Wawina, Minnesota
unincorporated community in Itasca County, Minnesota
Wawina is an unincorporated community in Wawina Township, Itasca County, Minnesota, United States.
The community is located between Grand Rapids and Floodwood at the junction of U.S. Highway 2 and Itasca County Road 25.
Nearby places include Floodwood, Swan River, Warba, Jacobson, and Goodland.
Wawina is located 13 miles northwest of Floodwood. Wawina is also located 23 miles southeast of Grand Rapids; and 53 miles northwest of Duluth. The boundary line between Itasca, Saint Louis, and Aitkin counties is nearby.
The community of Wawina is located within Wawina Township (population 77).
ZIP Codes 55736 (Floodwood) and 55784 (Swan River) meet at Wawina.
History
A post office called Wawina was established in 1912, and remained in operation until 1993. Wawina is a name derived from the Ojibwe language waawiinaa meaning "I mention him often" from wiinzh meaning "mention him/her".
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Wawina, Minnesota” is unincorporated community in Itasca County, Minnesota. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Wawina, Minnesota and unincorporated, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “unincorporated community in Itasca County, Minnesota” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7975621. Authority coordinates are 47.053, -93.119. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912 and 1993.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wawina, Minnesota”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wawina, Minnesota primary sources, Wawina, Minnesota archive and Wawina research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wawina, Minnesota”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wawina, Minnesota” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.