Austin, Minnesota

The rich gameland attracted Austin Nichols, a trapper who built the first log cabin in 1853.

At that time there were "about twenty families in the area." More settlers began to arrive by wagon train in 1855, and by 1856 enough people were present to organize Mower County.

In 1856 the settlement adopted the name "Austin", in honor of its first settler.

The first newspaper, the Mower County Mirror, was started in 1858.

The town's first schoolhouse was constructed in 1865, and the first bank opened the following year.

By 1896 area doctors, with the help of local Lutheran congregations, formed the Austin Hospital Association, later becoming St.

In 1897 Charles Boostrom opened Austin's first college, the Southern Minnesota Normal College and Austin School of Commerce.

In 1904 the city opened a newly constructed Carnegie Library.

=== 20th century === In 1913 the Minnesota Legislature made a 50-acre (20 ha) parcel of land into Horace Austin State Park.

Austin High School, much of which was built in 1919, is well known for its distinctive architecture.

It closed in 1925, and the city was without an institution of higher education until Austin Junior College opened in 1940.

=== Major tornadoes === On Monday, August 20, 1928, an F-2 sized tornado touched down on Winona Street (1st Avenue).

The park was converted to a state "scenic wayside" in 1937, then transferred to city ownership in 1949.

A 1939 addition to the school includes Knowlton Auditorium, one of the largest high school auditoriums in Minnesota, seating 1,850.

Post-secondary education is available at Riverland Community College, first established as Austin Junior College in 1940.

Established in 1942, it has become one of the world's leading cancer research facilities.

The Austin Artist Series, one of the Midwest's largest and longest-running concert and performance series, was established in 1945.

Elam Residence (1950) was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and is the second largest example of his Usonian style of architecture.

Paul ended in 1953, and Pullman sleeper service on the Milwaukee between Austin and Chicago ended in 1960.

Another F-2 touched down in August 1961, at 808 18th Street SW.

In 1964 it became part of the State College and University System and is now Riverland Community College.

This train last ran on September 30, 1965, ending all passenger train service to Austin.

Summerset Theatre, a community theater company organized in 1968, also presents several shows per year.

Hormel Nature Center === Established in 1971, the Hormel Nature Center is in western Mower County, within Austin's city limits.

In 1973 the city opened Riverside Arena, the city's first indoor ice arena, now home to a variety of ice activities including the Austin Bruins junior hockey team.

Bridges Theatre is home to an active theatre program at Riverland Community College, while Matchbox Children's Theatre, established in 1975, provides shows year-round for both a...

A series of floods between 1978 and 2010 resulted in a major flood mitigation program.

Wilson Food Company declared bankruptcy in 1983, allowing them to cut wages from $10.69 to $6.50 and significantly reduce benefits.

In the summer of 1984, a tornado destroyed Echo Lanes Bowling Alley as it swept through southeast Austin.

In August 1985, 1,500 Hormel meatpackers went on strike at the Austin plant after management demanded a 23% cut in wages.

A protracted battle between union employees and Hormel continued until June 1986, one of the longest labor struggles of the 1980s.

It is on the band's 1989 album Clam Dip & Other Delights.

The movie was released in 1990 and won Best Documentary Feature at the 63rd Annual Academy Awards.

Olaf Hospital, and (since 1995) part of Mayo Clinic Health System.

This building was demolished in 1996 when a new library was opened at 323 4th Ave.

A tornado or straight-line winds took down massive amounts of branches and trees on Saturday, June 27, 1998, uprooting smaller trees and knocking large branches across streets.

The worst flooding on record came when the Cedar River crested at 23.4 feet (7.1 m) in the spring of 2000.

A tornado touched down in Glenville on May 1, 2001, gaining strength before it turned into a F-3 headed for Austin.

Flooding came again in September 2004, resulting in two fatalities.

Turner Publishing Company, 2005.

On Wednesday, June 17, 2009, an EF2 tornado touched down outside Austin and moved across the northwest and northern parts of the city, gradually weakening as it moved east.

=== 21st century === Austin completed a new $28 million courthouse and jail in 2010, a new intermediate school in 2013, and has a major redevelopment project at the site of the ...

This grassroots movement was chartered in 2011 to implement ten major new community initiatives that could be completed by 2020.

The team finished 1st in the Central Division in the 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15 seasons, and advanced to the Robertson Cup Finals in 2014 and 2015, though ultimately losing t...

The wall was completed in 2014.

In 2015 the National Association of Realtors named Austin one of the "Top 10 Affordable Small Towns Where You'd Actually Want to Live." === Major floods === Austin has a long...

One goal is to make the downtown business district more of a destination, aided in part by the Spam Museum's relocation to Main Street in 2016.

As of 2017 the business climate had improved, including a major redevelopment of the former mall site.

The city is embarking on a community development project, Vision 2020.