Houston, MN

Houston is a Houston County city in the Root River valley, named for Sam Houston; William McSpadden platted the original village site in 1852. By 1920, Houston had become the county's agricultural center, with a large cooperative livestock-shipping association and three cooperative creameries. The old business map changed when rail gave way to cars, I-90 was built fourteen miles north in the 1970s, and the farm crisis hit in the 1980s. That history helps make sense of why a small town can have both a farm-country past and a trail-town present.

Trailhead Park now marks the eastern end of the Root River State Trail, a 42-mile paved route built on an abandoned railroad between Fountain and Houston. The park has an 18-acre prairie, campground, bandshell, recycled bicycle art, and Houston Nature Center; Central Park and 80-acre South Park fill out the city side of the map. Houston Hoedown takes over the last full weekend in July with tractor pulls, music, fireworks, a flea market, tournaments, and a parade, while the Root River Triathlon arrives in May. Houston Public Schools and the Root River trail give the city two different kinds of daily traffic: school buses and people following the old rail line.