Editing Northfield, Minnesota (section)

==History==
{{See also|Timeline of Northfield, Minnesota}}
Northfield was [[plat]]ted in October 1855 by [[John W. North]].<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/n482 463]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fedo |first=Michael |title=Pocket Guide to Minnesota Place Names |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |year=2002 |location=Canada |pages=109 |url=http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=139 |isbn=0-87351-424-6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527153351/http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=139 |archive-date=May 27, 2009 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Northfield was founded by settlers from [[New England]] known as "Yankees" as part of New England's colonization of what was then the far west.<ref>The Minds of the West: Ethnocultural Evolution in the Rural Middle West, 1869-1917 page 339</ref> It was an early agricultural center with many wheat and corn farms. The town also supported lumber and flour mills powered by the [[Cannon River (Minnesota)|Cannon River]]. As the "wheat frontier" moved west, dairy operations and diversified farms replaced wheat-based agriculture. The region has since moved away from dairy and beef operations, and it produces substantial crops of corn and soybeans, as well as hogs. The local cereal producer [[Malt-O-Meal]] is one of the few remnants of Northfield's historic wheat boom. The city's motto, "Cows, Colleges, and Community" (a recent change from "Cows, Colleges, and Contentment"),<ref>{{cite news|last= Adler|first= Erin|url= https://www.startribune.com/after-months-of-research-northfield-decides-its-content-with-most-of-its-well-known-slogan/600342693/|title= After Months of Research Northfield Decides it's Content with Most of its Well-known Slogan|work= Minnesota Star Tribune|date= February 11, 2024|access-date= January 14, 2025}}</ref> reflects the influence of the dairy farms as well as its two liberal arts colleges, [[Carleton College]] and [[St. Olaf College]].{{source?|date=January 2024}}

Since early in its history, Northfield has been a center of higher education. [[Carleton College]] (then Northfield College) was founded in 1866 by the Minnesota Conference of [[Congregational church]]es whose Congregation consisted of the "Yankee" settlers who had largely founded the town. These were people descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the 1600s.<ref>The expansion of New England: the spread of New England settlement and institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865</ref> Carleton soon established its campus on the northern edge of town.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our History — About Carleton|url=https://www.carleton.edu/about/history/}}</ref> [[St. Olaf College]] was founded in 1874 on the western edge of town by [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] [[Lutheran]] immigrant pastors and farmers who were eager to preserve their faith and culture by training teachers and preachers. These two institutions, which today enroll more than 5,000 students, make Northfield a [[college town]].{{source?|date=January 2024}}

In the 1970s, completion of [[Interstate 35]] six miles west of Northfield enabled the expansion of the [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]] metro area south of the [[Minnesota River]]. The downtown grain elevator accepted its last load of corn in 2000 and was torn down in 2002. Residential growth has been rapid since the mid-1990s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} Northfield Hospital, which opened in 2003 in the town's northwest corner, is in Dakota County, so chosen because government reimbursement rates are more generous for Dakota County than for Rice County.{{source?|date=January 2024}}