35 topographic sheets cover 21 settlements here, and 76 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.
76 National Register listings published here, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks · the county-history sources tell 1 story and name 2 people · people the book names include Bistort Of Rioe Count T. (Richland Township, 1882) · Forest Town Sb I P. (Forest Township, 1882) (machine-read).
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
Among them: The Indians. These passages come from the identified county-history source books. Each inset names its own source and opens the exact section it comes from.
In the autumn of 1862, after the Sioux massacre, the people in and about Northfield were in a chronic state of apprehension. Indians wore constantly passing in small bands, and while the days were passed with feelings of security, the nights were instinct with emotions of dread, every unusual sound was transformed into inJieatious of the approach of the blood-thirsty savage, and very many persons, who had retired for the night had the most gloomy forebodings, and felt that it
Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 7 of them, burning about 313 acres. None started naturally and 2 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
The five largest, by the area the report gives. Two of them were set deliberately.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | BOYD FIRE |
| 1 April 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 acres | Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge | WOLF |
| 28 April 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 April 2003 | Smoking | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 December 2002 | Smoking | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 May 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge | STOLAF |
| 6 October 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 405 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 4 injuries and about $100,001,100 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Hail | 179 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 141 |
| Tornado | 40 |
| Flash Flood | 18 |
| Heavy Rain | 12 |
| Funnel Cloud | 7 |
| Flood | 6 |
| Lightning | 2 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1968 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | 2 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Tornado (F2) | Northfield | 1 hurt, $9,000,000 | NWS damage survey rated the tornado an F2. Tornado touched down briefly in downtown Northfield, flipping over a semi trailer truck and lifting the roof off of one business. Three-fourths mile later, it touched down again on the east side of Northfield, and then remained on the ground for 11 miles. After being in Rice County for 5 miles, it crossed Highway 19 into Dakota County and then dissipated in Goodhue County 4 miles west of Cannon Falls, for a total of 12 miles. Numerous rear flank downdraft gusts estimated at 90 mph caused damage alongside the southern periphery of tornado track. One man sustained minor injuries when he was blown from a tractor, but did not require hospitalization. A total of 8 homes received major damage, 22 more had minor damage, and a turkey processing plant was destroyed. |
| May 1991 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Hail | Northfield | $50,000,000 | Hundreds and possibly thousands of vehicles damaged; many had to be totaled. Significant damage to many buildings and houses. Two car dealerships lost their entire inventory. Buildings on the St. Olaf college campus suffered roof and window damage. Approximately 17,000 acres of crops destroyed in Rice County. Unofficial reports of softball size hail. Damage total includes all storm reports from August 24 in Rice County. |
| March 1998 | Tornado (F2) | Lonsdale | $20,000,000 | Four homes and 6 businesses severely damaged. Street department building damaged. 20 farms damaged or destroyed. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Morristown | $10,000,000 | There was significant wind damage from a downburst that expanded in width as it traveled northeast. By the time it stopped producing damage, it was 8 wide on either side of Nerstrand. The damage began east-southeast of Morristown (near the Rice, Waseca, and Steele County line), moved across the south side of Faribault, and northeast to near the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park and then Nerstrand. The damage path became more isolated as it exited eastern Rice county.||Numerous trees, power lines, roofs, and pole barns were damaged along this path. In addition, nine semi trucks were blown over on I-35 south of Faribault due to straight-line winds. Just over $1 Million dollars in damages were to public infrastructure, with remaining damages to houses, farms, and vehicles. |
| June 2021 | Hail | Northfield | $2,500,000 | Baseball size hail was reported east of Northfield. The trained spotter emailed the picture of the large hail stone. |
| July 1987 | Tornado (F3) | not stated | $2,500,000 | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Faribault Arpt | $2,000,000 | Several local officials, trained spotters and the general public observed flash flooding across northern and eastern Rice County due to 3, to locally 8. inches of rain that fell between 6 AM CST to 10 AM CST.||Rice County Sheriff officials indicated that a number of residents were evacuated in Dundas, where homes suffered significant damage. Businesses were also damaged.||Roads were closed after several washed away. County Roads 88, 82 and 29 were blocked off for repairs.||The most significant road damage appears to be in Bridgewater, Northfield, Wheeling and Webster Townships. ||Rice County Road 78 between Dundas and Northfield washed away, along with part of a bike path and a portion of Union Pacific rail bed. Authorities say a gas line and optic communication lines were also severed when the road washed away. |
| September 2010 | Flood | Cannon Lake | $1,800,000 | Numerous roads were closed due to excessive rainfall that fell on September 22nd and 23th. The major areal flooding didn't recede until late Saturday when most of the small streams and creeks had crested and only mainstem rivers remained flooded. |
| September 2016 | Flood | Morristown | $700,000 | Runoff from torrential rainfall that occurred across most of southern Rice County Wednesday night, September 21st, caused numerous roads to remain impassable and closed. The flooding incident created over $700,000 in property damage amounts, according to Rice County Emergency Management. |
| August 1968 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dundas | $150,000 | Roof off house, three barns down, roofs off three storage buildings, one storage building blown 1/4 mile, garage collapsed, several hundred trees downed. A 56 knot gust was measured in downtown Northfield at the Public Safety Building, with 40 to 50 knot winds persisting for another 10 minutes. Wind was stronger just outside Northfield, where stronger wind and the most severe damage occurred. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Veseli | $100,000 | A swath of large hail, up to golf ball size fell north of Lonsdale, near Veseli. The hail damaged several tin roofs, a pole barn, and vehicles in the area. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Shieldsville | $100,000 | There were several reports of large hail, up to 2 inches in diameter, that fell from southwest of Shieldsville, northeast to near Millersville along I-35. The Shieldsville area had hail damage to roofs and siding. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | $100,000 | A storm spotter had pictures of grain bin and roof damage southeast of Northfield. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Sheffield Mill | $100,000 | Local officials also reported hail damage to playground equipment, roofs and windows. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Faribault | $100,000 | Heavy rainfall fell during the evening of May 2nd. Flooding was observed in the town of Faribault, especially in the southeast part of town where flood waters rose up to 5 feet in some residential areas. A local campground had flood waters close both their entrance and exit roads during the height of the storm. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Warsaw | $100,000 | Heavy rainfall occurred during the early evening of May 2nd. Flooding was observed in the town of Warsaw, with flood waters up to 5 feet in residential areas, stalled cars, and several roads impassable. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lonsdale | $30,000 | Roof partially off house, and its garage also collapsed. Several sheds down, and numerous trees were toppled. |
| May 2017 | Lightning | Northfield | $25,000 | Lightning struck a home on the 1500 block of Lindberg Court Monday afternoon in Northfield. Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Service firefighters responded to the home around 1 p.m. Monday to extinguish the fire that started as a result of the strike.||The homeowner was inside the residence at the time of the strike, but no injuries were reported. Lightning struck the chimney liner on the roof, and followed that down to the mechanical room where it ignited storage items.||There was also smoke damage throughout the home. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Faribault | $25,000 | The local emergency manager surveyed an area from mile east of Faribault, on Minnesota Highway 60, southeast to approximately near 260th St E and Irwin Ave. The NWS also surveyed this area. Several areas in this 7 mile stretch had trees blown down or snapped off. Some of the trees were 80 feet tall, and snapped off 5 feet above the ground. There were also numerous power lines blown down in this location. |
| July 2016 | Tornado (EF1) | Cannon City | $25,000 | A storm survey revealed an EF1 tornado developed just east of Cannon City, and tracked east-southeast for around 3.7 miles. Trees were uprooted and a branch completely impaled an outside wall of a home. Winds were estimated at 90 mph, with a duration of 5 minutes. No injuries were reported. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Warsaw | $25,000 | Golf ball size hail fell in Warsaw, Minnesota, it covered the ground in areas, and damaged numerous cars. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Northfield | $25,000 | The City of Northfield received widespread damage with many trees, some several large trees, were snapped off toward the top. Many power lines were also blown down. ||Some of the areas within the city included;|Highway 19 and Highway 3, |Highway 3 and 2nd Street,|Greenvale Avenue west of Highway 3,|Woodley Street east of Highway 3. |
| June 1968 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 1959 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dundas | $15,000 | A 50 foot tree was blown down and landed on an automobile in Dundas, Minnesota. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Northfield | $10,000 | Several power poles and a street light were blown down in Northfield, Minnesota, due to severe thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Faribault | $10,000 | Power lines were blown down in the city of Faribault, Minnesota. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Northfield | $5,000 | Trees and a few power lines were blown down near Northfield, Minnesota. An automated weather station west of Northfield, had a measured wind gust of 56 mph. |
| June 2005 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $5,000 | About 3 miles south of Nerstrand, 210th St. E. was under water. Water was also flowing over secondary roads in Wheeling, Walcott, and Richland townships. |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Northfield | $1,000 | Numerous trees felled. Deck of home torn off. |
| June 2005 | Flash Flood | Northfield | $100 | Flooding was reported on the Highway 19 underpass at Interstate 35. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Faribault | - | Large tree branch snapped on the southern side of the Faribault Golf Course. |
| April 2025 | Tornado (EF0) | Warsaw | - | A group of trees sustained damage and an outbuilding lost its roof and wall panels. The maximum estimated wind was 75 mph. |
| April 2025 | Tornado (EF1) | Moland | - | Significant damage occurred at a farm: metal building system walls collapsed with several failed anchors, several semi and tanker trailers were heavily damaged, there was total loss of a barn and several smaller outbuildings, and several snapped trees. Additional isolated tree damage and outbuilding damage occurred toward end of its path. The maximum estimated wind was 110 mph. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Faribault Arpt | - | A three inch diameter tree was reported down near the airport. |
| August 2025 | Funnel Cloud | Faribault | - | There was a report of a funnel cloud southwest of Faribault relayed via HAM radio. |
| June 2025 | Flash Flood | Faribault | - | Street flooding in the 1500 block of 2nd Ave NW reported by county dispatch. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Faribault | - | A large tree was down and blocking a road. An 18 inch diameter branch fell onto a vehicle. |
| July 2024 | Tornado (EFU) | Moland | - | Storm chaser located at the intersection 270th St E. and 59th Ave observed a brief tornado to the north-northwest. No damage was reported. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Faribault | - | Multiple large trees down with some landing on power lines and resulting in power outages across north Faribault. |
| August 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Nerstrand | - | Multiple reports of a funnel cloud with photos but no precip on radar. High-based clouds in the pictures. |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Northfield | - | Nearly 3 to 4 inches of rain fell in northern Rice county. |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Northfield | - | A total of 3 to 5 inches of rain fell from multiple rounds of thunderstorms. CoCoRaHS observers measured 5.35 inches near Morristown. |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Northfield | - | The storm total was 2.7 inches of rainfall. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | - | An 18 inch diameter tree was blown down and blocking a roadway. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Dundas | - | There was a swath of large hail, up to ping pong size, that fell from near Dundas, northeast across the city of Northfield, and to the Dakota, Rice County line. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Morristown | - | A severe wind gust was measured by a local emergency manager. This was with the leading shelf cloud ahead of the main storms. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Warsaw | - | A trained spotter took video of a brief tornado that touched down in a wooded area and knocked down large branches. Another spotter was also monitoring the storm. The tornado was also caught on video by a MNDOT camera along I-35 near Clinton Falls, so the timing could be confirmed. A broader view of the storm suggested this tornado had some characteristics similar to that of a satellite tornado just east of a larger tornado. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Warsaw | - | Trained spotters took video of a tornado that touched down in an open field and moved northward. It struck a farmstead at the end of its path, with only large branches knocked down per a NWS damage survey. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Dundas | - | Two storm chasers took video of a narrow tornado. A damage survey revealed that several trees were broken or blown down. Law enforcement and spotters were also watching the tornado. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EF1) | Little Chicago | - | A storm chaser took video of a tornado moving in an open field and then along a line of trees. Some of the trees were uprooted and lofted a couple hundred feet in the air. A NWS damage survey also noted uprooted trees. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Warsaw | - | Two different trained spotters took video of a tornado that made ground contact in far northern Steele County, where about a dozen trees were broken per a NWS damage survey. It tracked north and moved into Rice County. One of the videos showed this tornado was the larger tornado, with another narrow tornado to its east that had characteristics similar to that of a satellite tornado. |
| June 2021 | Hail | Webster | - | Social media had a picture of golf ball size hail near Webster. |
| June 2021 | Hail | Webster | - | Social media had a picture of tennis ball size hail in Webster. |
| June 2021 | Hail | Little Chicago | - | Willingers golf course reported golf ball size hail near North Chicago. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Little Chicago | - | A semi-trailer flipped over on I-35 north of Highway 19. There was a wind gust of 58 mph near Elko New Market near the time of the incident. |
| June 2020 | Flood | Shieldsville | - | Local officials closed Shieldville Road between Shields and Mazaska Lake due to high water from flood waters. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 18 workings inside this county. All of them still produce. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Sand and Gravel, Construction | 15 |
| Stone, Crushed/Broken | 2 |
| Stone, Dimension | 1 |
The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B H Heselton Ls Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Producer | ||
| Kielmeyer Rice Co Ls Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Wheeling Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Bauer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Camp Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Concrete Materials Pit No 2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| De Groat Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Donkers Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Elwood Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Heil Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Kielmeyer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Maas Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sherwin Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Shilling Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Solberg Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Swedberg Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Walbern Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Witte Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
History of Rice County devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 12 are reproduced here in full. Each row shows the township's own shape and where it lies in the county, drawn from the Census Bureau's boundary. Which settlements belong to which township is computed from that same boundary, not taken from the book.
| Shape and position in the county | Township | Settlements in it | Length | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater Township | Comus | 11,778 words | 7 | |
| Cannon City Township | Cannon City, Prairieville | 6,400 words | 1 | |
| Faribault City | Faribault | 24,569 words | 6 | |
| Forest Township | Millersburg | 10,405 words | 3 | |
| Morristown City | Morristown | 4,698 words | 1 | |
| Northfield City | Northfield | 17,076 words | 10 | |
| Richland Township | Epsom | 4,373 words | 5 | |
| Walcott Township | Walcott | 2,525 words | 1 | |
| Warsaw Township | Warsaw | 5,684 words | 4 | |
| Webster Township | Hazelwood, Little Chicago, Trondjem, Webster | 7,969 words | 3 | |
| Wheatland Township | Veseli, Wheatland | 6,378 words | 8 | |
| Wheeling Township | Nerstrand | 7,431 words | 10 |
One book written about this county, cut here where the book itself is cut, at its printed chapters: 46 chapters in all. Every chapter is public domain, machine-read from the scan and reproduced complete. A chapter already given under one of the county's towns is not repeated in this list.
Everyone History of Rice County stops to write about, with the section that describes them. Among them are the men who founded the place and governed the Territory. Each name opens the passage itself, in the words of 1882.
Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.
Webster township · 55057 · On Knowles Creek · Little Chicago quadrangle
10 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Block
