Langdon, Minnesota

**Langdon** was a village within the township of Cottage Grove that was first platted in 1871 by J.T. Dodge. Built along the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, Langdon sprang up into a center of commerce through the 1870's, including a handful of businesses run by the prominent George and Forrest E. Woodward. By 1880, the need for manpower in farming had led to such a decrease in farming population that the village was no longer economically viable. Langdon's downward spiral continued as the village of Cottage Grove grew through suburban development in the 1950's, effectively smothering the smaller village out of existence. By the time Cottage Grove transitioned from a township to a city in 1974, Langdon was little more than a handful of residences south of US Route 10-61, which remains its current state.

## Formation *(1871)*

As the section of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad running from Hastings to St. Paul was completed in 1871, the village of Langdon was platted by J.T. Dodge in section 21 of Cottage Grove Township. The village was named for Republican politician Robert Bruce Langdon, who was influential in the construction of railroads in the state. The majority of the lots were located on sixty acres between present-day US Route 10-61 to the north and the railroad to the south. This setup was deliberately chosen to eliminate dangerous railroad crossings for any commercial or residential zones.

## Prosperity and Growth *(1872-1880)*

Langdon's primary economic drive was the railroad. The village served as the commercial center for the greater township, and for the decade following its formation, Langdon experienced significant and rapid growth as dozens of wheat farms were created on the Cottage Grove prairie.

### Commercial Development

Among the businesses that were formed in Langdon was the general store Woodward and Son, owned and operated by George Woodward and his son Forrest, and later his grandson George Eugene. The Woodward family continued to control the majority of Langdon's commerce through the 1930's. While it shares the village's name, the Langdon Butter and Cheese factory, also organized by George Woodward, was not located within the village of Langdon.

In 1874, A.V. Brown of St. Paul constructed a grain elevator along the railroad. Elevator proprietors Dill and Miller purchased the elevator in 1878 and added a feed mill and engine house the following year. Soon after this addition the elevator changed hands again, this time being purchased by the Woodwards.

Other commercial institutions in Langdon's height included a blacksmith, a hotel, a stockyard, a lumberyard.

### Civic Development

In 1871 the Langdon post office was established with Aaron G. Gillet serving as the first postmaster. Mail for the majority of the township and surrounding area arrived in Langdon by rail, where it was sorted and then distributed by stage as far away as Stillwater. In 1880 the post office was moved to the local general store Woodward and Son, whereupon Forrest E. Woodward became the new postmaster.

Town supervising meetings were moved to Langdon in 1875 from their former location in the village of Cottage Grove, where they had been previously held since 1858. A new town hall was constructed in 1881.

Langdon was home to School District No. 30, which branched off from School District No. 1 in 1872. School was held in private homes until the first dedicated school building was constructed in 1878 on lot four of block 30. A larger, two-story brick consolidated school building was built in 1918.

At least two churches were located in Langdon, the first being St. Patrick's Catholic Church, organized in 1873 by the Rev. Father Harley. The church was later moved to St. Paul Park on the corner of Summit and Broadway. The second church was a Methodist church, which was later used as a public hall.

## Decline *(1881-1963)*

From the 1880's onward, technological advances led to a decline in the need for manpower around area farms. As the farming population decreased and the township's economic dependence on the railroad fell, Langdon began a slow and steady decline into economic despair.

By the 1930's many businesses began to close. The Woodwards' presence in Langdon began to fade, first with the feed mill and grain elevator closing in 1930, and then with the decommissioning of the Langdon post office in 1933 and the general store in which it was housed closing soon after.

As more businesses left the village, Langdon became unable to support its residents and population dwindled. School District No. 30 was dissolved and sold in 1960. The final blow occurred in 1963 when the town board meetings were moved from the Langdon town hall back to Cottage Grove.

## Present Day

Little remains of the village of Langdon today. The railroad, now owned by Canadian Pacific still runs through the area, but trains do not stop. A majority of the lots have been razed and are now occupied by the Cottage Grove public works facility and self-storage units. The 1881 town hall and the 1918 school building remain standing, the former being used as storage by the city public works, and the latter being used as a public meeting hall. What few residences remain are now cut off from the rest of the city of Cottage Grove by US Route 10-61, accessible only by a side road off Jamaica Avenue.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Washington County Historical Society. (2015). *Community Histories: Cottage Grove*. [1]
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Upham, Warren. (2001). *Minnesota Place Names: A Geographic Encyclopedia*. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society. 617-18. [2]
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Vogel, Robert C. (1988). *Preliminary Inventory of Pre-1940 Houses in the City of Cottage Grove, Minnesota*. 9. [3]
4. ↑ Glischinski, Steve. (2012). *Information About Minnesota's Railroads.* 13. [4]