Minnesota's 50 Best Towns
In the next couple of weeks, I'm going to unveil in descending order the 50 Minnesota communities that impressed me most in my many years of road-tripping through the state, specifically my pursuit of attending all 734 of Minnesota's incorporated communities which I just completed last September. As with my top-150 country songs of all-time list from last year, this list will look nothing any other Minnesotan's would-be list of favorite communities as my personal tastes and evaluating criteria are unique and often fairly arbitrary. My only disclaimer is that all 50 of my favorites are communities from outstate Minnesota. Rather than prolong this explanation, I'll simply carry on with the first segment of the list, consisting of the communities that rank 50-41....
#50--Red Lake Falls (Red Lake County, estimated population 1,400). Not to be confused with the Indian reservation town of Red Lake about an hour east. This community, far removed from the Native American culture, is actually named after the Red Lake River and is an agricultural town that has gotten a boost from the recent growth of the sugar beet market in the past decade. Politically, it's a DFL stronghold at the local and state level, but inexplicably voted for George Bush by narrow two-point margins in the last two Presidential elections, the only Republican I've ever seen win Red Lake Falls in the last 20 years. Despite declining population and being in a county ranked near the bottom in per capita income in Minnesota, Red Lake Falls is very well-kept and seems much larger than it actually is when one drives through on State Highway 32, dipping into the river valley that divides the town and then hooking around to explore much of the rest of the community. With the frequently long expanses of highway between towns of measurable size in northwestern Minnesota, Red Lake Falls is a very pleasant oasis of civilization.
#49--Morris (Stevens County, est. pop. 5,000). I'm a rare bird, but I just love western Minnesota, and Morris actually qualifies as a population center in the state's sparse west-central farm region. It's a college town, with one of the four University of Minnesota campuses in the community, that helps keep the economy alive in a struggling region. The overwhelming majority of small towns in west-central Minnesota lean DFL thanks to the farm populist movement of a century ago, but Morris' academic culture lends to an even deeper DFL tilt, which helps offset the uber-Republican Hutterite communities that live in the rural areas surrounding Morris. The town is very clean with a nice, vibrant downtown area. It's just too bad there aren't more opportunities for college students in Morris to stick around after graduation.
#48--Bemidji (Beltrami County, est. pop. 12,000). Another college town, Bemidji is home to a state university and is located in northwestern Minnesota, but in a woodsier setting than the farm town of Red Lake Falls. With scenic Lake Bemidji on the east side of town, the city is a pretty significant tourist draw, which in general takes away some of the appeal for me in most such communities. But the remoteness of Bemidji, more than four hours north of the Twin Cities, along with its college culture and the Native American influence with the state's two largest tribes less than a half hour away, give this city some extra identity that a more typical "touristy lake town" like Alexandria lacks. Politically, Bemidji would be divided if not for the college, but the college gives the Democrats a clearcut, if not overwhelming, advantage.
#47--Windom (Cottonwood County, est. pop. 4,500). This southwestern Minnesota farm community is located right near the source of the Des Moines River, which obviously swells into a massive body of water as it flows south into Iowa. The community is very Norman Rockwell-esque in a number of ways, but is lucky enough to have a Toro lawn mower plant with a strong union that gives the community a healthy Democratic advantage come election season. This is one of the original towns where my dad used to do vinyl repair work at car lots when I was a boy in the early 1990s, so it's also a sentimental favorite.
#46--Garrison (Crow Wing County, est. pop. 150). I typically have little time for overtly commercialized towns feeding off the fishing and tourism trade, but I nonetheless have a soft spot for Garrison, a tiny burg on the west side of Lake Mille Lacs, one of the largest lakes in Minnesota, located in the east-central region of the state about an hour north of the Twin Cities. At the age of 14, I was thoroughly impressed riding through Garrison for the first time and seeing a Dairy Queen and a McDonald's in a town of 150 people (I believe Garrison remains the smallest city in the world with a McDonald's), but its that vantage point of Lake Mille Lacs that really wins me over today. And Garrison is a Democratic stronghold as well, which may be the product of spillover from the nearby Mille Lacs Indian Reservation or may simply be a progressive-minded upper-income white community.
#45--Virginia (St. Louis County, est. pop. 9,000). Northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range is one of the most fascinating regions of the Minnesota, in terms of the natural beauty of its surroundings, the unique blend of central and Eastern European ethnic groups that settled there, and the gritty blue-collar culture of the hardscrabble mining towns. Virginia is, for all intents and purposes, the epicenter of the Iron Range, with aging two-story homes in every corner of town that look like they're straight out of oldest and most rugged neighborhoods of Minneapolis. The toughness of the town contrasts impressively with the amazing natural beauty of the woods surrounding the city. The Iron Range is Minnesota's most renowned DFL stronghold, and Virginia is certainly part of that, going Democrat by margins of close to 3-1 in most elections.
#44--Effie (Itasca County, est. pop. 125). There are very few Minnesota towns as remote as Effie. Geographically, it's located about an hour northwest of the Iron Range in an isolated stretch of forest area almost completely untouched by civilization. Two of the most exciting roads I've navigated in my decades of Minnesota road-tripping are state highway 38 heading north to Effie and state highway 1 heading west to Effie. Both feature a roller coaster of windy twists and 10 mph hairpin turns through the north woods. These roads are a blast in nice weather on open roads, but if the weather turns ugly or another car catches up to you from behind and starts tailgaiting, the highways instantly go from being exciting to huge sources of stress. Once you get to the town of Effie, there's very little to do, but it's hard to miss the giant mosquito landmark in the park in town, on display to remind you of the area's most abundant "wildlife". I imagine a sense of humor is an absolute must for anyone who lives in a place as remote as Effie! Politically, Effie is full of conservative Democrats who can usually be counted on to tow the party line, but probably have more in common with the Democrats of West Virginia than the Democrats of Minneapolis.
43. Ulen (Clay County, est. pop. 500). This small farm town in the southern Red River Valley near Fargo-Moorhead area is a sentimental favorite more than anything. As a boy in the late 80s, I would travel with my grandparents when they went to visit my aunt (and my favorite cousin) who live in far northwestern Minnesota. I was getting hungry and requested we stop off for a bite to eat at the next town, which happened to be Ulen. A localized version of a Tastee-Freeze was the only option, and I ordered a hot dog and a chocolate shake. These small-town Dairy Queen ripoffs were all the rage in the Red River Valley back in the late 1980s. It seems like the fad has died, but I still have a soft spot for this farm town because of it. Politically, Ulen is among the most reliably DFL farm towns in a county that leans Democratic, but can't always be relied upon.
42. St. Peter (Nicollet County, est. pop. 10,000). The small liberal arts school Gustavus Adolphus is located in this scenic river town on the banks of the Minnesota River. The town always had an impressive look and a progressive feel due to the college, but suffered a major setback when a huge tornado busted through town in 1998, wiping out most of the trees dotting the Gustavus campus and severely damaging some of the oldest and most architecturally impressive homes in town. St. Peter bounced back quickly though and its comeback was evident as early as the 2000 census when the population had grown slightly despite the tornado damage just two years earlier. This was another town I connected with at a young age since my dad did alot of vinyl repair work here in the early 1990s. Politically, the college culture makes the city of St. Peter an island of progressivism in a conservative pocket of southern Minnesota settled by German immigrants.
41. Crookston (Polk County, est. 8,000). Yet another college town, Crookston is the home of one of the four branches of the University of Minnesota, and by far the most isolated campus of the four, nearly six hours northwest of the Twin Cities. Crookston is better known for the being "the heart of the Red River Valley", an island of civilization amidst the impossibly flat landscape where wheat and sugar beets are grown only about a half hour east of Grand Forks, North Dakota. A sugar beet processing plant is one of the main employers in town, which lends itself to the contrasts of the city. Unlike most Red River Valley towns, Crookston looks old, gritty, and blue-collar, much like my home town of Albert Lea, and has a large population of Hispanics who work at the sugar beet plant. Even the college doesn't dilute the cultural conservatism so prominent in the Red River Valley. Like most of the region, Crookston is a DFL stronghold in state and local elections, but they had an inexplicable weakness for George Bush. Gore did win by a scant one-point margin in 2000, but Bush managed to beat Kerry by the same one-point margin two years later, despite the differences with Bush on trade that would have negatively affected the sugar cartel. Politics aside, its hard not to connect to a town so small with so many thematic contrasts.
That does it for the first 10 communities. I'll expand my list in the days ahead with profiles of the remaining 40 towns.
#50--Red Lake Falls (Red Lake County, estimated population 1,400). Not to be confused with the Indian reservation town of Red Lake about an hour east. This community, far removed from the Native American culture, is actually named after the Red Lake River and is an agricultural town that has gotten a boost from the recent growth of the sugar beet market in the past decade. Politically, it's a DFL stronghold at the local and state level, but inexplicably voted for George Bush by narrow two-point margins in the last two Presidential elections, the only Republican I've ever seen win Red Lake Falls in the last 20 years. Despite declining population and being in a county ranked near the bottom in per capita income in Minnesota, Red Lake Falls is very well-kept and seems much larger than it actually is when one drives through on State Highway 32, dipping into the river valley that divides the town and then hooking around to explore much of the rest of the community. With the frequently long expanses of highway between towns of measurable size in northwestern Minnesota, Red Lake Falls is a very pleasant oasis of civilization.
#49--Morris (Stevens County, est. pop. 5,000). I'm a rare bird, but I just love western Minnesota, and Morris actually qualifies as a population center in the state's sparse west-central farm region. It's a college town, with one of the four University of Minnesota campuses in the community, that helps keep the economy alive in a struggling region. The overwhelming majority of small towns in west-central Minnesota lean DFL thanks to the farm populist movement of a century ago, but Morris' academic culture lends to an even deeper DFL tilt, which helps offset the uber-Republican Hutterite communities that live in the rural areas surrounding Morris. The town is very clean with a nice, vibrant downtown area. It's just too bad there aren't more opportunities for college students in Morris to stick around after graduation.
#48--Bemidji (Beltrami County, est. pop. 12,000). Another college town, Bemidji is home to a state university and is located in northwestern Minnesota, but in a woodsier setting than the farm town of Red Lake Falls. With scenic Lake Bemidji on the east side of town, the city is a pretty significant tourist draw, which in general takes away some of the appeal for me in most such communities. But the remoteness of Bemidji, more than four hours north of the Twin Cities, along with its college culture and the Native American influence with the state's two largest tribes less than a half hour away, give this city some extra identity that a more typical "touristy lake town" like Alexandria lacks. Politically, Bemidji would be divided if not for the college, but the college gives the Democrats a clearcut, if not overwhelming, advantage.
#47--Windom (Cottonwood County, est. pop. 4,500). This southwestern Minnesota farm community is located right near the source of the Des Moines River, which obviously swells into a massive body of water as it flows south into Iowa. The community is very Norman Rockwell-esque in a number of ways, but is lucky enough to have a Toro lawn mower plant with a strong union that gives the community a healthy Democratic advantage come election season. This is one of the original towns where my dad used to do vinyl repair work at car lots when I was a boy in the early 1990s, so it's also a sentimental favorite.
#46--Garrison (Crow Wing County, est. pop. 150). I typically have little time for overtly commercialized towns feeding off the fishing and tourism trade, but I nonetheless have a soft spot for Garrison, a tiny burg on the west side of Lake Mille Lacs, one of the largest lakes in Minnesota, located in the east-central region of the state about an hour north of the Twin Cities. At the age of 14, I was thoroughly impressed riding through Garrison for the first time and seeing a Dairy Queen and a McDonald's in a town of 150 people (I believe Garrison remains the smallest city in the world with a McDonald's), but its that vantage point of Lake Mille Lacs that really wins me over today. And Garrison is a Democratic stronghold as well, which may be the product of spillover from the nearby Mille Lacs Indian Reservation or may simply be a progressive-minded upper-income white community.
#45--Virginia (St. Louis County, est. pop. 9,000). Northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range is one of the most fascinating regions of the Minnesota, in terms of the natural beauty of its surroundings, the unique blend of central and Eastern European ethnic groups that settled there, and the gritty blue-collar culture of the hardscrabble mining towns. Virginia is, for all intents and purposes, the epicenter of the Iron Range, with aging two-story homes in every corner of town that look like they're straight out of oldest and most rugged neighborhoods of Minneapolis. The toughness of the town contrasts impressively with the amazing natural beauty of the woods surrounding the city. The Iron Range is Minnesota's most renowned DFL stronghold, and Virginia is certainly part of that, going Democrat by margins of close to 3-1 in most elections.
#44--Effie (Itasca County, est. pop. 125). There are very few Minnesota towns as remote as Effie. Geographically, it's located about an hour northwest of the Iron Range in an isolated stretch of forest area almost completely untouched by civilization. Two of the most exciting roads I've navigated in my decades of Minnesota road-tripping are state highway 38 heading north to Effie and state highway 1 heading west to Effie. Both feature a roller coaster of windy twists and 10 mph hairpin turns through the north woods. These roads are a blast in nice weather on open roads, but if the weather turns ugly or another car catches up to you from behind and starts tailgaiting, the highways instantly go from being exciting to huge sources of stress. Once you get to the town of Effie, there's very little to do, but it's hard to miss the giant mosquito landmark in the park in town, on display to remind you of the area's most abundant "wildlife". I imagine a sense of humor is an absolute must for anyone who lives in a place as remote as Effie! Politically, Effie is full of conservative Democrats who can usually be counted on to tow the party line, but probably have more in common with the Democrats of West Virginia than the Democrats of Minneapolis.
43. Ulen (Clay County, est. pop. 500). This small farm town in the southern Red River Valley near Fargo-Moorhead area is a sentimental favorite more than anything. As a boy in the late 80s, I would travel with my grandparents when they went to visit my aunt (and my favorite cousin) who live in far northwestern Minnesota. I was getting hungry and requested we stop off for a bite to eat at the next town, which happened to be Ulen. A localized version of a Tastee-Freeze was the only option, and I ordered a hot dog and a chocolate shake. These small-town Dairy Queen ripoffs were all the rage in the Red River Valley back in the late 1980s. It seems like the fad has died, but I still have a soft spot for this farm town because of it. Politically, Ulen is among the most reliably DFL farm towns in a county that leans Democratic, but can't always be relied upon.
42. St. Peter (Nicollet County, est. pop. 10,000). The small liberal arts school Gustavus Adolphus is located in this scenic river town on the banks of the Minnesota River. The town always had an impressive look and a progressive feel due to the college, but suffered a major setback when a huge tornado busted through town in 1998, wiping out most of the trees dotting the Gustavus campus and severely damaging some of the oldest and most architecturally impressive homes in town. St. Peter bounced back quickly though and its comeback was evident as early as the 2000 census when the population had grown slightly despite the tornado damage just two years earlier. This was another town I connected with at a young age since my dad did alot of vinyl repair work here in the early 1990s. Politically, the college culture makes the city of St. Peter an island of progressivism in a conservative pocket of southern Minnesota settled by German immigrants.
41. Crookston (Polk County, est. 8,000). Yet another college town, Crookston is the home of one of the four branches of the University of Minnesota, and by far the most isolated campus of the four, nearly six hours northwest of the Twin Cities. Crookston is better known for the being "the heart of the Red River Valley", an island of civilization amidst the impossibly flat landscape where wheat and sugar beets are grown only about a half hour east of Grand Forks, North Dakota. A sugar beet processing plant is one of the main employers in town, which lends itself to the contrasts of the city. Unlike most Red River Valley towns, Crookston looks old, gritty, and blue-collar, much like my home town of Albert Lea, and has a large population of Hispanics who work at the sugar beet plant. Even the college doesn't dilute the cultural conservatism so prominent in the Red River Valley. Like most of the region, Crookston is a DFL stronghold in state and local elections, but they had an inexplicable weakness for George Bush. Gore did win by a scant one-point margin in 2000, but Bush managed to beat Kerry by the same one-point margin two years later, despite the differences with Bush on trade that would have negatively affected the sugar cartel. Politics aside, its hard not to connect to a town so small with so many thematic contrasts.
That does it for the first 10 communities. I'll expand my list in the days ahead with profiles of the remaining 40 towns.
posted by Mark at 7:09 PM
2 Comments:
Did this list ever get finished? I would love to see the "top ten."
Yes the list is finished. Here are the top 10: http://mark28.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-50-favorite-towns-in-minnesota-10-1.html
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