Carver is a small city in
Carver County
Carver County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is mostly farmland and wilderness with many unincorporated townships. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,922. Its county seat is Chaska. Carver County is named for ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, United States along the banks of the
Minnesota River
The Minnesota River ( dak, Mnísota Wakpá) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa.
It ris ...
. The city is named after early explorer
Jonathan Carver
Jonathan Carver (April 13, 1710 – January 31, 1780) was a captain in a Massachusetts colonial unit, explorer, and writer. After his exploration of the northern Mississippi valley and western Great Lakes region, he published an account of his exp ...
. The downtown area is home to the Carver Historic District, a nationally recognized collection of historically significant local buildings.
The population was 3,724 at the
2010 census.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
U.S. Highway 212
U.S. Route 212 (US 212) is a spur of US 12. It runs for from Yellowstone National Park to Minnesota Highway 62 at Edina, Minnesota. It does not intersect US 12 now, but it once had an eastern terminus at US 12 in St. Paul, Minnesota ...
serves as a main route in the area.
History
Early history
Ten thousand years ago, the
Glacial River Warren
Glacial River Warren, also known as River Warren, was a prehistoric river that drained Lake Agassiz in central North America between about 13,500 and 10,650 BP calibrated (11,700 and 9,400 14C uncalibrated) years ago. A part of the uppermost porti ...
flowed through the area and left deposits of clay, sand, gravel, and fine silt soils as well as the
Minnesota River
The Minnesota River ( dak, Mnísota Wakpá) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa.
It ris ...
. Carver and the surrounding Minnesota River Valley were occupied by a
Native American,
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
Woodland Culture
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...
from approximately 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1850. In 1834, there was a
Wahpeton village at the present-day location of Carver, led by Chief Mazomaini; early maps indicate it was located on either side of the mouth of Carver Creek where it meets the Minnesota River.
[Downtown Historic District]
City of Carver, Accessed May 27, 2021.
Pierre-Charles Le Sueur
Pierre-Charles Le Sueur (c. 1657, Artois, France – 17 July 1704, Havana, Cuba) was a French fur trader and explorer in North America, recognized as the first known European to explore the Minnesota River valley.
Le Sueur came to Canada with ...
became the first European to navigate the Minnesota River, and between 1683 and 1700 made explorations of the region on behalf of
King Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. In 1766,
Jonathan Carver
Jonathan Carver (April 13, 1710 – January 31, 1780) was a captain in a Massachusetts colonial unit, explorer, and writer. After his exploration of the northern Mississippi valley and western Great Lakes region, he published an account of his exp ...
explored the area on behalf of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, and made maps as he searched for a western water route that flowed across North America to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
. He named a small branch flowing into the Minnesota River "Carver's River", strongly correlated to the Carver Creek of today. In 1805, French trader
Jean-Baptiste Faribault
Jean-Baptiste Faribault (October 19, 1775 – August 20, 1860) was a trader with the Native Americans in the United States, Indians and early settler in Minnesota.
His father, Barthélemy Faribault, a lawyer of Paris, France, settled in C ...
established the Little Rapids
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
just upriver of present-day Carver; the post, on behalf of the
Northwest Fur Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wea ...
, was visited by
Voyageurs
The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ' ...
,
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; plural: coureurs de(s) bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian trader who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by e ...
,
Dakota Indians
The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...
, and Christian missionaries.
Boomtown
The
1851 Treaty of Traverse de Sioux, signed between the Dakota and the U.S. Government, legally opened the area to white settlers. Before the Treaty was fully ratified, Axel Jorgenson, an immigrant from
Fredrikshald, Norway
Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a town and a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, Rakkestad to the north and Aremark to the east, as well as the Swedish muni ...
, settled in the area by 1852 as a
sooner
Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign ...
. Jorgenson laid claim to that would become Carver. He called the area Lukenborg (or Luksenborg), but called it Fulton. In order to augment his barge transport business, to and from
St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, he opened a cheap hotel, the Hotel Luksenborg.
![2009-0713-Carver-TemperanceHotel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/2009-0713-Carver-TemperanceHotel.jpg)
A
land boom
A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real-estate markets, and typically follow a land boom. A land boom is the rapid increase ...
in the 1850s led to widespread speculation along key river locations. Carver's position between navigable sections of the Minnesota River, as well as Carver and Spring Creeks, was an ideal location for a
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
and barge terminal for transferring cargo. In 1854, Jorgenson sold his claim to the Carver Land Company, a group of seven speculators, who planned to
plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
and develop a town. Among the investors were
Alexander Ramsey
Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 1840s and the 1880s. He was the first Minnesota Territorial Governor.
Early years and fam ...
, the former Territorial Governor, and Levi Griffin, the first Sheriff of Carver County. Ramsey was responsible for naming the town Carver. The Town of Carver was platted in 1857 and lots were divided up among the seven according to their investment.
By 1855, Carver already had a tailor, a hotel, a boarding house, a building designer, a carpenter, a livery stable, a blacksmith, two shoemakers, and a general store. When the town was platted in 1857, it already had 35 buildings; the school district was established the same year and was known as Minnesota School District #1 for a century. Also during this period, the steamboat ''The Antelope'' was making daily round trips between Carver and St. Paul, a one-way river run of . Steamboats brought passengers and immigrants, who rapidly opened up the surrounding area to settlement by farmers who could buy land from the U. S. government for $1.25 an acre, as well as the supplies needed to grow these settlements.
![Carver Hist District 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Carver_Hist_District_1.jpg)
The
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...
caused many frontier settlements to collapse. One such community, Louisville, located directly across the Minnesota River in present-day
Louisville Township, collapsed and many of its buildings were moved to Carver. In 1858 Carver had a small
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
when gold was purportedly found in Spring Creek. By 1860, immigrants who had previously come from the Eastern U.S. were supplanted by those from
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
The
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several ban ...
erupted in the region as most of the regions soldiers were embroiled in the concurrent
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. Between 400 and 500 pioneers in southern and western Minnesota were killed as war parties attacked settlements throughout the region. Many settlers sought refuge in Carver due to town's steamboat transportation, which offered evacuation to
Fort Snelling
Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...
, if needed. The town was spared, but rumors of its attack caused residents of
Shakopee
Shakopee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Minnesota, United States. It is located southwest of Minneapolis. Sited on the south bank bend of the Minnesota River, Shakopee and nearby suburbs comprise the southwest portion of ...
to flee to Fort Snelling.
Decline
![2009-0713-Carver-MNValleyOilCo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/2009-0713-Carver-MNValleyOilCo.jpg)
The arrival of the
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway in 1871 marked the decline of Carver's importance, as cargo and passenger traffic quickly shifted to the new mode of transportation. Telegraph service quickly followed. In 1877, Carver incorporated as a village.
Northwestern Bell
Northwestern Bell Telephone Company served the states of the upper Midwest opposite the Southwestern Bell area, including Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.
History
Early beginnings
It has never been definitively estab ...
connected the town with phone service to the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
in 1893.
Carver businesses suffered during the twin events of
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
and the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, causing the city to go into several decades of economic stagnation, leading to the decay of many historic houses and commercial buildings. The
April 1965 flood of the Upper Mississippi River affected the lower part of old Carver and deepened the depression. The
Flood Control Act of 1965
The Flood Control Act of 1965, Title II of , was enacted on October 27, 1965, by the 89th Congress and authorized the United States Army Corps of Engineers to design and construct numerous flood control projects including the Lake Pontchartrain a ...
led to the creation of a
floodwall
A flood wall (or floodwall) is a primarily vertical artificial barrier designed to temporarily contain the waters of a river or other waterway which may rise to unusual levels during seasonal or extreme weather events. Flood walls are mainly u ...
to keep the Minnesota River at bay.
Restoration
![2009-0713-Carver-CH](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/2009-0713-Carver-CH.jpg)
On June 25, 1969, Carver-on-the-Minnesota, a non-profit
historic preservation
Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...
organization formed to purchase, renovate and save key properties. While some progress was made during the 1960s-70s, the deaths of founding members caused the organization to stall and several important buildings were lost. The
Carver Historic District was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1980, making it one of the first historic districts in Minnesota. The years of decline had actually helped preserve a number of important historic structures from ever being redeveloped, and the historic district includes eighty-seven buildings and four structures of commercial, religious, residential and social importance.
The City of Carver created the Heritage Preservation Commission in 1989 as a supporting group of appointees to aid the City Council and Planning Commission on historic preservation issues. In 2006, Carver attained Certified Local Government status by the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office.
In summer 2007, the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
named Carver a
Preserve America Community.
[Preserve America Community: Carver, Minnesota]
Preserve America, March 9, 2009, Accessed July 20, 2009.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2010, there were 3,724 people, 1,182 households, and 984 families residing in the city. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was . There were 1,236 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 89.8%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 1.0%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.2%
Native American, 6.3%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.4% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.3% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 2.0% of the population.
There were 1,182 households, of which 55.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.9% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 5.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 16.8% were non-families. 11.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.15 and the average family size was 3.46.
The median age in the city was 31.7 years. 36.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 36.1% were from 25 to 44; 19.1% were from 45 to 64; and 3.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.5% male and 49.5% female.
2000 census
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2000, there were 1,266 people, 458 households, and 349 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 467 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.39%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 0.24%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.24%
Native American, 0.47%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.95% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 0.71% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 1.66% of the population.
There were 458 households, out of which 40.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.2% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.6% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.2% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 42.1% from 25 to 44, 17.0% from 45 to 64, and 5.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $65,083, and the median income for a family was $70,673. Males had a median income of $43,125 versus $29,408 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the city was $25,020. About 0.6% of families and 2.0% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including none of those under the age of eighteen or sixty-five or over.
Politics
Education
![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/St._Nicholas_Catholic_Church_Carver.jpg)
St. Nicholas Catholic Church is located in the heart of the city. While St. Nicholas does not have a Catholic School, many parochial school students attend nearby
Guardian Angels Catholic School just a short distance away in nearby
Chaska. East Union Elementary and Clover Ridge Elementary are popular public schools elementary students. For high school students, many attend
Chaska High School
Chaska Senior High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Chaska, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. CHS is a 912 grade school that is attended by more than 1,500 students.
The school masc ...
. In September, 2018, Carver Elementary
opened providing public schooling for Elementary age students.
Notable people
*
William F. Badè
William Frederic Badè (January 22, 1871 – March 4, 1936), perhaps best known as the literary executor and biographer of John Muir, was a versatile scholar of wide interests. As an archaeologist, he led the excavation of Tell en-Nasbeh in Pales ...
, archeologist and scholar
References
External links
Carver, MN - Official City WebsiteSteamboat Days Website- annual festival held in Carver in early September.
{{Authority control
Cities in Carver County, Minnesota
Cities in Minnesota
1857 establishments in Minnesota Territory
Populated places established in 1857