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() is a city in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was estimated at 13,419 in 2007. It is the county seat of Beltrami County. Bemidji lies on the southwest shore of Lake Bemidji, the northernmost lake feeding the Mississippi River and, as such, is deemed "the first city on the Mississippi." Bemidji is also dubbed the "curling capital," of the U.S.
), meaning "lake that traverses another body of water". On occasion, in Ojibwe, the city of Bemidji is called
("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 home to Bemidji State University, Northwest Technical College, and Oak Hills Christian College. It's also headquarters of Bemidji Woolen Mills. The statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, local landmarks, are downtown on the lakefront. Lake Bemidji State Park offers year-round recreation.
It is also the home to one of five medivac helicopter flight bases in the state for North Memorial Medical Center, (a Level 1 Trauma Center located in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area), North Country Health Services and MeritCare Clinic.
Paul Bunyan Broadcasting, a group of sixteen radio stations across northern Minnesota, has its headquarters here.
NFL Pro Football Hall of Famer Dave Casper was born in Bemidji, as was actress Jane Russell.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.9 square miles (33.5 km²), of which, 11.8 square miles (30.5 km²) of it is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) of it (9.11%) is water.
Four-lane U.S. Route 2, U.S. Route 71, and Minnesota State Highway 197 are three of the main routes in the city. Minnesota State Highways 89 and 371 are nearby.
The largest earthquake on record for the Bemidji area was recorded on September 3, 1917. It is claimed that it shook houses down in Bemidji and across northern Minnesota. (Little Falls Daily Transcript, September 4, 1917) The epicenter was about 95 miles away in Staples, Minnesota. It affected an area of 48,000 km², and was rated a magnitude 4.4 with a maximum intensity of VI to VII. The closest and most recent quake occurred in Walker, MN on September 27, 1982 with a magnitude of 2.0.