Nerstrand, Minnesota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Wheeling Township. It lies in ZIP code area 55053. The Survey maps it on the Nerstrand quadrangle. 273 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,191 feet above sea level.
On record in Nerstrand
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 5 records
- Veblen FarmsteadNational Historic Landmark · listed 1975
Bonde Farmhouselisted 1982
Nerstrand City Halllisted 1982
Valley Grovelisted 1982- Osmund Osmundson Houselisted 1982
Population over time
2 figuresNerstrand fell from 295 to 273 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 295 | |
| 2020 | 273 | -22 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1953 USGS Saint Paul quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS St. Paul quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Saint Paul quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS St. Paul quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Nerstrand quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Faribault quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
7,431 words on this townshipHistory of Rice County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota and Outline History of the State of Minnesota, published 1882 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Wheeling Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Wheeling Township - 7,431 words.
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Nerstrand: 4 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donkers Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Kielmeyer Rice Co Ls Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Sherwin Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Wheeling Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
16 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Nerstrand in 16 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 6 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | $100,000 | A storm spotter had pictures of grain bin and roof damage southeast of Northfield. |
| August 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Nerstrand | - | Multiple reports of a funnel cloud with photos but no precip on radar. High-based clouds in the pictures. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | - | An 18 inch diameter tree was blown down and blocking a roadway. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | - | A storm survey noted tin blown off part of a large machine shed. About a dozen trees were broken. All damage was blown to the east-northeast. It is possible the tornado east of Nerstrand started in this area, but that was impossible to determine. |
| August 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Nerstrand | - | A storm survey determined that a tornado hit a farm east of Nerstrand. Several trees were downed, and a shed was destroyed. The wind also blew down a power pole, landing on a barn which then caught on fire. The tornado may have started southwest of Nerstrand, but it was impossible to determine from the damage pattern. Maximum winds were estimated at around 70 mph. |
| June 2012 | Heavy Rain | Nerstrand | - | A measured rainfall report of 6.40 inches occurred in less than 18 hours. |
| June 2012 | Flash Flood | Nerstrand | - | Excessive rainfall in a short period of time caused Highway 246 at County Road 26 to close due to high water. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | - | Several large tree branches were blown down north of Nerstrand, Minnesota. |
| October 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nerstrand | - | A tree was downed 1/4 mile south of town. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
| July 2024 | Hail | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Hail | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Nerstrand | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epsom | 5.5 miles | 10 | |
| Ruskin | 7.2 miles | 11 | |
| Cannon City | 7.6 miles | 11 | |
| Prairieville | 7.7 miles | 11 | |
| Dundas | 9.3 miles | 11 | |
| Northfield | 9.4 miles | 11 | |
| Walcott | 9.7 miles | 9 | |
| Comus | 10.5 miles | 10 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Nerstrand | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2229208 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 648482. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.





