Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Nisswa, MN

Nisswa is a city in Crow Wing County in Minnesota's Brainerd Lakes Area, on Highway 371 about 13 miles north of Brainerd and near Gull Lake.

The settlement began in 1898 when Ernest Smiley established a railroad stop and post office called Smiley, and Smiley Township was founded in 1900.

When the village incorporated in 1908, resident Leon Lum convinced locals to rename it Nisswa, from the Ojibwe word 'nessawae,' meaning 'in the middle' — a reference to its position between Clark, Nisswa, and Roy lakes.

Nisswa became a municipality on December 4, 1946.

Nisswa had 1,967 residents at the 2020 census; the 2010 census counted 1,971 people in 876 households.

Water covers 7.56 of Nisswa's 18.34 square miles, and the city is surrounded by lakes including Nisswa Lake, Roy Lake, Gull Lake, Lake Hubert, Clark Lake, Round Lake, and North Long Lake.

Nisswa is famous for its Turtle Races, held on Wednesday afternoons every summer since 1966, drawing hundreds of spectators and more than 200 racing turtles on a busy day.

The Paul Bunyan State Trail, built on the old Northern Pacific rail line, runs through Nisswa, and the former Northern Pacific depot now serves as a historical museum.

Nisswa's compact downtown packs more than 50 shops into about three blocks, serving the Brainerd Lakes vacation trade.

Upscale resorts such as Grand View Lodge on Gull Lake helped transform Nisswa in the 1990s into a golf-and-lodging destination for Twin Cities vacationers.