Bemidji, Minnesota

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bemidji, Minnesota
Statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox
Statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox
Location in Beltrami County and the state of Minnesota
Location in Beltrami County and the state of Minnesota
Coordinates: 47°28′25″N, 94°52′49″W
Country United States
State Minnesota
County Beltrami
Founded
Incorporated
Government
 - Mayor Richard Lehmann
Area
 - City 12.9 sq mi (33.5 km²)
 - Land 11.8 sq mi (30.5 km²)
 - Water 1.2 sq mi (3.1 km²)
Time zone Central (UTC-6)
 - Summer (DST) Central (UTC-5)
ZIP code 56601
Website: http://www.ci.bemidji.mn.us

Bemidji is a city in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 11,917 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Beltrami County6. Bemidji is best known nationally as being the "curling capital" of the United States. The skip of the Bronze Medal winning men's national curling team competing at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino is Bemidji native Pete Fenson, 37, and the skip of the women's national curling team, also competing at the Olympics, is fellow Bemidjian Cassandra Johnson, 24. Bemidji natives and sisters Kari Liapis Erickson and Stacy Liapis represented the US in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Bemidji lies on the southwest shore of Lake Bemidji, the northernmost lake feeding the Mississippi River.

Its name derives from the Ojibwe Bay-may-ji-ga-maug (Double-Vowel orthography: bemijigamaag)[1], meaning "lake that traverses another body of water". On occasion in Ojibwe, the city of Bemidji is called Wabigamaang (at the lake channel/narrows) because part of the city is situated on the Lakes Bemidji-Irving narrows, located on the south end of Lake Bemidji and extends to the eastern shore of Lake Irving.

Bemidji is the home to Bemidji State University, Northwest Technical College and Oak Hills Christian College. Bemidjipedia has also started a wiki about everything pertaining to Bemidji and the surrounding area. The statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are well-known landmarks. Bemidji is also the first city on the Mississippi River. The lake attracts water recreation for summer tourists. Lake Bemidji State Park is nearby.

NFL Pro Football Hall of Famer Dave Casper was born in Bemidji, as was actress Jane Russell.

The town is known for its strawberries, with opportunities for visitors to "pick their own:" [1]

Contents

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 33.5 km² (12.9 mi²). 30.5 km² (11.8 mi²) of it is land and 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²) of it (9.11%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there were 11,917 people, 4,669 households, and 2,427 families residing in the city. The population density was 390.6/km² (1,011.8/mi²). There were 4,948 housing units at an average density of 162.2/km² (420.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.31% Caucasian, 0.76% African American, 11.52% Native American, 1.12% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 2.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.14% of the population.

There were 4,669 households out of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.0% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.0% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 24.9% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 15.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 87.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $28,072, and the median income for a family was $37,250. Males had a median income of $28,312 versus $20,694 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,264. About 13.2% of families and 19.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.7% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.

Bemidji serves as a community hub for over 55,000 people. The majority of the area's population lives in townships that border the city limits. With high growth in jobs, Bemidji is seeing population growth, much of which is unmeasured due to the townships' refusal of annexation.

[edit] Culture

Bemidji is a progressive college town, with strong technology and art influences. The city's streets are lined with small shops and art sculptures. The community puts high importance on art, music, science, and religion. The city offers a quaint, laidback feel and lifestyle.[citation needed] Politically the city is relatively liberal. The Concordia Language Villages are located near Bemidji and this has perhaps been influential in the existence of several language conversational groups (including French, Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, and German) that meet weekly in local coffee houses.

A highlight of Bemidji summers is the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, a non-equity summer stock theater. Now in its 56th season, the Playhouse offers Bemidji area residents the opportunity to see a combination of the best local, state and national talent in a variety of theatrical offerings.

It has been estimated that as of 2003 close to 10% of the population of Bemidji had been exposed to a psychoeducational model known as Health Realization (Pransky, J. 2003. Prevention from the Inside-Out. NorthEast Health Realization Institute, p. 156).

The city is well known to fans of the sport of curling. Both men's and women's rinks from the Bemidji Curling Club won the right to represent the United States in the 2005 World Curling Championship and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Pete Fenson, a member of the US curling team that took the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics is a native of Bemidji.

[edit] Media

[edit] Newspapers

Local newspaper
Regional newspapers - these newspapers from other cities are also available

[edit] TV stations

Most of Bemidji's TV stations primarily rebroadcast the television stations of Minneapolis.

[edit] Radio stations

FM radio
AM radio

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Note

  1. ^ Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary.

[edit] External links


Flag of Minnesota
State of Minnesota
Saint Paul (capital)
Topics

Cities | Climate | Colleges and universities | Congressional districts | Demographics | Economy | Geology | Governors | High schools | Historical Congressional delegations | History | Lakes | Music | Naval ships | People | Political parties | Regions | Rivers | School districts | Scouting | Sports | State fair | State parks | Territory | Townships | Transportation

Regions

Arrowhead | Boundary Waters | Buffalo Ridge | Central | Coulee Region | Greater Minnesota | Iron Range | Minnesota River Valley | North Shore | Northwest Angle | Pipestone | Red River Valley | Southeast | Twin Cities metropolitan area

Major cities

Bloomington | Duluth | Minneapolis | Rochester | Saint Cloud | Saint Paul

Smaller cities
over 10,000
population

Albert Lea | Alexandria | Andover | Anoka | Apple Valley | Austin | Bemidji | Blaine | Brainerd | Brooklyn Center | Brooklyn Park | Buffalo | Burnsville | Champlin | Chanhassen | Chaska | Cloquet | Columbia Heights | Coon Rapids | Cottage Grove | Crystal | Eagan | East Bethel | Eden Prairie | Edina | Elk River | Fairmont | Faribault | Farmington | Fergus Falls | Forest Lake | Fridley | Golden Valley | Ham Lake | Hastings | Hibbing | Hopkins | Hutchinson | Inver Grove Heights | Lakeville | Lino Lakes | Mankato | Maple Grove | Maplewood | Marshall | Mendota Heights | Minnetonka | Monticello | Moorhead | Mounds View | New Brighton | New Hope | New Ulm | North Branch | North Mankato | North St. Paul | Northfield | Oakdale | Otsego | Owatonna | Plymouth | Prior Lake | Ramsey | Red Wing | Richfield | Robbinsdale | Rosemount | Roseville | St. Louis Park | St. Michael | St. Peter | Sartell | Sauk Rapids | Savage | Shakopee | Shoreview | South St. Paul | Stillwater | Vadnais Heights | West St. Paul | White Bear Lake | White Bear Township | Willmar | Winona | Woodbury | Worthington

Counties

Aitkin | Anoka | Becker | Beltrami | Benton | Big Stone | Blue Earth | Brown | Carlton | Carver | Cass | Chippewa | Chisago | Clay | Clearwater | Cook | Cottonwood | Crow Wing | Dakota | Dodge | Douglas | Faribault | Fillmore | Freeborn | Goodhue | Grant | Hennepin | Houston | Hubbard | Isanti | Itasca | Jackson | Kanabec | Kandiyohi | Kittson | Koochiching | Lac qui Parle | Lake | Lake of the Woods | Le Sueur | Lincoln | Lyon | McLeod | Mahnomen | Marshall | Martin | Meeker | Mille Lacs | Morrison | Mower | Murray | Nicollet | Nobles | Norman | Olmsted | Otter Tail | Pennington | Pine | Pipestone | Polk | Pope | Ramsey | Red Lake | Redwood | Renville | Rice | Rock | Roseau | St. Louis | Scott | Sherburne | Sibley | Stearns | Steele | Stevens | Swift | Todd | Traverse | Wabasha | Wadena | Waseca | Washington | Watonwan | Wilkin | Winona | Wright | Yellow Medicine


Coordinates: 47°28′25″N, 94°52′49″W

In other languages