BlockFrom the record
One of 36 National Register listings published here for Stearns County · listed in 1979 · category: District.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
St. John's Abbey and University Historic District
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 17 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
- Address. Co. Hwy. 159, Avon, 56321
- When was it listed? March 1979
- Category. district
- Township. Collegeville township
- National Register reference number. 79001256 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
3 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of St. John's Abbey and University Historic District between 1999 and 2020, burning about 260 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 May 1999 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 November 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of St. John's Abbey and University Historic District: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon Readymix Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this property
24 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avon, the town this property stands in, in 24 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 16 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | There were large trees blown down in Avon. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Avon | - | A swath of large hail was observed from southwest, to northwest of Avon, Minnesota. The largest hail stone was hen size. There was also a video of wind damage on Middle Swan Lake, which is west of Avon. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | A large tree was blown down near Avon. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | A few large trees were blown down in Avon. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | A few large trees were blown down, near Avon. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | A trained spotter measured a peak wind gust, along with several large trees blown down. |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | Two large branches toppled onto vehicles. Three power poles snapped. A TV antenna blown over. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Avon | - | Fifteen foot pine tree toppled. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| September 2017 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Avon | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Avon | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
5 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | First State Bank | 3.8 miles | 1982 |
 | Church of St. Joseph-Catholic | 3.9 miles | 1982 |
 | St. Benedict's Convent and College Historic District | 3.9 miles | 1989 |
 | Church of the Immaculate Conception-Catholic | 6.7 miles | 1982 |
 | Clark and McCormack Quarry and House | 8.0 miles | 1982 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 79001256 in Record Group 79. |
| Stearns County | All 36 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- 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.