Stanton is 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 ...

in Stanton Township, Goodhue 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 center of Stanton is generally considered near the junction of State Highway 19 ( MN 19) and State Highway 56 ( MN 56). Nearby places include Northfield, Dennison, Randolph, and Cannon Falls. Stanton is located seven miles east of Northfield. Stanton is six miles north-northeast of Dennison; and seven miles west-southwest of Cannon Falls. Stanton is near the northwest corner of Goodhue County, and immediately adjacent to Dakota County. Rice County is also nearby.

Community

Prairie Creek and the Little Cannon River both flow through the community. The Cannon River and Lake Byllesby are nearby. The community is served by an airport,

Stanton Airfield Stanton Airfield is a public use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) east of the central business district of Stanton, in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The airport is privately owned by Stanton Sport Aviation, Inc. H ...

, with two grass-surfaced runways. The runways are plowed in the winter. The

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

serves the sport

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

community, with a notable volume of glider, classic aircraft, and

Sport Pilot In the United States, pilots must be certified to fly most aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), regulates certification to ensure safety and standardization. Pilots can ear ...

activity. The airport was previously known as ''Carleton Airport'', and still appears with that name on some maps, due to its prior association with

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

. Stanton Airfield is also home of the Minnesota Soaring Club, the largest soaring club in the upper Midwest. Over 25 gliders are based at Stanton Airfield. Soaring takes place primarily on weekends from mid April through November. Despite its small size, the airport was used by U.S. president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

, who arrived there by helicopter for a commencement address at Carleton College in 2000. Stanton Airfield was designated a historic site in November 2004. It has been in continuous use for flight training since April 1942, when it was used to train pilots during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Stanton Airfield also has a

Link Trainer The term Link Trainer, also known as the "Blue box" and "Pilot Trainer" is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Link Aviation Devices, founded and headed by Ed Link, based o ...

, one of the first

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

s, used to train World War II pilots. A post office previously operated in Stanton. The post office closed in the 1970s due to federal budget cuts.

References

External links

Stanton Airfield Website
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Minnesota Unincorporated communities in Goodhue County, Minnesota