Caledonia is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Traill County,

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, United States. A former boomtown of the 1870s and the era of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

steamship trade, the community has now all but virtually disappeared. An

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

, it was designated as part of the U.S. Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program on March 31, 2010. It was not counted separately during the 2000 Census, but was included in the 2010 Census, where a population of 39 was reported.

History

First called Goose River, the community was established as a post for the

steamships which operated on the

Red River of the North The Red River (), also called the Red River of the North () to differentiate it from the Red River of the South, Red River in the south of the continent, is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confl ...

. Caledonia became an early boom town in the

Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...

and also became a post for a stagecoach line which lead north to Fort Garry — now called

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. Upon the creation of Traill County in 1875, Caledonia was designated as the county seat. However, in that same year, the Hudson's Bay Company closed their U.S. posts including the one at Caledonia. When James J. Hill's railroad crossed Traill County, it bypassed Caledonia, reputedly because Hill hadn't received hospitality there. The steamboat industry soon floundered and the county seat was moved to Hillsboro, named after Hill, in 1896.

Geography

Caledonia sits on the banks of the Goose River near the confluence with the

Demographics

Education

It is within the Hillsboro Public School District 9.
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Notes

{{Authority control Census-designated places in Traill County, North Dakota Census-designated places in North Dakota Unincorporated communities in North Dakota Unincorporated communities in Traill County, North Dakota