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The two rivers, Rum and Mississippi, played an integral part in Anoka's settlement. Father Lewis Hennepin first visited this area in 1680 and settlers came to stay in 1844. Prior to the 1800's, the area surrounding Anoka was claimed by the Dakota, but later the Ojibwa pushed the Dakota westward across the Mississippi. The territory of Anoka then became a neutral ground between the two tribes. The name Anoka was derived from two Indian words, the Dakota word A-NO-KA-TAN-HAN meaning on both sides of the river, and the Ojibwa word ON-O-KAY, meaning working waters.

The first settler in the Anoka area was Joseph Belanger who built a log cabin on the east side of the Rum River near its mouth. Initially, the cabin was used as a trading post with the Indians, but later was used as a temporary home for a number of early settlers.

In the late 1840's, the first logging operations took place in the Anoka area. The logs were floated down the Rum River to the Mississippi River to the sawmill in St. Anthony. In 1853, the first dam was constructed on the Rum River at its present location and in 1854 the first sawmill began operation. Other saw mills, wood working plants, and cooper shops-barrel makers quickly sprang up along the banks of the Rum River using water as their source of power. For the next twenty years milling was an important industry in Anoka.

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