This week we're showing you everything the beautiful city of Minocqua has to offer, and we're also taking time to remember its humble beginnings.

Many residents who've lived here their entire lives don't know how Minocqua got its name, or when people first settled in this area.

"There was a Chippewa Indian village on the west end of shore of Lake Minocqua, and the village was called three words," says Dan Scrobell, a Minocqua Historian. He says the village got it's name in the 1860's when government surveyors first came to the area.

"After the 1860's there was a battle between the Chippewa and the Sioux and the Indians tried to move into this area. There was a battle between them here on the shores of Lake Minocqua," says Scrobell.

Soon after in January 1888 settlers came to the area via the Chicago - Milwaukee - St. Paul railroad The railroad company promoted Minocqua as a tourist attraction as way for locals to try the railways up North.

"The rest of the island which is now the village of Minocqua was all pine trees and when the railroad first came into town there was no place to build," says Scrobell.

The very first lot went on sale right away, and the small town began to boom with eager travelers.

"Because that complimented it's rail road traffic. Rail road traffic was heavy with logging destinations in the winter, fall winter and spring and then in the summer when there wasn't much logging they complimented tourists. As the rail road was built up here, Minocqua and the Chain of Lakes was recognized as a prime fishing destination, a prime vacationing destination," says Scrobell.

From then on, newspapers from Wausau and Merrill touted the small town as the new hot spot.

"Minocqua right from the start was more of a commercial center it had a bank starting in 1891 it had the only banking right in this area," says Scrobell.

When the Great Depression hit, many mills pulled out of the area. Minocqua was unaffected at the time, unlike Tomahawk - because it relied more on the tourism industry. The Great Minocqua Fire on May 31, 1912 nearly took them out before that ever happened.

"It started in one of the big hotels in the commercial district and was building in the attic and was getting control," says Scrobell.

He says when the blaze started the town chairman suggested to try blowing out the fire with dynamite.

"It blew off the roof of the hotel and expanded the fire greatly and actually why the big fire spread," says Scrobell.

Pictures show the aftermath, where the fire spread south through the downtown area, burning half the commercial buildings in town.

"They did stop it before it burned the entire block down but it did burn about half the business district in the town," says Scrobell.

The fire even destroyed one of the most important landmarks in town, the train depot. Most of the buildings you see were built after the great fire.

To read on, click on History of Minocqua Part Two.