small town

Waite Park is one of the fastest growing communities both commercially and residentially over the past 30 years in Central Minnesota. The town is named for Henry Chester Waite, a former State Representative and lawyer.

Buckman is a small town in southern Morrison County in Buckman township with a population of 307. It was established in 1869 and was named after one it's early settlers, Clarence B. Buckman.

Bowlus is a town of 279 people that was settled in the early 1900s, platted in 1907 and became incorporated in 1910. Bowlus has an operating post office since 1907, a lumberyard, meat market, hair salon, restaurant, gas station, liquor store, boutique, fire department, park with bike trail going through it, Legion, and Catholic Church.

Royalton is a small town in Central Minnesota between Rice and Little Falls along Highway 10 and the Platte River residing in both Morrison and Benton Counties with a population of 1,281. Most of Royalton is in Morrison County.

In 1856 in Central Minnesota a fort was built north of what is now the town of Kimball. That fort and settlement was called Maine Prairie. In 1886 the railroad went through a location south of Maine Prairie where present day Kimball is now located.

Luxemburg is a small town south of St. Cloud along Highway 15 located in the St. Augusta city limits. I talked with longtime Luxemburg residents Norb Fischer and Paul Koshiol.

Without the railroad there likely would be no Litchfield. Litchfield is a town of 6,624 people located in central Minnesota along highways 12 and 24. The earliest settlers in the area arrived in the 1850s and they formed the town of Forest City.

Litchfield is a town of 6,624 south of St. Cloud in Central Minnesota located along Highways 24 and 12. It was founded in 1869 when the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, later the called St. Paul and Pacific and then the Great Northern, came through the area.

Watkins is a town of 962 people located in northern Meeker County along Highway 55 west of Kimball and east of Eden Valley. It was established in the 1870s and has had a post office since 1887.

New Munich is a small town in western Stearns County with a population of 356. It is located just south of I94 along State Highway 237 (Main Street) and county roads 12 and 30. New Munich is also near Highway 52. To help tell the story of New Munich I was joined by longtime residents Jim Poepping, Bob Beckers, and Steve Worms.