Delft, Minnesota

Delft is an unincorporated community (Class Code U6) located in Cottonwood County, Minnesota in Carson Township.

Delft
Unincorporated community
Delft Location within the state of Minnesota
Coordinates: 43°59′11″N 95°05′20″W
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Cottonwood
Platted	1902
Government
• Type	unincorporated (part of Carson Township)
Elevation [1]	1,457 ft (444 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	507
GNIS feature ID	642752[1]

Geography

Delft is located in the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 18, township 106, range 35, west.[2] Its geographic coordinates are 43.9863461 latitude and -95.0888797 longitude. The elevation is 1,457 feet.[1] Delft appears on the Bingham Lake U.S. Geological Survey Map.[3]

History

The village of Delft was established as a railroad station in 1892. Ten years later, on June 18, 1902, the village was officially platted by the Inter-State Land Company.[2][4] The community was named after the city of Delft, in the Netherlands, previous to which it was called Wilhelmine.[4][5]

Delft was a station on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad, which ran through the southwestern part of the township, en route from Jeffers to Bingham Lake. Shortly after the original elevator was built, the village had its first fire which burned the Farmers Elevator Company, its coal sheds, and the railroad company's stockyards - all of which were rebuilt immediately after. At one time, there was also a general store, hardware store, a general farm implement sales business,[2] as well as a creamery.[6]

Established in a predominantly Mennonite area, by the 1950s approximately 400 members of Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Mennonite churches resided within a 5-mile radius of the little community's two Mennonite churches. The Carson Mennonite Brethren Church, founded in 1875 and closed in 2005, and the now independent (as of ca. 2002) Immanuel Mennonite Church, originally established in 1940.[7][8]

A post office began operation in Delft in 1903. It was closed in 1993.[9]

Politics

Delft is located within Minnesota's 1st congressional district, represented by Jim Hagedorn, a Republican. At the state level, Delft is located in Senate District 22, represented by Republican Bill Weber, and in House District 22B, represented by Republican Rod Hamilton.

References

1. "Feature Detail Report for: Delft (populated place)". Geographic Names Information System(GNIS). United States Geological Survey. January 11, 1980. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
2. Brown, John A. "Townships of Cottonwood County Minnesota 1916". History Of Cottonwood And Watonwan Counties Minnesota Their People, Industries And Institutions (1916 ed.). Volume 1: B.F.Bowen and Company. Retrieved August 22, 2016.CS1 maint: location (link)
3. "Delft (in Cottonwood County, MN) Populated Place Profile". MN HomeTownLocator. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
4. Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 150.
5. Chicago and North Western Railway Company (1908). A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. p. 172.
6. Brown, John A. "Biographies". History Of Cottonwood And Watonwan Counties Minnesota Their People, Industries And Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families (1916 ed.). Volume 2: B.F.Bowen and Company. pp. 354–355. Retrieved August 22, 2016.CS1 maint: location (link)
7. Graber, Victor (1956). "Delft (Cottonwood County, Minnesota, USA)". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
8. Friesen, J. John (1958). "Immanuel Mennonite Church (Delft, Minnesota, USA)". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
9. "Cottonwood County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved April 3, 2015.