Beaver, Minnesota
Encyclopedia
Beaver is a small unincorporated community
in Winona County
, Minnesota
, United States
.
valley. It was platted in 1856 by Albert Hopson, Dr. Sheldon Brooks, and William J. Duley, as 20 blocks on 40 acres (161,874.4 m²). From 1857-1906, the community had a post office. Flooding devastated the area, and today, most of the community is farmland. Eleanor Putnam (89), a former resident of Beaver during her childhood in the 1920s and 1930s recalls climbing the hills around Beaver, and how her family farmed the rugged land. She recalls her uncle struggling to climb the hills to farm the top of a plateau, which can be seen in aerial photos. Ms. Putnam also recalls an old forgotten cemetery in the area.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Winona County
Winona County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 49,985 people, 18,744 households, and 11,696 families residing in the county. The population density was 80 people per square mile . There were 19,551 housing units at an average density of 31 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
Beaver was settled in 1854, by people from New England. It is the oldest village in the WhitewaterWhitewater River (Minnesota)
The Whitewater River is a tributary of the Upper Mississippi River which flows through the Driftless Area of Minnesota, reaching its mouth in Winona County opposite Buffalo, Wisconsin. The nearest towns are Altura, Saint Charles, and Elba...
valley. It was platted in 1856 by Albert Hopson, Dr. Sheldon Brooks, and William J. Duley, as 20 blocks on 40 acres (161,874.4 m²). From 1857-1906, the community had a post office. Flooding devastated the area, and today, most of the community is farmland. Eleanor Putnam (89), a former resident of Beaver during her childhood in the 1920s and 1930s recalls climbing the hills around Beaver, and how her family farmed the rugged land. She recalls her uncle struggling to climb the hills to farm the top of a plateau, which can be seen in aerial photos. Ms. Putnam also recalls an old forgotten cemetery in the area.