WALKER, a city and the county seat, located on Leech Lake, Shingobee Township, sections 21 and 22, was named in honor of Thomas Barlow Walker, who had large lumbering and land interests in Cass County and in several other counties of northern Minnesota. He was born in Xenia, Ohio, February 1, 1840, came to Minnesota in 1862 and was the surveyor of parts of the St. Paul and Duluth Railway line, commenced in 1868 the purchase of great tracts of pine lands, and later built and operated, in Crookston and elsewhere, many large lumber mills. He resided in Minneapolis and maintained a very valuable and choice art gallery to which the public were freely welcomed. An autobiographic paper by Mr. Walker is published in the MHS Collections ([1915] 15: 455-78, with his portrait).

The city was incorporated as a village on March 10, 1896, and its post office also opened in 1896. In its early development, the site was a resort community with abundant hunting and fishing in very scenic surroundings. In 1900 Fort Walker was at this location with Lieut. A. B. Downworth, commander. The village had a station of the Great Northern Railway in section 22.