Mower County (pop. 39,163), the only Mower County in the U.S., was named for John Edward Mower, a member of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature.
Mower is one of only four Minnesota counties without a natural lake, but its Lake Louise State Park (1963) has a 25-acre man-made lake.
It’s less crowded than the Lake Louise in Canada.
The county seat of Mower County is Austin (pop. 24,718), home of Hormel Foods Corporation.
Spam Town USA in 1910
The SPAM Museum in Austin is a popular tourist attraction.
“The world’s most comprehensive collection of spiced pork artifacts”
Austin is on the 338-mile Cedar River, which flows south into Iowa and eventually joins the Iowa River.
Its waters reach the Mississippi in southeastern Iowa.
Downtown Austin’s Paramount Theatre (1929) has been restored and now hosts a variety of concerts, films, and special events.
The Lovin’ Spoonful (without John Sebastian) played on March 2.
In the town of Grand Meadow (pop. 1,139), the K-12 Grand Meadow Public School has its classrooms, offices, cafeteria, and gym in five domes.
Elementary grades in one dome, secondary in another
NEXT: FILLMORE COUNTY
Spam museum! There had to be one somewhere. I like the sculpture of the pig and farmer. The Cedar River is beautiful in the snow.
Those domes are awesome. Remind me of Maharishi University. So what’s the next state going to be???
AH! The Spam Museum and the dome school are so neat. Mower County is on my list, thanks Pat!