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is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,043 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2006 was 3,318. Pine City is the county seat of, and the largest city in, Pine County.
Its name is an English translation of "Chengwatana" (Pine Town), originally an Ojibwe village located just east of Pine City, along the Snake River. The Ojibwe name for the city is
(on a land-point full of white pines). A portion of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is located within Pine City.
The Dakota Indians were the first in the area. With the Ojibwa expansion, the area became a mixture of the two. By early 1800s, the area became predominantly Ojibwa. They trapped and hunted on the land and traded furs at the nearby trading posts. With the Treaty of St. Peters of 1837, dubbed the "White Pine Treaty", lumbering began in the area. Lumbering, though, was limited by access to the available waterways.
In the late 1800s, European settlers came to the Pine City area, which was still heavily forested with thick stands of white pine, some of the largest in the state. When the railroad arrived in Pine City so began a logging expansion. Pine City prospered and grew into a city that had everything needed to serve residents, farmers, and the fast expanding lumber industry. Pine City was founded in 1881.
When Buchanan County was merged with Pine County in 1861, the county seat was consolidated to Pine City because it was already well-established. Because of its location on the far southern edge of Pine County, there have been attempts over the years to move the county seat to more centrally located Hinckley and Sandstone. However, being the most populous city in the county, Pine City always prevailed as the county seat.
In 2005, the city became the first in rural Minnesota with an annual gay pride event and one of only two rural communities to hold such an event in the United States (See worldwide "list of LGBT events").
Christmas trees for the Minnesota Governor's Residence have often come from the Pine City area.