Taft is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Grand Lake Township, Saint Louis County

St. Louis County, Minnesota

St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 200,226. Its county seat is Duluth. It is the largest county by total area in Minnesota, and the second largest in the United States east of the Mississippi River; in land area alone, after Aroostook...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The community is located 24 miles northwest of the city of Duluth

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

 at the junction

Junction (traffic)

A junction, when discussed in the context of transport, is a location where traffic can change between different routes, directions, or sometimes modes, of travel.-Historical significance:...

 of County Road 15 (Munger Shaw Road) and County Road 48 (Taft Road).

Taft is located within the Cloquet Valley State Forest

Cloquet Valley State Forest

The Cloquet Valley State Forest encompasses ; of which are Minnesota Department of Natural Resources forestry administered lands.Located in southeast St. Louis County, the Cloquet Valley State Forest is located about north of Duluth and southeast of Virginia, in Minnesota's Arrowhead region. ...

 in Saint Louis County.

History

The community of Taft is named after former American President William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

, who was in office from 1909 to 1913.

Taft was once a water stop

Water stop

A water stop or water station on a railroad is a place where trains stop to replenish water. The stopping of the train itself is also referred to as "water stop". The term originates from the times of steam engines, when large amounts of water were essential...

for trains traveling along the former Northeastern Railway in Saint Louis County.

Although buildings such as the Depot, old schoolhouse, and railroad crew section house are no longer around; their imprints can still be seen.

Just opposite of the Ush-kab-wan River from Taft, was the town of Chrysler, which no longer exists.