Swatara is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Macville Township,

Aitkin County Aitkin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,697. Its county seat is Aitkin. Part of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is in the county. The county was created in 1857 and organized ...

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. Although unincorporated, Swatara has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

with the ZIP code 55785.

History

The community at one time was served by the

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...

and had a railroad station. Swatara and neighboring townships were considered as a potential location of the Minnesota Experimental City that was proposed by scientist

Athelstan Spilhaus Athelstan Frederick Spilhaus (November 25, 1911 – March 30, 1998) was a South African-American geophysicist and oceanographer. Among other accomplishments, Spilhaus is credited with proposing the establishment of Sea Grant Colleges at a meeting ...

in the 1970s. The city was envisioned to house 250,000 people and would use experimental technologies and methodologies such as moving walkways and monorail systems for transportation and a transparent dome encapsulating the city. Despite support from state legislature, and prominent companies such as

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

, and

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

, Aitkin County residents pushed back against the proposed city, citing environmental concerns as well as concerns about changing their way of life. The newly formed Minnesota Pollution Control Agency voted to abandon the project in 1973.

Geography

Swatara is located along Aitkin County Road 7 (610th Street) near the junction with County Road 29 (Osprey Avenue). Nearby places include Hill City, Remer, and Haypoint. U.S. 169 is nearby. Swatara is located in the northwest part of Aitkin County. It is seven miles southwest of Hill City.

References

Unincorporated communities in Aitkin County, Minnesota Unincorporated communities in Minnesota {{AitkinCountyMN-geo-stub