West Newton is an abandoned townsite on the Minnesota River

Minnesota River

The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....

 in West Newton Township, Nicollet County

Nicollet County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 29,771 people, 10,642 households, and 7,311 families residing in the county. The population density was 66 people per square mile . There were 11,240 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...

, 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...

.

History

West Newton was named in part to honor James Newton, an early settler who emigrated from Kentucky, and partly to honor the steamboat West Newton, which was built in 1852 and sunk at Alma, Wisconsin

Alma, Wisconsin

Alma is a city in and the county seat of Buffalo County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 942 at the 2000 census. The city is surrounded by the Town of Alma. The motto for the city of Alma is: "Step into Living History."-Geography:...

, in September 1853. The town had a post office from 1862 until 1910, and also had a sawmill, a gristmill, a hotel, and a general store. Harkin's General Store

Harkin's General Store

Harkin's General Store is all that remains of West Newton, in Nicollet County, Minnesota. Most of the stock was left when the store was closed and abandoned, and remains today as a museum operated by the Minnesota Historical Society.-External links:...

 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...

.

Notable residents and natives

• John Hubert Peschges
  John Hubert Peschges
  John Hubert Peschges was the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston in Crookston, Minnesota....
  
  , second Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston

External links

• Harkins Store at Minnesota River Valley
• Minnesota Historic Sites: Harkin Store