Red Wing, Minnesota

Red Wing is a city in and the county seat of Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.

The federal government established a Mdewakanton Sioux Indian reservation—now Prairie Island Indian Community—in 1936 along the Mississippi River. The city of Red Wing developed around it.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Red Wing on its 2008 distinctive destinations list because of its "impressive architecture and enviable natural environment".

History

thumb|Main Street, Red Wing, 1860

In the early 1850s, settlers from Mississippi River steamboats came to Red Wing to farm in Goodhue County. They encroached on traditional territory of the Mdewakanton Sioux.

The settlers cleared the land for wheat, the annual crop of which could pay the cost of the land. Before railroads were constructed across the territory of Goodhue County, it produced more wheat than any other county in the country. In 1873, Red Wing led the country in wheat sold by farmers. The warehouses in the port of Red Wing could store and export more than a million bushels. In the 1880s, Aurora club members introduced what became known as "Red Wing Style" ski techniques, patterned after the Telemark skiing form. The term "Red Wing style" remained in use in the U.S. well into the 20th century. In 1887, Norwegian immigrant Mikkjel Hemmestveit set the first North American ski jumping record, 37 feet, at the Aurora Ski Club's McSorley Hill.

In 1889, the federal government established a Mdewakanton Sioux Indian reservation along the Mississippi River to free up land for settlers. It is now within the city of Red Wing, and is known as the Prairie Island Indian Community.

Red Wing's first settlers built small mills, factories, and workshops like those they were familiar with in New England and the upper Midwest, whence many had come.

Red Wing also was the home of Minnesota Elementarskola, a Swedish elementary school that was the predecessor to Gustavus Adolphus College, a private liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). The school was founded in Red Wing in 1862 by Eric Norelius, moved to East Union in 1863, and then was built in St. Peter in 1873–76.

The Red Wing Pottery and stoneware industry began in 1861, when county potter John Paul discovered the large, glacially deposited clay pit beds in the northwest of the city, close to Hay Creek. The first commercial pottery company, Red Wing Stoneware, was founded in 1877. It used clay from the area of the Hay Creek headwaters, close to Goodhue, near a hamlet named Claybank. A railroad branch line was built to carry clay to Red Wing for this industry. The factory buildings remain, but only traces of the railroad, abandoned in 1937, are left.

20th century to present

thumb|Red Wing

The Minnesota Correctional Facility – Red Wing is housed in the former Minnesota State Training School, built in 1889. Warren B. Dunnell designed the original Romanesque building. He was the architect of a number of Minnesota's public buildings. The institution was the subject of "Walls of Red Wing", a folk song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

In the last half of the 20th century, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built Lock and Dam No. 3 and deepened the channel on the Mississippi River to improve navigation in this area. Such projects have revitalized Mississippi River traffic for shipping grain and coal. The port of Red Wing has gained business as a result. The city is at the northern edge of the Driftless Area of karst topography.

Neighborhoods

Red Wing has several neighborhoods or other places annexed by the city. These include:

Burnside Township
East Red Wing
Eggleston

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Red Wing had a population of 16,547. The median age was 42.7 years. 21.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 22.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.0 males age 18 and over.

89.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 10.4% lived in rural areas.

There were 7,194 households in Red Wing, of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.6% were married-couple households, 18.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Arts and culture

Festivals

Big Turn Music Fest – February
Prairie Island Indian Community Wacipi (Pow Wow) – July
Rolling River Music Festival – July
River City Days – first weekend in August
Hispanic Heritage Festival – second weekend in September
MN Children's Book Festival – third weekend in September
Fall Festival of the Arts – second weekend in October
Holiday Stroll – Friday after Thanksgiving

Library

Red Wing Public Library is a member of Southeastern Libraries Cooperating.

Parks and recreation

The Cannon Valley Trail's eastern terminus is in Red Wing. The nearby Prairie Island Indian Reservation operates Treasure Island Resort and Casino.

He Mni Can-Barn Bluff is a natural feature for hiking and sport climbing.

Government

thumb|right|Red Wing City Hall, listed on the National Register of Historic Places

The mayor is Gary Iocco. His term ends in January 2029.

Media

Print

The Red Wing Republican Eagle is published two days per week.

Radio

KCUE, an AM classic country station, and KWNG, an FM classic hits station, are both licensed to Red Wing.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Red Wing is connected to Wisconsin by Red Wing Bridge (officially named the Eisenhower Bridge); it carries U.S. Route 63 over the Mississippi River and its backwaters. U.S. Routes 61 and 63 and Minnesota State Highways 19 and 58 are the main intercity highways. Minnesota State Highway 292 is also in the city.

Red Wing Regional Airport is across the Mississippi River in Pierce County, Wisconsin, near Wisconsin Highway 35 .

Red Wing's Amtrak station is served by Amtrak's daily in each direction between Chicago to the east and Seattle and Portland to the west, as well as the Borealis daily in each direction between St. Paul to north and Chicago to the south.

Notable people

Eugenie Anderson (1909–1997), U.S. ambassador to Denmark and Bulgaria
Tams Bixby (1855–1922), born in Red Wing, member of U.S. Dawes Commission
Ryan Boldt (born 1994), baseball player
Joseph Francis Busch (1866–1953), Roman Catholic bishop
William C. Christianson (1892–1985), Minnesota Supreme Court justice
William J. Colvill, (1830–1905), Civil War hero and Minnesota attorney general
Frances Densmore (1867–1957), ethnographer and ethnomusicologist
Orin Densmore (1805–1872), Minnesota state representative and businessman
Philip S. Duff (1922–1997), Minnesota state senator and newspaper editor
Joanell Dyrstad (born 1942), Minnesota lieutenant governor (1991–1995)
Patrick Flueger (born 1983), actor
Mikkjel Hemmestveit (1863–1957), skiing champion
Torjus Hemmestveit (1860–1930), skiing champion
Stanley E. Hubbard (1897–1992), founder of Hubbard Broadcasting
Philander P. Humphrey (1823–1862), physician, politician
Richard R. Lemke (1930–2016), Minnesota state legislator and farmer
Ned Locke (1919–1992), television personality, Bozo's Circus
Martin Maginnis (1841–1919), politician, Union Army veteran
Lyle Mehrkens (1937–2018), Minnesota state legislator and farmer
Sam Nordquist, group home worker
Lauris Norstad (1907–1988), Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR, NATO) and Commander in Chief of the U.S. European Command
Greg Norton (born 1959), bassist for Hüsker Dü and restaurateur
Henrietta Barclay Paist (1870–1930), artist, designer, teacher, and author
Robert Ezra Park (1864–1944), urban sociologist
Mitchell Peters (1935–2017), percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
John Pohl (born 1979), NHL player
Trapper Schoepp (born 1990), musician
James Touchi-Peters (born 1956), symphonic conductor, composer and jazz singer
Theodore Swanson (1873–1959), farmer, Wisconsin legislator
Charles Carroll Webster (1824–1893), lawyer and Minnesota state senator
August Weenaas (1835–1924), founding president of Augsburg University
Jacqueline West (born 1979), poet and author of The Books of Elsewhere
Phyllis Yes (born 1941), feminist artist