Frontenac, Minnesota

Frontenac is an unincorporated community in Florence Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, on the Mississippi River.

History
James Wells established a trading post in the location that would become Frontenac before 1850. He dealt mostly with Native Americans until the railroad was build in the early 1850s. In 1854 the Garrard brothers came upon the area during a hunting trip and bought large tracts of land. By 1857 the village was permanently established with the name of Westervelt in 1855 to honor the then postmaster, Evert V. Westervelt.

The name was changed to 'Frontenac' in 1860 by the Garrard brothers after Frenchman, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, who was born in 1622. He was the French colonial governor of Canada in 1672–82 and 1689–98. He died in Quebec, Canada on November 28, 1698. There is no record of his traveling to the Mississippi River.

Frontenac housed a station of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and the picturesque scenery soon began attracting wealthy residents. It became a village of summer homes with lakeside views. The railway line outside the village ran from north to south, connected the remote area with larger cities, but it was far enough away from the bluffs not to detract from the vacation destination. There are actually two villages that comprise Frontenac. The railway line attracted some residents, while the bluffs attracted others. The houses along the railway line, and later the highway, became known as 'Frontenac Station' while the bluff residences are called 'Old Frontenac'. Both are in Florence Township and are listed as one location in the U.S. Census.

Name variations
Frontenac Station

Notable inhabitants

 * James Wells (?-?)
 * Evert V. Westervelt (?-?)
 * Israel Garrard (1825-1901)

Frontenac State Park
The land between Frontenac Station and Old Frontenac, as well as much of the land to the north and some to the south, was set aside as a State Park in 1957. Frontenac State Park includes the floodplain along the Mississippi River, bluffs which are a flyway for many migratory bird species, prairies and hardwood forests. It is within the Mississippi Flyway and is also part of the Driftless Area of the north central United States.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has 40.55 square miles (107.1 km²), of which 34.93 square miles is land and 5.63 square miles is water. The city is at the northern edge of the Driftless Area of karst topography.

Demographics
At the census of 2000, there were 1,450 people, 633 households in Florence Township. The population density was 41.5 per square mile (175.8 km²) and there were 18.1 housing units per square mile (175.8 km²).

Transportation
Frontenac is located along U.S. Route 61 which also carries U.S. Route 63 at that point.

Rail lines run parallel to the highway, but there is no longer a station in Frontenac.

The Frontenac Airport (Minnesota)|Frontenac Airport is located 1 mi south of Frontenac Station, and is administered by a private agency.

Historic sites and museums

 * Little Grey Episcopal Church - Built in 1867 by Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901), first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota.
 * St. Hubert's Lodge - Built in by General Israel Garrard (1825-1901) and named for the patron saint of hunters. Grant LaFarge and George L. Heins, used some of the Frontenac quarried cream colored limestone when they built and designed the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, after spending the winter of 1883-84 in St. Hubert's Lodge.

References in popular culture

 * William McNally used Frontenac as his setting for the novel House of Vanished Splendor. He includes the characters of John LaFarge, General Carles King, Joseph Jefferson and Henry Ward Beecher.

Contributors
Lanica