The first people to travel the Crow River were the Wahpekute (Shooters Among the Leaves) band of the Oceti Sakowin meaning Seven Council Fires, known as the Great Sioux Nation.
In 1853, Wright County was open to white settlement. Trappers, traders, farmers, and shopkeepers began to move into the Big Woods following the Crow River to the area which was to become Delano.
Although the river provided transportation, power and recreation, Delano has had a long history of high water, ice dams and flooding.
The Crow River Bridges provided a important link between settlements on both sides of the river when the water was not low enough to ford.
1868: First wooden bridge was built in Crow River (Delano) by the village, town proprietors and the township.
In 1876 a dam was constructed across the Crow River to work a turbine for the saw and grist mill. Ice broke the dam the next spring and the land south of town was flooded. The dam was abandoned.
A new iron wagon bridge was built across the Crow River in 1889.
Major flooding events occured on the Crow River in Delano in 1897, 1916, 1952 and 1957.
Most recent major flood in Delano in the memories of many was the Flood of 1965. The Crow River crested 18.6 feet.
A helicopter had to rescue workers from the roof of the Utilities building in the Flood of 1965.
By the end of the year a new concrete bridge consisting of a 30-foot roadway and two four-feet sidewalks was built.
High waters plagued downtown business for many years. City workers and volunteers lined the banks with walls of sandbags.
In 2015 the city installed removable flood walls along the river.
In 2019, high water caused the bridge to close and the flood walls to be use for the first time.