Editing Nerstrand, Minnesota (section)

== History ==
[[File:Osmundsonhouse.jpg|thumb|left|The Osmund Osmundson House, c. 1890s.]]
In 1856, [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] immigrant Osmund Osmundson moved to [[Wheeling Township, Rice County, Minnesota|Wheeling Township]] in Rice County. He [[homestead (buildings)|homestead]]ed the present site of Nerstrand, building a [[Osmund Osmundson House|house]] and farm, and began to envision a town on the site. In 1877 he built a store on what became the [[Right-of-way (transportation)|right-of-way]] for railroad tracks on what is now Main Street. In 1885 the Minnesota and North Western Railroad (later the [[Chicago Great Western Railway]]) was constructed, extending from [[Lyle, Minnesota]] to [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], and Osmundson [[plat]]ted the town on the line, naming it after his hometown of [[Nedstrand]] in [[Tysvær]], [[Norway]].<ref name=MHPIF1>Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota Historic Properties Inventory Form, February 1981; copy accessed from Osmund Osmundson House file, State Historic Preservation Office in the Minnesota History Center.</ref>

The town was the center of a significant Norwegian immigrant community, which included people in the surrounding township and county. Some, like Osmundson and Tosten Bonde (who lived just outside the city limits), became state legislators.<ref name=MHPIF3>Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota Historic Properties Inventory Form, February 1981; copy accessed from Bonde, Totsen, Farmhouse file, State Historic Preservation Office in the Minnesota History Center.</ref><ref name=Legislature>[http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=11403 Osmundson, Osmund], Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Accessed December 9, 2010.</ref><ref name=Legislature1>[http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=12387 Johnson, Tosten "T., Tostin"], Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Accessed December 9, 2010.</ref> [[Thorstein Veblen]], who grew up just outside the town, became a noted [[sociologist]] and [[economist]].

The town incorporated in 1897 and its first city hall was built that year. It proved too small within a few years, and a new city hall was built in 1907.<ref name=MHPIF>Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota Historic Properties Inventory Form, February 1981; copy accessed from Nerstrand City Hall file, State Historic Preservation Office in the Minnesota History Center.</ref> [[Nerstrand City Hall]] was placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on April 6, 1982, alongside the [[Osmund Osmundson House]] and the [[Bonde Farmhouse]]. The [[Thorstein Veblen Farmstead]] became a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref name="nord">{{cite book|title=The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota|last=Nord|first=Mary Ann|publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]]|year=2003|isbn=0-87351-448-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nationalregister0000nord}}</ref> The railroad tracks have been removed.