Pipestone, Minnesota
Encyclopedia
As of the census
of 2000, there were 4,280 people, 1,900 households, and 1,138 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,090.8 people per square mile (421.6/km²). There were 2,097 housing units at an average density of 534.4 per square mile (206.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.23% White, 0.28% African American, 2.94% Native American, 0.75% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races
, and 1.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.96% of the population.
There were 1,900 households out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% were married couples
living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.89.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,412, and the median income for a family was $40,194. Males had a median income of $28,180 versus $21,349 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $17,253. About 8.3% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.0% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.
Less than a mile north of the city of Pipestone lays a pipestone
quarry, described in Native American legends as a square-cut jewel lying upon folds of shimmering green velvet. This is an accurate depiction of the red quartzite almost hidden by prairie grass. It was designated a national monument
by the United States in 1937.
Although he never visited the site, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
was inspired to write of the area in the poem, "Song of Hiawatha". The Song of Hiawatha Pageant, which spins out Longfellow's vision of the American Indian, played in Pipestone for 60 years. The pageant was held at a small quarry lake on a natural amphitheater with a cast of 200 principals, chieftains, warriors, and dancers in their colorful costumes. Summer of 2008 was the last year for the pageant.
Charles Bennett and Daniel Sweet founded Pipestone in 1876. Bennett was intrigued by the prospect of visiting the site he had read about in Longfellow's poem. Despite blizzards, prairie fires, droughts and grasshoppers, the young village survived. In 1879, 22 businesses were operating in Pipestone, and by the following year that number had grown to 53. Pipestone was incorporated as a village in 1881. By 1890, Pipestone had train service on four different rail lines and had become a travel and business center hub for southwestern Minnesota.
Pipestone was formerly home to a Native American Boarding School
, which were known for their repression of Native American
culture and contribution to the genocide
and ethnocide of Native American people.
In 2006 Suzlon Energy
of India
began building wind farm
blades at its subsidiary Suzlon Rotor Corporation in the town. Among the companies buying the blades is Wind Capital Group
which is developing the biggest wind farm in Minnesota.
Former United States Representative
Vern Ehlers
of Michigan
was born in Pipestone.
in downtown Pipestone is a restored historical building from 1888. It still operates as a functioning hotel. It features turn-of-the-century (19th to 20th) antiques and interesting architecture. The building was constructed using quartzite
both structurally and in the facade. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
The county Courthouse
, also made of local quartzite stone, was built in 1899. The building is the most stylized of the quartzite buildings. It is rectangular in shape with a 110-ft clock tower topped with a dome and a statue of Lady Justice. It was restored in 1995 and rededicated in 1996. It is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places
.
American Indians have used the pipestone quarries located at the Pipestone National Monument for centuries to obtain materials for pipe making, a practice that continues today. 282 acres (1.1 km²) - visitor and cultural center, 3/4 mile walking trail along Pipestone Creek and Winnewissa Falls set in the tallgrass prairie. Pipestone Indian Shrine Association provides visitors with a selection of American Indian art and craft items.
, serves the community of Pipestone and surrounding area, including the towns of Hatfield, Woodstock, Jasper, Trosky and Holland. Pipestone Area High School
, a new 197000 square feet (18,301.9 m²) middle/high school/district office, was opened in January 2003 at the cost of 22.3 million dollars. Southwest Minnesota Christian High School and Edgerton Christian Elementary School are located in nearby Edgerton
, in the southern portion of Pipestone County, and are an alternative to public education. Minnesota West Community & Technical College
, based in Pipestone, offers post-secondary classes.
, represented by Mankato
educator Tim Walz
, a Democrat
. At the state level, Pipestone is located in Senate
District 22, represented by Republican
Doug Magnus
, and in House
District 22A, represented by Republican Joe Schomacker
.
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 4,280 people, 1,900 households, and 1,138 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,090.8 people per square mile (421.6/km²). There were 2,097 housing units at an average density of 534.4 per square mile (206.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.23% White, 0.28% African American, 2.94% Native American, 0.75% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.96% of the population.
There were 1,900 households out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.89.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,412, and the median income for a family was $40,194. Males had a median income of $28,180 versus $21,349 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $17,253. About 8.3% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.0% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.
Local history
Pipestone is located in southwestern Minnesota. It is a leader in wind technology with nearly 800 wind generator towers located nearby on one of the area's top resources.Less than a mile north of the city of Pipestone lays a pipestone
Catlinite
Catlinite is a type of argillite , usually brownish-red in color, which occurs in a matrix of Sioux quartzite. Because it is fine-grained and easily worked, it is prized by Native Americans for use in making sacred pipes such as calumets and chanunpas...
quarry, described in Native American legends as a square-cut jewel lying upon folds of shimmering green velvet. This is an accurate depiction of the red quartzite almost hidden by prairie grass. It was designated a national monument
Pipestone National Monument
Pipestone National Monument is located in southwestern Minnesota, just north of the city of Pipestone, Minnesota. It is located along the highways of U.S. Route 75, Minnesota State Highway 23 and Minnesota State Highway 30....
by the United States in 1937.
Although he never visited the site, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
was inspired to write of the area in the poem, "Song of Hiawatha". The Song of Hiawatha Pageant, which spins out Longfellow's vision of the American Indian, played in Pipestone for 60 years. The pageant was held at a small quarry lake on a natural amphitheater with a cast of 200 principals, chieftains, warriors, and dancers in their colorful costumes. Summer of 2008 was the last year for the pageant.
Charles Bennett and Daniel Sweet founded Pipestone in 1876. Bennett was intrigued by the prospect of visiting the site he had read about in Longfellow's poem. Despite blizzards, prairie fires, droughts and grasshoppers, the young village survived. In 1879, 22 businesses were operating in Pipestone, and by the following year that number had grown to 53. Pipestone was incorporated as a village in 1881. By 1890, Pipestone had train service on four different rail lines and had become a travel and business center hub for southwestern Minnesota.
Pipestone was formerly home to a Native American Boarding School
Native American boarding schools
An Indian boarding school refers to one of many schools that were established in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to educate Native American children and youths according to Euro-American standards...
, which were known for their repression of Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
culture and contribution to the genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
and ethnocide of Native American people.
In 2006 Suzlon Energy
Suzlon Energy
Suzlon Energy is a global wind power company based in India. In terms of market share, the company is the fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer in Asia...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
began building wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
blades at its subsidiary Suzlon Rotor Corporation in the town. Among the companies buying the blades is Wind Capital Group
Wind Capital Group
The wind power developer Wind Capital Group was founded in 2005 by Missouri native Tom Carnahan.- Blue Grass Ridge Wind Farm:On January 31st 2006, Wind Capital Group announced the planned construction of Blue Grass Ridge Wind Farm near King City in Gentry County, Missouri. Construction of the 27...
which is developing the biggest wind farm in Minnesota.
Former United States Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Vern Ehlers
Vern Ehlers
Vernon James "Vern" Ehlers is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party....
of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
was born in Pipestone.
Places of interest
The Calumet InnCalumet Hotel (Pipestone, Minnesota)
The Calumet Hotel, also known as the Calumet Inn, anchors the historic district of downtown Pipestone, MN. The three-story Richardsonian Romanesque hotel was built with light pink jasper quartzite as opposed to the red Sioux quartzite used in most other downtown buildings...
in downtown Pipestone is a restored historical building from 1888. It still operates as a functioning hotel. It features turn-of-the-century (19th to 20th) antiques and interesting architecture. The building was constructed using quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
both structurally and in the facade. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Pipestone County Courthouse
The Pipestone County Courthouse, located at 416 South Hiawatha in the city of Pipestone, Pipestone County in the U.S. state of Minnesota is a Beaux Arts style building featuring a Renaissance dome on a clock tower with heavily rusticated masonry and Sioux quartzite. A bronze Lady Justice stands on...
, also made of local quartzite stone, was built in 1899. The building is the most stylized of the quartzite buildings. It is rectangular in shape with a 110-ft clock tower topped with a dome and a statue of Lady Justice. It was restored in 1995 and rededicated in 1996. It is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
American Indians have used the pipestone quarries located at the Pipestone National Monument for centuries to obtain materials for pipe making, a practice that continues today. 282 acres (1.1 km²) - visitor and cultural center, 3/4 mile walking trail along Pipestone Creek and Winnewissa Falls set in the tallgrass prairie. Pipestone Indian Shrine Association provides visitors with a selection of American Indian art and craft items.
Education
Pipestone Area Schools, Independent School District #2689Pipestone Area School District
Pipestone Area School District, Independent School District 2689 serves the communities of Pipestone, Woodstock, Hatfield, Trosky, Holland, Ihlen and Jasper. The district superintendent is Jim Lentz.-District schools:...
, serves the community of Pipestone and surrounding area, including the towns of Hatfield, Woodstock, Jasper, Trosky and Holland. Pipestone Area High School
Pipestone Area High School
Pipestone Area High School is the only public high school in Pipestone, Minnesota, in the southwestern corner of the state. The high school is operated under the Pipestone Area School District. As of August, 2007, there were 336 students enrolled in grades 9-12 for the 2006-2007 school year...
, a new 197000 square feet (18,301.9 m²) middle/high school/district office, was opened in January 2003 at the cost of 22.3 million dollars. Southwest Minnesota Christian High School and Edgerton Christian Elementary School are located in nearby Edgerton
Edgerton, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,033 people, 435 households, and 287 families residing in the city. The population density was 890.2 people per square mile . There were 477 housing units at an average density of 411.1 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 98.84% White, 0.29%...
, in the southern portion of Pipestone County, and are an alternative to public education. Minnesota West Community & Technical College
Minnesota West Community & Technical College
Minnesota West Community and Technical College is a community and technical college with five campuses in southwestern Minnesota, United States: Canby, Granite Falls, Jackson, Pipestone and Worthington and four learning centers in Fairmont, Luverne, Marshall and Redwood Falls...
, based in Pipestone, offers post-secondary classes.
Politics
Pipestone is located in Minnesota's 1st congressional districtMinnesota's 1st congressional district
Minnesota's 1st congressional district extends across southern Minnesota from the border with South Dakota to the border with Wisconsin. The First District is primarily a rural district built on a strong history of agriculture, although this is changing rapidly due to strong population growth in...
, represented by Mankato
Mankato, Minnesota
Mankato is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 39,309 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County, it is located...
educator Tim Walz
Tim Walz
Timothy James Walz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party .The district comprises the state's southern end, running along the entire border with Iowa...
, a Democrat
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
. At the state level, Pipestone is located in Senate
Minnesota Senate
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...
District 22, represented by Republican
Republican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
Doug Magnus
Doug Magnus
Douglas Rudy "Doug" Magnus is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 22, which includes all of Cottonwood, Jackson, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock counties in the southwestern part of the state...
, and in House
Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...
District 22A, represented by Republican Joe Schomacker
Joe Schomacker
Joseph "Joe" Roy Schomacker is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives who represents District 22A, which includes all or portions of Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock counties in the southwestern part of the state...
.
External links
- City of Pipestone
- Pipestone Chamber of Commerce
- Pipestone County Star newspaper site
- Pipestone National Monument website - National Park Service
- Pipestone, Minnesota, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
- Minnesota West Community & Technical College site - Pipestone campus