This was the site of Chief Medicine Bottle’s Dakota village. Plans for a town earned it a place on the maps, but it drew few settlers. There were actually two Pine Bend post offices in Inver Grove Township at one point. The first was established and operated between 1854-1859, the other (also associated previously with Centralia) between 1856-1904 (which subsequently became Athens and Rich Valley respectively). Today the Pine Bend Bluffs area is one of the largest unprotected natural tracts of land left in the Twin Cities metro, located along the Mississippi River on property owned by Flint Hills Resources (formerly Koch Petroleum Group). The Flint Hills Resources oil refinery has been located at the Pine Bend industrial area further West of the river in Rosemount since 1955.
A monument marking the location of the original Dakota village can be seen on Highway 55/52.