Homesteaders chose this heavily wooded area for their home in 1869. From their humble log dwellings, the whistle of the train was to be heard just twelve years later in 1881. This was the beginning of a very busy little town, which we know today as Underwood. The railroad was petitioned to change the name from Southvick and the post office was also petitioned to change their name from Turtle Lake Post Office-all to Underwood! The populace of the village called their settlement Underwood, in honor of Mr. A. J. Underwood, editor of the Weekly Journal at Fergus Falls, someone known personally by nearly every settler at that time, and a man of vast knowledge in the history of Otter Tail County.