Olivia, MN

Olivia is Renville County's seat on U.S. 212, a prairie city that wears its agriculture openly. The 2020 Census counted 2,343 people. The town was platted in 1878 and incorporated in 1881; Milwaukee Railroad engineer Albert B. Rogers named it for Olive, a station agent he knew. Olivia's local identity is tied to seed research and corn: the city calls itself the Corn Capital of the World, and the local business community points to nine seed research facilities.

The county-seat story has more drama than the population suggests. Beaver Falls held the courthouse when Olivia was laid out; a series of elections and a Minnesota Supreme Court appeal stretched the fight across the 1890s. In 1900 Olivia won again, and four residents tried to haul the county records out of Beaver Falls by night. They were jailed, the records went back, and the county seat finally stayed in Olivia in 1901. That mix of farm science, highway travel, and stubborn civic pride gives the small city its character.