Flanders' Block

Built in 1872 (Italianate architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

From the record

“Flanders' Block is a historic commercial building in Madelia, Minnesota, United States, built in 1872. From 1872 to 1878 it served as the county seat building of Watonwan County, housing the courthouse, offices, and jail.”
Wikipedia article Flanders' Block, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Watonwan County · listed in 1984 · category: Building · built in 1872, Italianate architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 30 W. Main St., Madelia, 56062
When was it listed? March 1984
Category. building
City. Madelia city
When was it built? 1872
Architectural style. Italianate architecture
National Register reference number. 84001714 - 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.

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Flanders' Block: 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
	Flitter Pit & Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Watonwan County

Storms near this property

27 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Madelia, the town this property stands in, in 27 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 14 hail, 8 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
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	$50,000	Numerous large branches were blown down, a few structures were damaged, including a building under construction that had its roof blown off. Power poles were also blown down near the same area, east of Madelia.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	$50,000	Strong winds toppled a tree onto the side of a home in Madelia. This led to several broken windows and damage to the roof and siding.
June 2024	Flash Flood	Madelia	-	Numerous roads were flooded across the county.
May 2023	Hail	Madelia	-	Nickel size hail just east of Madelia.
August 2021	Funnel Cloud	Madelia	-	A trained spotter observed a funnel cloud north of Madelia.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	-	A large tree was blown down over a road.
June 2016	Heavy Rain	Madelia	-	A 4 hour rainfall report of 3.80 inches occurred in the town of Madelia.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	-	Numerous trees and large branches were blown down in the town of Madelia.
May 2014	Tornado (EF0)	Madelia	-	A trained spotter reported a tornado touching down briefly in an open field in extreme northeastern Watonwan County before it moved into extreme southeastern Brown County and then Blue Earth County. The tornado was videotaped by a storm chaser when it was in Blue Earth County.
April 2005	Hail	Madelia	-	Pea to nickel sized hail covered the ground.
June 2005	Tornado (F0)	Madelia	-	A tornado that touched down northwest of Madelia was witnessed by numerous spotters, law enforcement officials, and storm chasers. It first touched down on farmland in Riverdale Township, Section 13, along County Road 3. It slightly damaged a nearby farmhouse and a cornfield along 790th Avenue about ½ mile north of County Road 3. The tornado crossed into Madelia Township where it downed a few trees and branches before dissipating.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	-	Trees and powerlines down.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	-	Several large trees down, including one on a truck.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	-	A number of barns, grain bins and trees damaged. Some barns were picked up and moved off their foundations, while others were flattened. Four grain bins blown off their foundations. Two tractors crushed. Winds estimated.
April 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Madelia	-	Strong thunderstorm winds damaged several outbuildings and uprooted trees near Madelia.
August 2024	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 2014	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 2014	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 2014	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
July 2000	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
July 2000	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 1999	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed
May 1994	Hail	Madelia	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Watonwan County

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

1 within 8 miles

Other 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
	West Bridge	0.8 miles	2013

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 84001714 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Watonwan County	All 6 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.
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.