The Community Quest: Creating New Communities

Chapter 1

Creating New Communities

As the new territory of Minnesota opened for European settlement in the 1850s, the communities and neighborhoods of Stearns County began to develop. Businessmen and farmers sought areas with economic and agricultural potential. They looked for areas that could support businesses and farms. Desirable areas had rivers or roads for transportation and natural resources such as rich soil and lumber. In addition, they selected areas they knew would be attractive to others. People were needed to create a market economy for goods and services. The early settlers also needed other people for comfort, security, and companionship in the unfamiliar frontier. As they settled across Stearns County, clusters of communities began to spring up. Whether they were clusters of farms or clusters of houses that formed a village, people grouped together creating communities.