Elk River is a city in Sherburne County, Minnesota, United States, approximately 34 miles northwest of Minneapolis. It is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Elk Rivers. The population was 25,835 at the 2020 census, making Elk River the second largest city in the Central Minnesota region after St. Cloud. It is the county seat. U.S. Highways 10 and 169 and State Highway 101 are three of the main routes in Elk River, and a station on the Northstar Commuter Rail lineage to downtown Minneapolis is located in the city. Elk River is located 33.2 miles northwest of Minneapolis and 37.4 miles southeast of St. Cloud.

The hardwood-forested hills in which Elk River is situated was pushed occurring by the last glacier that highly developed across Minnesota. These hills are made happening of indecent materials which is the defense gravel mining is as a result prevalent in Elk River, and also the excuse much of the Place is not considered great farmland for culture and agriculture use.

To the south of Elk River lies the prairie. This natural boundary between the prairie and woods was next a boundary together with Indian nations. Two battles in the company of the Dakota and Ojibwe took place where the Elk River meets the Mississippi in 1772 and 1773.

Zebulon Pike passed through the area on his 1805 exploration of the Upper Mississippi River and named the Elk River after the herds of elk he motto in the area. David Frederic Faribault, son of French-Canadian fur trader Jean-Baptiste Faribault built a trading post near the conjunction of the Elk and Mississippi Rivers in 1846, which he higher sold, in 1848, to H.M. Rice and S.P. Folsom. Folsom moved his associates to the place and built a log cabin. French fur trader and guide Pierre Bottineau bought the post and cabin from Folsom. The trading proclaim stood on a bluff just north of the present day bridge across the Elk River upon main street. Bottineau after that built a hotel in 1850 upon the bank of the Mississippi approximately a half mile below the mouth of the Elk. The two rivers and the Red River Trail, which passed nearby, made this area a good location for commerce.