Norseland, Minnesota

Norseland is an unincorporated community in Lake Prairie Township, Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States.

The community is located at the junction of Minnesota State Highway 22 and County Road 52. It is part of the Mankato–North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Norseland celebrated it's 150th year in June of 2008. The general store built in 1858 closed in May 2006. Norseland has never had a council or government. It has always been unincorporated, but the fabric of the community is strong and held together by the Lutheran congregations flanking the hamlet by a quarter mile on each side.

The geographic characteristics of Norseland include standing at the edge of the prairie. The Eastern Big Woods deciduous biome stretches westward a bit from the Minnesota River bluffs here. A small lake, Sand Lake, and several ponds and sloughs lie just northeast of the settled area. The surrounding land to the south, west and north is more akin to the plains and has been almost completely plowed or has been developed as farm property. It is in Lake Prairie township in Nicollet County.

The village has approximately 5-7 houses, a small feed mill, and a boy scout camp. It used to have a gas station, repair shop, creamery, and even a tack store long ago. The locale also contains two churches; Norseland Lutheran Church (ELS) and Scandian Grove Lutheran Church (ELCA). The community has never had a school system, so the bonds of many neighbors center around the churches. The traditional school district boundaries of Nicollet, Sibley East (Gaylord) and St. Peter converge at Norseland. Young people in the community attended these schools or private schools or Le Sueur, whose boundary is nearby also. The most central shared meeting place for those of both churches was the General Store. In later years it had icons on its sign indicating it had been there from the covered wagon to the space shuttle. The population of Norseland, if you count the homes adjacent to the churches and those between, has probably never exceeded 100. It is now less than 50. People might consider themselves to be from Norseland for the surrounding 2-3 miles.

In addition to two large cemeteries adjacent to the churches dating back to the late 1850's, there are two small ones including The New Sweden Indian Attack cemetery on Highway 22 next to the Norseland sign as you drive from the east. Several people buried there died as a result of the 1862 Dakota War. Dakota people occupied the area for many centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 1850's. The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux, July 23, 1851, was signed 10 miles east on the banks of the Minnesota River in St. Peter, MN. This opened the territory of the Dakota-Sissiton and Wahpeton Bands to those immigrants willing to brave the winters; mostly Swedes and Norwegians. But the Swedes came first.

Coordinates: 44°24′46″N 94°07′00″W / 44.41278°N 94.1166667°W / 44.41278; -94.1166667