Editing Flensburg, Minnesota (section)

==History==
After the Little Falls and Dakota Railroad was completed in 1882, there was a sidetrack to a mill at the site which later became Flensburg Village. The mill was called "Flen's Landing" or "Flynn's Siding", with a depot, and named for J. C. Flynn of [[Little Falls, Minnesota|Little Falls]]. Flynn was a teacher in the Little Falls schools in the late 1870s. Later, Flynn was an inspector for the [[Northern Pacific Railroad]] and a representative in the state legislature. He was also instrumental in developing the Little Falls & Dakota (L.F.& D.) railroad which ran through the future town of Flensburg.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Flensburg was platted in March 1890 by Olaf and Dagmar Searle. The post office began in 1892, and Flensburg was incorporated on June 17, 1911.<ref>{{cite web|title=Minnesota Placenames - Township and Village Information|url=http://mnplaces.mnhs.org/upham/city.cfm?PlaceNameID=1012&BookCodeID=6&County=49&SendingPage=Results.cfm|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|accessdate=20 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822080428/http://mnplaces.mnhs.org/upham/city.cfm?PlaceNameID=1012&BookCodeID=6&County=49&SendingPage=Results.cfm|archive-date=22 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Flensburg received its name in 1892, and the local newspapers, the ''Little Falls Weekly Tribune'' and ''Little Falls Herald'', began using that name about that time. However, a brief item in the April 7, 1893, edition of the ''Little Falls Transcript'' states, "The name of Flynn station, on the L.F.& D., has been changed to Flensburg, to take effect on April 1, 1893".{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} No further explanation was given.

One theory is that Flensburg may have been named after the [[Germany|German]] town of [[Flensburg]], a seaport in the German state of [[Schleswig-Holstein]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Upham|first=Warren|title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance|url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog|year=1920|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n371 352]}}</ref> However, many land owner surnames were Polish in the 1892 Culdrum Township Plat Book of the Flensburg area, and it seems unlikely they would have chosen the name of a distant German seaport for their new town. Since ''burg'' simply means "castle" it would be reasonable to name the new town Flynnsburg, or the shorter version Flensburg, since the name "Flen's Landing" was also in use for Flynn Station.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}