Caledonia, MN

Caledonia is the Houston County seat in southeastern Minnesota, part of the La Crosse, Wisconsin, metro and about 17 miles southwest of the city. Colonel Samuel McPhail platted the town in 1854-55 and gave it a name tied to Scotland. The 2020 census counted 2,847 residents. The county-seat story started early: in 1855, county records were moved overnight to McPhail's cabin, and the town's civic role stuck. Minnesota 44 and 76 bring traffic through the center, while Caledonia High School, St. Mary's, and St. John's keep the school map local.

Caledonia's local flavor leans into Houston County's bluff-country landscape. The Caledonia Center Town Hall, built in 1877 and later moved to a historical village, gives the town a physical link to its township past. Quilt-pattern barn squares across the county turn a drive outside town into a local art route, and the three-state position keeps La Crosse, northeast Iowa, and western Wisconsin in the everyday orbit. Caledonia is a county-seat town with three local schools, old civic buildings, and roads that open quickly into the bluff country.