Montgomery is a city in

Le Sueur County Le Sueur County is a county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,674. Its county seat is Le Center. Le Sueur County is part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul- Bloomington, ...

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, 45 miles south of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. It was named after

Richard Montgomery Richard Montgomery (2 December 1738 – 31 December 1775) was an Irish soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and he is most famous for l ...

, an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

who served as a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

during the Revolutionary War. The population was 2,956 at the 2010 census.

History

Montgomery as

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 ...

ted in 1877 when the railroad was extended to that point. Martin M. Malone (1888-1962), politician and businessman, was born in Montgomery.

Education

Montgomery is a part of the Tri-City United School District, ISD #2905. The district includes a grades 9-12 high school in Montgomery; K-8 campuses in Montgomery and

Le Center Le Center is a city in Le Sueur County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,517 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Le Sueur County. The Le Sueur County Courthouse and Jail are listed on the National Register of Historic Plac ...

; and a K-4 elementary school in Lonsdale. The district's sports teams, the Titans, are members of the

Minnesota River Conference The Minnesota River Conference is a Minnesota high school sports conference that serves mainly the Southwestern Suburbs of the Twin Cities. Mayer Lutheran is furthest north while Tri-City United is furthest south. Member schools * Belle Plaine Ti ...

, and participate in baseball, softball, basketball, cross-country, hockey, tennis, track, football, cheerleading, wrestling, golf and volleyball. The academic performance of students exiting

Tri-City United High School Tri-City United High School is a public school located in Montgomery, Minnesota, United States. The school serves the communities of Montgomery, Lonsdale, Minnesota, Lonsdale, and Le Center, Minnesota for grades 9–12. This adds up to a student bo ...

has been subject to concern from the community. With a slim majority of students (58%) graduating without achieving proficiency in Mathematics, and a substantial number of students graduating without achieving proficiency in Reading (53%). Graduates from the Tri-City United School District rarely go on to attend elite higher education institutions. The Tri-City United School District hosts a significant number of minority students (17%), and spends a significant amount of funding on ESL (English as a Second Language) programs. The Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School is a parochial pre-K-8 school. Its sports teams, the Raiders, compete in the Tri-County Private School Conference in sports including volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball.

Arts and culture

Montgomery celebrates its Czechoslovakian heritage annually at the end of July with one of Minnesota's oldest festivals, Kolacky Days. The festival dates back to 1929, when an estimated 6,000 people visited Montgomery for the first Kolacky Day celebration, held on October 1. "The Kolacky Day spirit reigned supreme from early Tuesday morning until a comparatively late hour Wednesday morning. More than 1,600 of the celebrated delicacies were devoured," according to a ''Montgomery Messenger'' account from the following week. Events at the first celebration included a

trap shooting Trap shooting, or trapshooting in North America, is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting, which is shooting shotguns at clay targets. The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays. They are disting ...

tournament, a

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

, sports and races, and a football game between Montgomery and Le Sueur Center (now

). In 1931 Miss Leatta Ehmke (later Leatta Trnka) was crowned the first Kolacky Queen by Mayor Henry Westerman. For the 1934 celebration, a novelty button, sold by the Kolacky girls, was devised and is still in use today. Following the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

on December 7, 1941, Kolacky Day retreated to the background until the Montgomery Community Club revived the celebration in 1948. Kolacky Day officially became a summer festival in 1966 when the traditional date, the last Sunday in September, was dropped in favor of the first weekend in August. The earlier date and warmer weather brought huge crowds to the festival. In 1975, Kolacky Day became Kolacky Days and the event was held for the first time at the end of July. It is now celebrated on the fourth full weekend of that month. The shift was made at the urging of the Green Giant vegetable canning company, to avoid conflict with the busy corn-processing season. Other annual events include the Torchlight Parade & Fireworks, the Masopust Festival also known as "The Czech Mardi Gras" and the Miss Czech-Slovak MN Pageant.

Parks and recreation

Baseball

Montgomery's baseball tradition includes the amateur baseball team, known as the Mallards, the former high school Montgomery-Lonsdale Redbirds and now the Tri-City United Titans. The Mallards play in the Dakota Rice Scott Amateur Baseball League (DRS) under the direction of the Minnesota Baseball Association. The Mallards participated in the State Tournament in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2016. They play their home games at Memorial Field, in Memorial Park. The Redbirds played in the Minnesota River Conference under the direction of the Minnesota High School League. The Redbirds participated in a few State Tournaments and won the Class A State Championship for the 1998-1999 Season. Now the tradition continues with the consolidated Tri-City United School District.

Recreation

The Tri-City United Community Education Office provides the citizens of Montgomery as well as the rest of the school district with recreational opportunities for all ages.

City parks

*Memorial Park *North Side *West Side *Veteran's Memorial Park

Nearby Lakes

* Lake Pepin * Lake Dora * Clear Lake * Gorman Lake

Politics

Montgomery is in Minnesota's 1st congressional district, represented by

Jim Hagedorn James Lee Hagedorn ( ; August 4, 1962 – February 17, 2022) was an American politician from Minnesota. A Republican, he was the U.S. Representative for from 2019 until his death. The district stretches across southern Minnesota along the border ...

(R); Minnesota Senate district 20, represented by Rich Draheim (R); and Minnesota House district 20B, represented by

Todd Lippert Todd Lippert (born January 26, 1977) is an American politician and former pastor who served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represente ...

(DFL). In terms of county politics, Montgomery is a part of Le Sueur County District #2 and represented by Joe Connolly.

Media reference

Area resident Andrew Rogers finished in fifth place at the

Poker Dome Challenge ''The MANSIONPoker.net Poker Dome Challenge'' was a 43-week series of speed poker tournaments offering a grand prize of US$1,000,000. The tournament aired in the United States on Fox Sports Network from May 2006 to March 2007. The tournament featur ...

, a 43-week series of speed poker tournaments with a grand prize of $1,000,000.

Economy

Seneca Foods Seneca Foods Corporation is an American food processor and distributor headquartered in Marion, New York, USA. Seneca Foods Corporation conducts its business almost entirely in food packaging, which contributed to about 98% of the company's fisc ...

(formerly Green Giant) has a freezing and canning facility in Montgomery. United Steel Products also has a large facility in town. The economy of the Montgomery area relies heavily on agriculture, and other assorted blue collar jobs.

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 , all land. Minnesota State Highways 13 and 21 are two of the main routes in the city.

Minnesota State Highway 99 Minnesota State Highway 99 (MN 99) is a highway in south-central Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 111 in Nicollet and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 21 in Erin ...

is located directly to the south. Montgomery is 15 miles from

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

. The closest towns to Montgomery are: * North -

New Prague New Prague ( ) is a city in Scott and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 7,321 at the 2010 census. History Origin New Prague was laid out in 1856, and named after Prague, the capital of Bohemia (now the Czech Re ...

* South -

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

* East - Lonsdale * West -

The closest major city is Faribault to the Southeast.

Demographics

2010 census

At the 2010

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 ...

, there were 2,956 people, 1,185 households and 760 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 1,306 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.4%

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 ...

, 0.2%

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 ...

, 0.6% Native American, 0.4%

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 ...

, 2.3% 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 2.0% 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 ...

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 6.4% of the population. There were 1,185 households, of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% 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, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 35.9% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.07. The median age was 35.1 years. 27.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.5% were from 25 to 44; 23.9% were from 45 to 64; and 13.4% were 65 years of age or older. The population was 50.6% male and 49.4% female.

2000 census

At the 2000

, there were 2,794 people, 1,105 households and 690 families residing in the city. The

was 1,790.7 per square mile (691.5/km). There were 1,137 housing units at an average density of 728.7 per square mile (281.4/km). The racial makeup of the city was 93.59%

, 0.32%

, 0.25% Native American, 0.32%

, 4.29% from

, and 1.22% from two or more races.

of any race were 9.77% of the population. There were 1,105 households, of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were

living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.5% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.23. 28.7% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of ...

was $34,145 and the median family income was $48,011. Males had a median income of $30,707 compared with $23,977 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 ...

was $16,128. About 8.1% of families and 11.6% 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 13.6% of those under age 18 and 18.3% of those age 65 or over.

Climate

References

External links

Kolacky Days

Montgomery MN Newspaper

Kolacky Days on Facebook

Big Honza's Museum of Unnatural History

ePodunk entry for Montgomery

Montgomery Chamber Of Commerce
{{Authority control Cities in Minnesota Czech-American culture in Minnesota Cities in Le Sueur County, Minnesota 1877 establishments in Minnesota Slovak-American culture in Minnesota