Blooming Prairie, MN

Blooming Prairie is a city in southeastern Steele County, with a small corner extending into Dodge County and U.S. 218 and Minnesota 30 running through town. It began as a railroad settlement, first known as Oak Glen, after the Minnesota Central Railroad reached the area in the 1860s. A railroad official's wife supplied the Blooming Prairie name, and the city incorporated as an independent village in 1873. Wheat farming, a flour mill, and later a cooperative creamery filled out the early economy; the creamery building is now part of the Arkema plant. The first school opened in 1868, and the city still keeps its history close through city hall, public schools, library, parks, and the annual Fourth of July celebration. Blooming Prairie is a southern Minnesota rail-and-farm town whose old prairie name and newer highways share the same grid.