Blue Earth is a city in Faribault County, Minnesota, United States, at the confluence of the east and west branches of the Blue Earth River. The population was 3,174 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Faribault County. It is home to a statue of the Jolly Green Giant. Additionally, Interstate 90 is centered on Blue Earth, as the east and west construction teams met here in 1978. As a tribute, there is a golden stripe of concrete on the interstate near Blue Earth. This draws an analogy to the golden spike set in the first transcontinental railroad. Approximately three miles south of Blue Earth is the Blue Earth Municipal Airport.
History
Blue Earth was platted in 1856. The city took its name from the Blue Earth River which surrounds the town. The river was given the Dakota language name (meaning "blue earth") for the blue-green clay found in the river banks, from the phrase : "the river where blue earth is gathered".
The city celebrated its sesquicentennial in the summer of 2006 with community events, including a concert headlined by Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits.
Attractions and community achievements
left|thumb|upright|The Jolly Green Giant statue is 55.5' (17 m) tall
The Jolly Green Giant statue attracts over 14,000 visitors a year. In July 2007, the Blue Earth City Council approved space for a Green Giant memorabilia museum. In 2018 a building was built across from the Giant statue to house the museum, the Chamber and tourism offices, and the building is also the welcome center. Lowell Steen, of Blue Earth, has collected thousands of Green Giant items and will permanently loan them to the museum.
Steinberg Nature Park is a 33-acre (13.35 ha) park located east of Blue Earth on County Road 16. The park has a half-mile (0.8 km) trail and a picnic shelter.
Prior to football playoffs the Minneapolis Star Tribune had a Coaches Poll who voted each week for the Best Football Team in the State. In 1964, 1965 and 1966, the Blue Earth Area High School Bucs were rated #1 for 3 consecutive years holding many of their opponents to negative total yards. In 1972, the football team went 9-1 and played in the first state football playoffs and lost. The 1990 football team finished third in Minnesota for Class A. On November 24, 2012, the 2012 football team won the division 3A championship by defeating Rochester Lourdes High School by a score of 30–7.
The Blue Earth Bucs high school wrestling program has the second-most individual state champions on record in Minnesota with 50.
On Sept. 10–12, 1999, The Order of the Arrow (OA), a group within the Boy Scouts of America, held its Section C-1A Conclave in Blue Earth. Seven OA Lodges, representing councils from Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, attended the event.
Architecture
Blue Earth is home to many examples of Midwestern architecture, including:
thumb|right|[[Faribault County Courthouse]]
Faribault County Courthouse – completed in December 1892 at a cost of over $70,000. The architect for the courthouse was C.A. Dunham of Burlington, Iowa and the contractor was S.J. Hoban from St. Paul. The style of the courthouse is Richardsonian Romanesque. Stone used in the construction of the courthouse was transported from Kasota, Minnesota to Blue Earth by horse and wagon and rail. Most of the sand used in the mortar was from the Blue Earth river bottom and thoroughly washed. The pillars on the front of the building are of polished granite. There are ledges on all four sides of the tower that are of solid stone of unknown weights of several ton each.
Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd – 1872
First Presbyterian Church — constructed in 1897 at a cost of $12,622.75. Designed by Kinney and Orth, architects from Austin, Minnesota. The architecture is Romanesque Revival in the arched windows, Gothic Revival in the steeples and gables, and medieval in the towers.
Salem Evangelical Church – This English country Gothic structure was completed in 1942. Designed by Bard & Vanderbilt of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Interstate 90 and U.S. Route 169 are two of the main routes in the city.