Norseland, Minnesota
Encyclopedia
Norseland is an unincorporated community
in Lake Prairie Township
, Nicollet County
, Minnesota
, United States
.
The community is located at the junction of Minnesota State Highway 22
and County Road 52. It is part of the Mankato
–North Mankato
Metropolitan Statistical Area
.
The general store built in 1858 closed in May 2006.
Norseland has never had a council or government. It has always been unincorporated, but the fabric of the community is strong and held together by the Lutheran congregations flanking the hamlet by a quarter mile on each side.
The geographic characteristics of Norseland include standing at the edge of the prairie. The Eastern Big Woods deciduous biome stretches westward a bit from the Minnesota River bluffs here. A small lake, Sand Lake, and several ponds and sloughs lie just northeast of the settled area. The surrounding land to the south, west and north is more akin to the plains and has been almost completely plowed or has been developed as farm property. It is in Lake Prairie township in Nicollet County.
Community=
The village has approximately 5-7 houses, a small feed mill, and a boy scout camp. It used to have a gas station, repair shop, creamery, and even a tack store long ago. The locale also contains two churches; Norseland Lutheran Church (ELS
) and Scandian Grove Lutheran Church (ELCA
). The community has never had a school system, so the bonds of many neighbors center around the churches. The traditional school district boundaries of Nicollet, Sibley East (Gaylord) and St. Peter converge at Norseland. Young people in the community attended these schools or private schools or Le Sueur, whose boundary is nearby also. The most central shared meeting place for those of both churches was the General Store. In later years it had icons on its sign indicating it had been there from the covered wagon to the space shuttle. The population of Norseland, if you count the homes adjacent to the churches and those between, has probably never exceeded 100. It is now less than 50. People might consider themselves to be from Norseland for the surrounding 2-3 miles.
In addition to two large cemeteries adjacent to the churches dating back to the late 1850's, there are two small ones including The New Sweden Indian Attack cemetery on Highway 22 next to the Norseland sign as you drive from the east. Several people buried there died as a result of the 1862 Dakota War. Dakota people occupied the area for many centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 1850's. The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux, July 23, 1851, was signed 10 miles east on the banks of the Minnesota River in St. Peter, MN. This opened the territory of the Dakota-Sissiton and Wahpeton Bands to those immigrants willing to brave the winters; mostly Swedes and Norwegians. But the Swedes came first.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Lake Prairie Township
Lake Prairie Township, Minnesota
Lake Prairie Township is a township in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 652 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.-Demographics:As of the census of...
, Nicollet County
Nicollet County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 29,771 people, 10,642 households, and 7,311 families residing in the county. The population density was 66 people per square mile . There were 11,240 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The community is located at the junction of Minnesota State Highway 22
Minnesota State Highway 22
Minnesota State Highway 22 is a highway in south-central and central Minnesota, which runs from Winnebago County Road R50 at the Iowa state line near Kiester and continues north to its northern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 23 in Richmond, west of St...
and County Road 52. It is part of the Mankato
Mankato, Minnesota
Mankato is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 39,309 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County, it is located...
–North Mankato
North Mankato, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,798 people, 4,744 households, and 3,178 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,502.5 people per square mile . There were 5,046 housing units at an average density of 1,070.3 per square mile...
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Mankato-North Mankato metropolitan area
The Mankato–North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in south central Minnesota, anchored by the cities of Mankato and North Mankato. It was upgraded from a Micropolitan Statistical Area to a...
.
History
Norseland celebrated it's 150th year in June of 2008.The general store built in 1858 closed in May 2006.
Norseland has never had a council or government. It has always been unincorporated, but the fabric of the community is strong and held together by the Lutheran congregations flanking the hamlet by a quarter mile on each side.
The geographic characteristics of Norseland include standing at the edge of the prairie. The Eastern Big Woods deciduous biome stretches westward a bit from the Minnesota River bluffs here. A small lake, Sand Lake, and several ponds and sloughs lie just northeast of the settled area. The surrounding land to the south, west and north is more akin to the plains and has been almost completely plowed or has been developed as farm property. It is in Lake Prairie township in Nicollet County.
Community=
The village has approximately 5-7 houses, a small feed mill, and a boy scout camp. It used to have a gas station, repair shop, creamery, and even a tack store long ago. The locale also contains two churches; Norseland Lutheran Church (ELS
Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Evangelical Lutheran Synod or ELS is a US-based Protestant Christian denomination based in Mankato, Minnesota, USA. It describes itself as a conservative, Confessional Lutheran body.-Membership:...
) and Scandian Grove Lutheran Church (ELCA
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
). The community has never had a school system, so the bonds of many neighbors center around the churches. The traditional school district boundaries of Nicollet, Sibley East (Gaylord) and St. Peter converge at Norseland. Young people in the community attended these schools or private schools or Le Sueur, whose boundary is nearby also. The most central shared meeting place for those of both churches was the General Store. In later years it had icons on its sign indicating it had been there from the covered wagon to the space shuttle. The population of Norseland, if you count the homes adjacent to the churches and those between, has probably never exceeded 100. It is now less than 50. People might consider themselves to be from Norseland for the surrounding 2-3 miles.
In addition to two large cemeteries adjacent to the churches dating back to the late 1850's, there are two small ones including The New Sweden Indian Attack cemetery on Highway 22 next to the Norseland sign as you drive from the east. Several people buried there died as a result of the 1862 Dakota War. Dakota people occupied the area for many centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 1850's. The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux, July 23, 1851, was signed 10 miles east on the banks of the Minnesota River in St. Peter, MN. This opened the territory of the Dakota-Sissiton and Wahpeton Bands to those immigrants willing to brave the winters; mostly Swedes and Norwegians. But the Swedes came first.