All America City of 2004
Serving as the county seat of Chippewa County, Montevideo, Minnesota has a population of 5,400 and is located at the convergence of the Minnesota and Chippewa rivers about 140 miles west of Minneapolis. Native Americans and fur traders shared this area of the prairie through the first half of the 19th Century. After the Dakota Conflict in 1862, the government opened the area to homesteaders. Railroads were built, and Norwegian, German, Swedish, Dutch and Irish settlers soon followed. Finally incorporated in 1879, Montevideo had already played an integral part in the Dakota Conflict of 1862 when the tribes surrendered and released 269 captives to Colonel Henry Sibley. A monument commemorating this event was dedicated in 1894.
Today, Montevideo remains a wonderful, comfortable place to live. The city is green and beautiful, with rivers, parks and bike trails winding through it. Montevideo’s medical campus includes a new $40 million hospital and clinic, a nursing home, assisted-living facility and one of the best small V.A. clinics in the nation. The economy has diversified to include growing retail trade areas, service and light manufacturing industries, including food processing, a modular home builder, and a niche of firms building high-tech parts for medical, commercial and military uses. The city is also home to a burgeoning artists’ community, and serves as a hub to the annual Meander—Upper Minnesota River Art Crawl. In 2004, Montevideo was named an All America City by the National Civic League—an honor awarded to only ten cities a year for achieving uncommon results in community-building activities by its citizens.