Litchfield is a city in and the county seat of Meeker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 6,624 at the 2020 census.

History

Immigration to the county was slow until the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, later the called St. Paul and Pacific and then the Great Northern, started coming through the area in 1869. The first train to arrive was a construction train on August 13, 1869. The town site was laid out in 1869 with agriculture and agriculture-related industries making up a large base of the economy. The town's first post office opened in a home in September 20, 1869. It later moved to the northwest corner of Sibley Avenue and Second Street, to a clothing store owned by the town's first official postmaster.

Town name

The settlers living in the area named their new community "Ness" on April 5, 1858, after the home of many of the first settlers: the parish of Næs in the traditional region of Hallingdal, Norway. Litchfield got its name from a man named Electus Bachus Darwin Litchfield. He was a contractor, an investor, and a stockholder in the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad which originally went from St. Paul to St. Cloud and was built from 1862 to 1864. Later, his investments provided the means for building a more southern line through Meeker County to Breckenridge. The village of Litchfield was originally called several different names, including "Round Lake", "Ripley", and finally "Ness". Litchfield was originally a portion of a congressional township named Round Lake, but most people called it Ripley after Ripley Lake one mile from its center. The people of Ness were permitted to vote on the actual chartered village name of their township. Electus Litchfield donated grants of $2,000 each to various religious sects in town to build churches, the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches being two of them. The Presbyterian Church, Litchfield's first church, was built in 1870. The majority of the 350 people voted for the name Litchfield over Ness, and the township of Litchfield was chartered as a village on February 29, 1872. The first village council meeting was held on April 5, 1872, in the railroad's land office. Jesse Vawter Branham, Jr. was elected the President of the Council.

Early history as village

By 1871, the village had grown to double the population of Forest City, a community 7 mi to the northeast. The railroad put up a 25 by one-story building called an "immigrant's reception house". In addition to Litchfield, the railroad in the 1870s put immigrant houses along its lines in villages including Willmar, Benson, Morris, and Breckenridge. The houses were "fitted up with cooking-stoves, washing conveniences, and beds." Newly arriving immigrants were given shelter in the reception houses and the chance to buy food and clothing at cost from the railroad while they looked for land in the area. While most sidewalks in town were made of wood, the first cement sidewalk in Litchfield was laid in 1895 in the 200 block of Sibley Avenue.

Early history as city

The village of Litchfield incorporated as a city in 1943.

Geography

Litchfield is in the center of Meeker County. U.S. Highway 12 and Minnesota State Highways 22 and 24 are three of the main routes in the city. US 12 leads east 17 mi to Cokato and west 30 mi to Willmar, MN 22 leads north 24 mi to Richmond and south-southeast 21 mi to Hutchinson, and MN 24 leads north 22 mi to Kimball. Minneapolis is 66 mi to the east via US 12. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Litchfield has a total area of 5.45 sqmi, of which 4.48 sqmi are land and 0.98 sqmi, or 17.92%, are water. The city limits include all of Lake Ripley, a natural lake to the southwest. Jewitts Creek drains the city to the north, leading to the North Fork of the Crow River upstream from Forest City.

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 6,726 people, 2,747 households, and 1,749 families residing in the city. The population density was 1518.3 PD/sqmi. There were 2,930 housing units at an average density of 661.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 95.8% White, 0.5% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 2.6% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.2% of the population. There were 2,747 households, of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.3% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.98. The median age in the city was 39.6 years. 24.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.6% were from 45 to 64; and 18.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.

Notable people

Historic sites