minnesota Location of the town/city of Thief River Falls Thief River Falls, also called Thief River or TRF, is a town/city in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States.

5.1 Rivers and rails 10.2 Thief River Golf Club 10.5 River Walk 11 Thief River, the play Thief River Falls takes its name from a geographic feature, the falls of the Red Lake River at its confluence with the Thief River.

The name of the river is a loose translation of the Ojibwe phrase Gimood-akiwi ziibi, literally, the "Stolen-land river" or "Thieving-land river", which originated when a band of Dakota Indians occupied a secret encampment along the river, hence "stealing" the land, before being identified and routed by the neighboring Ojibwe. In the Treaty of Old Crossing of 1863, the Moose Dung's Indian Reservation was established on the west bank of the Thief River, at its confluence with Red Lake River.

Thief River Falls marked the limit of navigation on the Red Lake River.

The eponymous town site was established in 1887 and later incorporated as a town/city in 1896. Thief River Falls first advanced as a lumber-milling town.

The Great Northern and the Soo Line barns s brought prosperity when Thief River Falls became a center for shipping wheat.

According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 5.21 square miles (13.49 km2), of which 5.02 square miles (13.00 km2) is territory and 0.19 square miles (0.49 km2) is water. Thief River Falls is positioned at the confluence of the Red Lake River and the Thief River.

Thief River Falls is positioned approximately 70 miles (110 km) south of the Canada United States border and 52 miles (84 km) northeast from Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the Northwest region of Minnesota.

Climate data for Thief River Falls, MN According to the ethnic tradition section of the 2000 Federal Census, 50% of Thief River Falls inhabitants identify themselves as Norwegian-American, making Thief River Falls one of the most ethnically concentrated suburbs in the nation. There were 3,802 homeholds, of which 27.6% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 39.0% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female homeholder with no husband present, 5.2% had a male homeholder with no wife present, and 43.7% were non-families.

In the city, the populace was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older.

Thief River Falls (and encircling region) has been home to primary industry including snowmobiles, farm machinery, and global electronics distribution.

South of Thief River Falls is a casino, 7 Clans Casino, which also contains a hotel and indoor water park.

Thief River Falls is home to the electronic parts distributor Digi-Key, one of the biggest employers in the area, and was the place of birth of the vaunted Steiger Tractor, produced from 1958 to the late 1980s.

Thief River Falls was home to the command posts of the Cycle Detection Warning System up until its shutdown on April 13, 2009. Rivers and rails Thief River Falls is situated on the junction of two rivers, Red Lake River from the east, southeast and the Thief River from the north.

The adjacency to forests and shipping made Thief River Falls ideal for logging.

Branches were later assembled to Drake, North Dakota and Duluth, Minnesota.

The Minnesota Northwestern Electric Railway, an electric powered passenger train, ran from Thief River Falls to Goodridge between 1914 and 1940.

Today, the river and rails still power the small-town economy with tourism and shipping.

On Tuesday, August 21, 2007, the Empress Express (Canadian Pacific 2816) spent the evening in front of the historic Soo Line depot in Thief River Falls.

Thief River Falls Radio reported that the classic steam engine was assembled in 1930, and the 45 ticketed passengers were to leave for Glenwood, Minnesota on Wednesday morning.

Can trace its roots to former Polaris Industries founder Edgar Hetteen who left Polaris in 1960 and started Polar Manufacturing in Thief River Falls.

Digi-Key is a privately held global electronics distributor based in Thief River Falls.

Steiger Tractors were invented by Douglas and Maurice Steiger from Thief River Falls amid the 1950s.

Case still produces Steiger tractors out of the Fargo, North Dakota facility. Thief River Falls is home to a enhance school precinct operating a high school (Lincoln High School), middle school (Franklin Middle School), and elementary school (Challenger Elementary School).

Benefactor Ralph Engelstad, who was raised in Thief River Falls, assembled an $11.5 million hockey arena for the high school hockey team.

The arena is called Ralph Engelstad Arena, the same name as the University of North Dakota's $100 million hockey arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Thief River Falls is also home to Northland Community and Technical College (NCTC), which also has a ground in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Sanford Health Thief River Falls Northwest Medical Center is a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) with 25 beds; has non-governmental, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) status; and is the area's improve hospital.

It homes an inpatient and outpatient mental community unit, encompasses a free-standing 15-bed group home for mentally ill persons and a free-standing 10-bed treatment center for emotionally disturbed children, has doctors on site in the Emergency Room 24/7, and is the only hospital in the improve of Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Sanford Health Thief River Falls offers medical services that include laboratory, surgery, family physicians, and a women's community center.

The following routes are positioned inside the town/city of Thief River Falls.

The town/city and encircling improve is served by Thief River Falls Regional Airport.

The small-town journal is the weekly Thief River Falls Times.

Thief River Falls is home to a several airways broadcasts, and a several airways broadcasts from Grand Forks, North Dakota can also be received.

KBRR-TV 10 is licensed to Thief River Falls but the signal originates from Fargo, North Dakota.

Licensed to Thief River Falls: KNTN 102.7 FM (Minnesota Public Radio news) Signals that reach Thief River Falls: KKXL 92.9 FM "XL93" (Top 40/CHR), based in Grand Forks, North Dakota KJKJ 107.5 FM "KJ108" (Active rock), based in Grand Forks, North Dakota Many of the businesses that were born in Thief River Falls were started on La - Bree.

Also, each fall, the town/city closes the street and hosts the "Great American Block Party", amid which vendors line the street and live music is performed.

Thief River Golf Club Thief River Falls is home to an 18-hole golf course situated along the Thief River north of the city.

The town/city is along a several county-wide snowmobile trails reaching northern Minnesota, including the Wapiti Trail, which leads to Fourtown and Grygla.

River Walk The TRF River Walk lines the rivers from one end of town to the other.

The river walk joins a several parks including the dam, Red Robe Park, and the Northland Woods.

Officially opened in 1976, the exhibition and village furnish a living history of Thief River Falls.

Thief River, the play The jubilated American playwright Lee Blessing's work, Thief River, premiered in 2000 at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.

It is the story of Gil and Ray, who at age 17 were secret lovers in what one reviewer called "a small homophobic Minnesota town in the '40s" presumably Thief River Falls.

As stated by another reviewer, "The play attempted to show what it would be like to be a gay man in a small town in the late '40s, when two men kissing would have been a revolutionary act." The play most recently ran in Chicago in early 2007, where it was called "the definitive work capturing the homosexual experience in the non-urban American Midwest over the last 50 years.". The specific Minnesota connection of the play is unstated, but playwright Blessing interval up in the Twin Cities region and attended Minnetonka High School before leaving for Reed College in Oregon in the late 1960s.

Hockey is a prominent sport in Thief River Falls, much like the rest of Minnesota.

The town/city has three arenas: Ralph Engelstad Arena, the Huck Olson Memorial Arena, and the old Thief River Falls arena positioned downtown.

Since 2016, the town/city has been home to the Thief River Falls Norskies, which plays in the Canadian-based Superior International Junior Hockey League.

The "Mini" Ralph Englested Arena, Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Thief River Falls, along with Grand Forks, North Dakota, hosted the 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships between December 25, 2004 and January 4, 2005.

The Ralph Engelstad Arena hosted the Thief River Falls games, one of which was broadcast on sports network, ESPN.

The Pennington County Fairgrounds in Thief River Falls is the host to an annual Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Division (TPD) bull riding event.

Bill Carlson was born in Thief River Falls but was raised in St.

Ralph Engelstad was born in Thief River Falls on January 28, 1930 and was the owner of the Imperial Palace in Paradise, Nevada.

Englestad donated funds to build the Ralph Engelstad Arena (Minnesota) in Thief River Falls in 2003.

Brynn Hartman was born Vicki Omdahl in Thief River Falls on April 11, 1958.

Agnes Israelson was the first woman in Minnesota to serve as a town/city mayor.

Gary Paulsen, noted author of such classics as Hatchet, interval up in Thief River Falls.

Steiger Tractor, Steiger 4wd, Steiger Four Wheel Drive, Steiger Panther, Steiger Cougar, Steiger Tiger, Steiger Puma, Steiger Bearcat, Steiger Wildcat, Steiger Series III, Steiger Series II, Steiger Series IV, Steiger Series I, Steiger 1000 Series, Steiger 9100 series, Case International, Case - IH, Case New Holland, Fargo North Dakota, Bonanazaville, Steiger #1, Steiger Barney, Steiger 2200, Steiger V grill, Steiger Safari Cab, Steiger Tiger IV KP525, Case - IH 9190 steiger4wdtractorhistory Richard Connema, "The West Coast Premier of Lee Blessing's, Thief River", San Francisco Chronicle, 2002 Reed, Theater: The Other Side of the 'River', Windy City Times, Feb.

Media related to Thief River Falls at Wikimedia Commons City of Thief River Falls Thief River Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau Municipalities and communities of Pennington County, Minnesota, United States