Lanesboro is a city in
Fillmore County,
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, United States. The population was 754 at the
2010 census.
It was named after F. A. Lane, an early landowner.
The South Branch of the
Root River flows through it, with a waterfall dam across from Sylvan Park. The
Root River State Trail and other bike paths also serve the town. An
Amish
The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...
community is in the area and the town is home to many unique shops and restaurants, and a professional stage theater.
History
Lanesboro was
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 Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...
ted in 1868. A post office was established as Lanesboro in 1868, and the name was changed to Lanesboro in 1883. The city was named for one of its founders, F. A. Lane.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , all land.
Minnesota State Highways
16 and
250 and County Roads 8 and 21 are four of the main routes in Lanesboro.
Trail connection
Lanesboro is one of several towns intersected by the
Root River State Trail.
Recognition
Lanesboro received the Great American Main Street Award in 1998. Author John Villani named the community one of the 100 Best Small Art Towns in America. It has also been rated one of the "50 Best Outdoor Sports Towns" by ''
Sports Afield'' magazine.
Most recently, ''
Outside Magazine
''Outside'' is a magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue of the ''Outside'' magazine was published in September 1977. It is published by Outside Inc., a company that also owns various other ventures.
History
''Outside'' founders were J ...
'' featured the community as one of the "20 Best Dream Towns in America".
Art and culture

Since 1989, Lanesboro has been home to the
Commonweal Theatre Company, a professional ensemble dedicated to celebrating the human condition through actor-based storytelling. Each year, the Commonweal offers 4-6 plays ranging from
Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
to family-friendly entertainment to holiday classics. During the summer months, two plays run in repertory, giving visitors the opportunity to see two different shows during their stay. The Commonweal, in cooperation with area businesses and organizations, hosts an annual Ibsen Festival celebrating Norwegian art and culture through workshops, lectures, food, and featuring Commonweal's production of an Ibsen play. A live one-hour radio show, "Over the Back Fence," is broadcast each Sunday evening from the theater during the summer months with tickets sold at the door. On July 7, 2007, the Commonweal opened a new theater facility called The Commonweal. This $3.5 million home seats 191 patrons in a thrust auditorium with an exterior designed to complement historic Lanesboro. The interior design was coordinated by area artist Karl Unnasch with regional elements such as reclaimed barn stone and lumber, cement floors and a permanent installation of area objects.
The Lanesboro Arts Council and Cornucopia Art Center merged to create Lanesboro Arts in 2010. Their gallery building, in downtown Lanesboro, features a spacious juried sales gallery and a traveling exhibition gallery, both of which showcase the work of more than 100 individual regional artists to more than 20,000 visitors annually, some as far as Saudi Arabia, Korea, China, Israel and Kenya.
[Southern Minn Scene, Rich Larson](_blank)
August 14, 2014 The St. Mane Theater is owned and operated by Lanesboro Arts, and is right next door to the Commonweal, giving Lanesboro a bonafide Theater District. It's the home to several community theater productions throughout the year, as well as the Over the Back Fence community variety show (monthly from March through November), and other performing arts events and independent film screenings.
In 2013
Artplace America named Lanesboro one of the top twelve “small town artplaces” in the nation. The designation is based on the concentration of arts organizations, arts-oriented businesses and creative occupations.
Library
Lanesboro Public Library is a member of Southeastern Libraries Cooperating, the southeast Minnesota library region.
Events
Every Saturday before Father's Day in June, an art festival organized by Lanesboro Arts, dubbed "Art in the Park," fills the town's Sylvan Park. During the first August, the popular "Buffalo Bill Days" is held, celebrating one of Lanesboro's famous frequent visitors,
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...
. As the town's tourist popularity grows, more festivals and get-togethers are being added to the town's busy schedule of events.
In 2008, the governor of Minnesota declared Lanesboro the Rhubarb Capital of Minnesota. The first weekend in June Lanesboro hosts a Rhubarb Festival. In 2007, Garrison Keillor broadcast
A Prairie Home Companion
''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...
from the Lanesboro softball field and featured stories and songs about rhubarb.
Every Saturday, the Lanesboro Farmers' Market can be found in Sylvan Park, starting on the first Saturday of May and ending on the last Saturday of October.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 754 people, 373 households, and 207 families residing in the city. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...
was . There were 464 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.7%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.3%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.1%
Native American, 0.3% from
other races, and 1.6% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population.
There were 373 households, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.5% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.02 and the average family size was 2.67.
The median age in the city was 49.8 years. 18.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.1% were from 25 to 44; 34.8% were from 45 to 64; and 22.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.
Notable people
*
Duane Benson, former member of Minnesota House of Representatives, and former majority leader and minority leader of Minnesota Senate.
*
Katherine M. Cook, educator and government official who specialized in rural education
[ ]
*
Arthur B. Langlie, 12th and 14th Governor of the state of Washington.
*
Luke Miller
Luke Jonathan Miller (born 27 June 1966) is a Church of England priest. Since January 2016, he has been Archdeacon of London. From 2010 until 2015, he was Archdeacon of Hampstead in the Diocese of London. He is an executive officer of the Socie ...
, businessman, physician, and former Minnesota state senator
*
Edwin Vincent O'Hara, Roman Catholic Church
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
.
References
External links
Lanesboro Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control
Cities in Minnesota
Cities in Fillmore County, Minnesota