Hawley is a town in Clay County, Minnesota, United States, along the Buffalo River. The population was 2,219 at the 2020 census. Part of the Fargo–Moorhead area, it is just 23 miles away.
History
The town went through six quick name changes after 1871 until, in 1872, it was finally named after Thomas Hawley Canfield, an officer in the Northern Pacific Railway, which laid out the town. General George Custer visited the town in 1876. The incident was recalled in WCCO Television's short film Incident at Hawley, which aired during America's bicentennial year of 1976.
Hawley was at one time settled by a colony of immigrants from Yeovil, Somerset; among these was Elisabeth Chant, later a painter in Minneapolis.
Geography
Hawley is east of Moorhead, at the intersection of the Buffalo River, U.S. Route 10, and the Burlington Northern Railroad. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , all land. A number of pastures and farmlands are nearby.