Stanton is an unincorporated community

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 Stanton Township

Stanton Township, Minnesota

Stanton Township is a township in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,080 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 23.9 square miles , of which, 22.7 square miles of it is land and...

, Goodhue County

Goodhue County, Minnesota

Goodhue County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 46,183. Its county seat is Red Wing. Nearly all of Prairie Island Indian Community is within the county.-History:...

, 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...

. It lies at the junction

Junction (road)

A road junction is a location where vehicular traffic going in different directions can proceed in a controlled manner designed to minimize accidents. In some cases, vehicles can change between different routes or directions of travel.-Origins:...

 of Minnesota State Highways 19

Minnesota State Highway 19

Minnesota State Highway 19 is a highway in southwest and southeast Minnesota, which runs from South Dakota Highway 30 at the South Dakota state line near Ivanhoe and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with U.S...

 and 56

Minnesota State Highway 56

Minnesota State Highway 56 is a highway in southeast Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with U.S. Highway 63 near the Iowa state line and Chester, Iowa, and continues north to its northern terminus at its junction with U.S...

, approximately 10 miles east of Northfield

Northfield, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...

. Its post office closed during federal budget cuts in the 1970s.

The community is served by an airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 with two grass-surfaced runways. The runways are plowed in the winter. The airport serves the sport aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 community, with a notable volume of glider

Glider (sailplane)

A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...

, classic aircraft, and Sport Pilot activity. The airport was previously known as Carleton Airport, and still appears with that name on some maps, due to its prior association with Carleton College

Carleton College

Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...

.

Stanton Airfield is also home of the Minnesota Soaring Club, the largest soaring club in the upper Midwest. Over 25 gliders are based at Stanton Airfield. Soaring takes place primarily on weekends from mid April through November.

Despite its small size, the airport was used by U.S. president Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

, who arrived there by helicopter for a commencement address at Carleton College in 2000.

Stanton Airfield

Stanton Airfield

Stanton Airfield is a public use airport located one nautical mile east of the central business district of Stanton, in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States...

 was designated a historic site in November 2004. It has been in continuous use for flight training since April, 1942 when it was used to train pilots for World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Stanton Airfield also has a Link Trainer

Link Trainer

The term Link Trainer, also known as the "Blue box" and "Pilot Trainer" is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Ed Link, based on technology he pioneered in 1929 at his family's business in Binghamton, New York...

, one of the first flight simulator

Flight simulator

A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...

s, used to train WWII pilots.

External links

• Stanton Airfield Website