Brainerd was first seen by European settlers on Christmas Day in 1805, when Zebulon Pike stopped there while searching for the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Crow Wing Village, a fur and logging community near Fort Ripley, brought settlers to the area in the mid-19th century.

When a group of Ojibwe approached the town, troops from Fort Ripley were called to prevent a potential reprisal.

As it turned out, the Ojibwe only wanted to sell blueberries and the settlers avoided a bloody misunderstanding.

[9] On January 11, 1876, the state legislature revoked Brainerd's charter for six years, in reaction to the election of local handyman Thomas Lanihan as mayor instead of Judge C.B.

Participation in the nationwide railroad strike on July 1, 1922, left most Brainerd residents unemployed and embittered many of those involved.

On October 27, 1933, the First National Bank of Brainerd became briefly famous when it was held up by Baby Face Nelson and his gang.

Over the years, increased efficiency and the better positioning of the more centralized Livingston, Montana, shops led to a decline in the importance of a railroad station that once employed over 1,000 and serviced locomotives for the whole Northern Pacific line.

The former Northern Pacific railway station has been converted to breweries, coffee shops, and event centers available to rent for special occasions.

Brainerd is just north of Minnesota's geographical center, in a relatively hilly terminal moraine area created by the Superior Lobe of the Labradorian ice sheet.

The town occupies land on both sides of the Mississippi River, though its older parts are almost all to the east.

Brainerd has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with vast seasonal differences.

Summers are warm, and occasionally hot, with high humidity, whereas winters are often severely cold.

The Burlington Northern (Brainerd/Baxter) United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site is on the boundary between Brainerd and Baxter.

This created a toxic sludge that contaminated both the underlying soils and the groundwater with creosote and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

31.4% were of German, 28.1% were Finnish, 17.7% Norwegian, 7.1% Swedish, 6.8% Irish, and 6.1% United States or American ancestry.

[16] According to its website, the festival's mission is to connect the nation's best performers and audiences through excellent classical music and inspiring education.

There are educational programs for children in the area with musicians from across the world and high-caliber concerts that are free to the public.