Editing Walnut Grove, Minnesota (section)

==History==
In 1862 a massacre occurred at [[Lake Shetek]] that became known as [[Slaughter Slough]].  One of the survivors, Henry W. Smith, escaped and made his way to Walnut Grove to warn the village.  A John Renniker was killed Northeast of Walnut Grove and is included with those that died at the slough.<ref>Shetek Massacre, Layne Lohre and Wendy Lyle, October 29, 1999, The Tracy Headlight Newspaper, August 16, 1962, Lake Shetek Massacre Edition 2024 [http://www.rrcnet.org/~historic/shetekll.htm#:~:text=Easlick%2C%20the%20mother%2C%20and%20the,but%20made%20it%20out%20alive.]</ref>

Walnut Grove was [[plat]]ted in 1874.<ref name="Upham 453">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog |title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance |last=Upham |first=Warren |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |year=1920 |page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n472 453]}}</ref> It was named for a grove of [[black walnut]] trees near the original town site.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA135 |title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways |last=Chicago and North Western Railway Company |year=1908 |page=135}}</ref> It was incorporated in 1879.<ref name="Upham 453" />

Walnut Grove gained more than 250 residents between 2001 and 2006. The residents are [[Hmong people|Hmong]]. This has increased the population to nearly 900, and Hmong now comprise 42 percent of the students in the Westbrook-Walnut Grove School District.<ref>{{cite news|author=Erik Posz|url=http://www.redwoodfallsgazette.com/articles/2006/12/19/news/news03.txt |title=It's not just for Norwegians|work=Redwood Gazette|date=December 19, 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610010925/http://www.redwoodfallsgazette.com/articles/2006/12/19/news/news03.txt |archivedate=June 10, 2015 }}</ref>

===Little House===
[[File:MuseumWalnutGroveMN.jpg|thumb|Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove]]
Walnut Grove is the site of the [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]] Museum,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com |title=Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home & Museum  }}</ref> dedicated to the author of the ''[[Little House on the Prairie]]'' books. Wilder and her family lived in the area for a part of her childhood and the location is the setting for the ''Plum Creek'' part of the ''Little House'' book series. [[Charles Ingalls]], her father, was the community's first justice<ref name="epodunk.com" /> and her only brother, Charles Frederick "Freddy" Ingalls (November 1, 1875 – August 27, 1876), was born in Walnut Grove. The name "Walnut Grove" was also used in the ''Little House on the Prairie'' [[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|television series]], although the program was filmed in California.