Here’s some just-released census data. Scott Shaffer made this lovely chart breaking down population change in Minnesota’s 87 unique and individual counties. Here you go: Here’s what Shaffer says about it: I made a chart showing the relation between the rate of population growth for each county and the population of each county in 2010. […]
After a ridiculously warm weekend, it seems like spring has arrived early. Before you know it, thousands of us Minneapolis-types will be driving up Interstate 35 to the cool shores of Gitche Gumee. Since its post-industrial low point a few decades ago, Duluth has built Canal Park into one of the top-drawing tourist spots in the state. […]
Sherburne County lies between the two metropolitan areas of St. Cloud and the Twin Cities. Highway 10 will take you directly from St. Paul to St. Cloud, passing through Elk River, Big Lake, Becker and Clear Lake. US Census data indicates that the county’s population more than doubled between 1990 and 2010, from roughly 42,000 […]
This story is not unique: a mid-sized Midwestern town is preparing to adopt a 50-year-old neighborhood. If you read between the lines, news of annexation often times read as case studies against low-density suburban development. This article from Mankato demonstrates (unintentionally) why these types of subdivisions can be so problematic. All quotes related to the annexation were taken from the […]
Cargill may be headquartered in Minnesota now, but it got its start 150 years ago in a small Iowa town. Conover was one of many prairie communities that sprang up as the railroads ventured westward. It was sketched out in 1864 as the McGregor Western Railroad moved into the area and incorporated in 1866. The town […]
Northfield’s 1888 train depot is on the move this week. The Save the Northfield Depot (STND) group has been working for five years to raise funds and navigate the political, environmental and legal obstacles to be able to save the historic building from destruction and move it a block north up the (rail) road. Seeing ground […]
Here’s a chart from Perfect Duluth Day, my favorite website about the Zenith City, showing the population from 1860 to the most recent census: Even more than the Twin Cities, Duluth was a real boom town. It’s crazy to imagine what living there must have been like when the population was growing exponentially. The population peaked in […]
In some ways, Christianity and other faiths created the concept of tourism. They created sacred sites and encouraged their followers to make pilgrimage trips to visit them. This created the need for food, lodging, souvenirs, and various other goods and services that form the backbone of modern tourism. My wife recently got a small grant […]
Grand Marais (French for Great Marsh) (map), on the North Shore of Lake Superior, has the benefit of being primarily a tourist town (the “coolest” small town in America, apparently). It’s nominal population of over 13oo belies its importance as a regional hub in the summer for tens of thousands of vacationing Minnesotans. The core […]
Frank Lloyd Wright is a renowned as a great architect. His city plans are less well-loved. In the 1930s he proposed Broadacre City, a new American landscape where everyone would have an acre of land, a car, and a gyrocopter. Fueling those cars requires gasoline. Gasoline requires Gas Stations. FLW, being an architect, had a gas […]