The City of Northfield

By EDWARD MOHN, 1899

It has always been considered a very fortunate circumstance by the friends of St. Olaf as well as by teachers and students that Northfield was selected as the site for the college. The fact that it gave promise of being an important educational centre was one of the causes that led the founders to decide upon this city, and time Has shown the correctness of their judgment.
The city of Northfield, lying in the pleasant Cannon Valley, amidst rolling country and surrounded by wooded hills, seems more like some New England city, the result of a century's slow growth and improvement, than a western town, sprung up within the memory of men still living; still western push and energy are not lacking; the wide and well kept streets, the beautiful parks and squares, the stores and business blocks, the neat and pleasant residence portion-these are the evidences of enterprise and thrift which have made Northfield one of the finest cities of its size in the northwest.

One notable characteristic which the citizens of Northfield possess is an active interest in education; the presence of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges may have fostered this feeling, but the excellency of the public schools, which is well known throughout the state, is an evidence that this interest is found in the heart of every citizen. The friends of St. Olaf need no proof of this; from the founding of the College to the present day the citizens have given it their hearty support; the excursion given to the delegates of the United Church in the summer of '98 and the payment of the $5,000 debt of the College are substantial examples of the practical way in which they have shown their interest in the school, and St. Olaf's teachers and students have experienced their courtesy and sympathy on all occasions.