Kimball, MN

Kimball is a Stearns County city in central Minnesota, at the junction of State Highways 15, 24, and 55. The 2020 census counted 799 residents. The city sits in farm country south of St. Cloud, with Kimball Public Schools, a public library branch, and the 1908 city hall serving as familiar local institutions. The highways carry traffic through a town whose layout still follows the old rail stop. The city hall remains a daily landmark.

Maine Prairie was settled in 1856, with stores, churches, a blacksmith, cheese factory, and a log fort built during the 1862 U.S.-Dakota conflict. In 1886 the Soo Line bypassed Maine Prairie in favor of Kimball Prairie five miles south, and most of the older village's buildings moved to the new railroad town. Kimball grew as a passenger, freight, and farm-shipping stop. Its historic city hall and the Maine Prairie marker preserve that split origin, while the roads now carry the daily traffic once handled by the tracks.