JP Land Services

About forestry service, 55312, Brownton, MN, US, Minnesota

Lonsdale is a city in Rice County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,686 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate of 5,112. A fast growing exurb of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area, Lonsdale is located 40 miles south of downtown Minneapolis. == History == Prior to the American Civil War, a number of families of Czech descent had begun migrating to south central Minnesota from Bohemia. In 1878, a small settlement of Norwegian farmers built a Lutheran church slightly to the southeast of present day Lonsdale. They called the area Trondhjem, after the name of the city in Norway from which they had emigrated. In 1891, a proposed new railroad from Mankato to Farmington was reported in the New Prague Times. However, construction of this railroad was never initiated due to an economic downturn. It was the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway that proceeded with plans for their existing branch line from Wells to Mankato, to begin constructing trackage northeastward into Farmington.