Editing Kerkhoven, Minnesota (section)

==History==
[[File:Kerkhoven, Minnesota-04.jpg|thumb|Former bank building]]Kerkhoven was [[plat]]ted in 1870, and named for a railroad promoter.<ref name="Upham 541">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog | title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance | publisher=Minnesota Historical Society | last=Upham | first=Warren | year=1920 | page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n558 541]}}</ref> A post office has been in operation at Kerkhoven since 1871.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=MN&county=Swift | title=Swift County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | accessdate=9 August 2015}}</ref> Kerkhoven was incorporated in 1881.<ref name="Upham 541" />

The city name is Dutch meaning church cemeteries. It is from the persons who purchased bonds (Kerkhoven and Co. of Holland in 1864) of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (later the Great Northern etc.). The family name originally was van Kerckhoven (van=from, kerk=church and hoven=gardens or yards).<ref>The Kerkhoven Banner, June 1981, Section A, page 2</ref> They were financial persons purchasing interest-bearing bonds, but not active promoters of the fledgling prairie railroad.