Bloomington History Clock Tower Summary

1600 - 1820

Early Native American Inhabitants

I-CA-HTA-KA--The Dakotah Indian name for Bloomington means "where water touches the bluffs." Indian tribes lived in villages on this land along the Mni-sota  River. Sustained with an abundance of available food, they lived in their teepees,  hunted wild game and birds, fished the rivers, planted and cultivated their crops. Burial mounds on the bluffs indicate a long period of occupation. In 1805 the Dakotah Indians signed the first land treaty with explorer Zebulon Pike who had been hired by the U.S. Government to search for a location for a fort.

Watercolor renditions © 1996 by Elizabeth Hood Anderson, Artist. History Note Cards are a project of Bloomington Community Foundation and the Bloomington History Clock Tower Association.