City of Kelliher 

Gateway to Upper Red Lake
 
 
 
 
 
 

History of Kelliher

Main Street Kelliher 1939 (Photo by John Vachon)
Main Street Kelliher 1939 (Photo by John Vachon)

KELLIHER Township and its city, at the end of a branch railway built for lumbering, were

Kelliher Public School - 1910
Kelliher Public School - 1910
named for A. O. Kelliher, a former agent here for lumber companies. The city was incorporated as a village on October 3, 1903, the year its post office was established; in 1892 Ulysses (Jess) and John Freestone filed stone and timber claims, and it is Jess's claim that became the site of Kelliher; in 1897 the claim was sold to a Weyerhaeuser
Kelliher Water Tower
Kelliher Water Tower
man, who in turn sold the land to the Crookston Lumber Company, a large landholder in the Bullhead Lake area. The city was platted by A. O. Kelliher for George S. Eddy of the Crookston Lumber Company. It had a station of the Minnesota and International Railway.