Talk:Austin, Minnesota

Geography/Notables
I have two concerns about this article.

First, why aren't the listings of storms and floods under the Geography/Climate section posted in a table? It looks somewhat tacky to have a bunch of two or three line paragraphs.

Second, what the heck is the criterion for being a "notable" person? I'm an intelligent and informed individual that has lived in Austin for roughly 25 years; however, if you remove the people with Hormel in their names, I only recognize about a third of those listed! I don't want this to become a political discussion, but why is Poppe listed? If just being elected renders you noteworthy, then why is she the only politician in the list? Has she done something that's not on her page?

--Daniel J. Forman (talk) 02:22, 14 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Notable does not equal famous or important to the community. It means notable to the world.  The simplest definition of all, although not 100% accurate is: They need to have a Wikipedia article on them and something tying them to the community.  Pretty much, a person has to pass the standard for a biographical article in Wikipedia to be on a notable persons list.  They don't actually have to have one, but there has to be enough reliable source references to create one. Gtwfan52 (talk) 03:18, 14 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Btw Daniel---talk page convention is to post the newest entry at the bottom of the page. And you are welcome to write up something on the floods.  If you want help, feel free to leave me a note on my talk page. Gtwfan52 (talk) 03:20, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

Churches
I have refactored the list of churches. All of these churches are considered to be non-notable, and, after a short test debate on Articles for deletion/New Life Vineyard Christian Fellowship, it was decided to merge all those articles with this page. --Gareth Hughes 13:17, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

Template for a U.S. City
For those who plan on editing and expanding this article, please follow the Template for a U.S. City. Thanks!--Daveswagon 09:54, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Austin, Minnesota
I think Austin Uncut should not be linked to from the Austin, Minnesota page. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_links#Links_normally_to_be_avoided which specifically points out Besides that I think there is some material on that site that is not the type of information wikipedia is intended for and could be considered offensive.

Plus it is full of bigots and hate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.202.12.169 (talk) 03:41, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

As a member of Uncut i take offense at your labeling us bigots and haters.. especially when you do it without putting your name out there.. all Uncut is is a place to air the issues of the day.. without the fear of being edited or deletedWizeguylefty (talk) 07:08, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I believe that there is a miscocnception here that Austin-Uncut is irrelevant. It is the un-edited voice of the people of Austin and others who care about what goes on in Austin. I equate removing the link to hiding one's head in the sand. Why would anyone want to hear what real people think? Notsick (talk) 12:56, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Tim O'Brien
Is there a reason that author Tim O'Brien was removed from the famous residents? — Preceding unsigned comment added by MartyChang (talk • contribs) 14:49, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Notable people section
Earlier today, a person added a non winning Miss America contestant to the notable people section without reference. I reverted it as unreferenced and non notable. He replaced it with a reference to a book listing participants in the Miss America contest and left a note on his talk page. I reverted it again and left him another note explaining both WP:NLIST and WP:BRD. He again replaced it without explanation. I cannot revert it again without violating WP:3RR. Awaiting discussion. Gtwfan52 (talk) 04:58, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just modified 7 one external links on Austin, Minnesota. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130911234518/http://factfinder2.census.gov to http://factfinder2.census.gov
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110726025609/http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_PL_GCTPL2.ST13&prodType=table to http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_PL_GCTPL2.ST13&prodType=table
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx to http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120220001151/http://www.ci.austin.mn.us/mayors/history.html to http://www.ci.austin.mn.us/mayors/history.html
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090414150718/http://www.glbtq.com:80/social-sciences/hormel_jc.html to http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/hormel_jc.html

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Old vandalism
On January 15, 2010, a vandal removed pretty much the entire history section, and it looks like it was never reverted. For those working on the article, some of this may be well worth reinstating. — Gorthian (talk) 03:09, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

19th century

In 1853 Austin Nichols (namesake of the city, named in 1856) built the first log cabin on the Cedar River (also called the Red Cedar River), which he sold to Chauncey Leverich in 1854. Leverich built the first sawmill here in 1854-55 and supplied the earlier settlers with lumber. Leverich was the first person murdered in Austin MN, dying several days after being struck with a wagon spring following a saloon quarrel. Austin HRA's Chauncey Apartments are named in honor of Leverich. A Methodist preacher first held services in 1855. Settlers in covered wagons full of belongings and followed by livestock came into the area, and on March 1, 1856, Governor Willis A. Gorman signed the act that organized Mower County. It was named after John Edward Mower, a member of the territorial legislature. The first hotel was started in 1856 by J.H. McKinley, and that year Dr. Ormanzo Allen became the small town's first doctor.

School had been held in a small cabin near Leverich's mill as early as 1854, but by 1857 school was being taught by Maria Vaughn in the Robert Audis building. That year W.A. Woodson started to butcher and dress pork for sale and the first Congregational Church services were held in the Old Headquarters Building. The Truesdell brothers built the first grist mill in 1858, thereby reducing the need for oxen-freight flour from Decorah and Chatfield. 1858 also saw the city's first newspaper, the Mower County Mirror, and the beginning of public utilities and street lamps. The Oakwood Cemetery and the first library (started by the Floral Club) were also started in 1858.

The first permanent school building was built in 1865, and Harlan Page opened the first bank the following year. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and other smaller rail lines were established in 1867-69, thus turning the growing town into a small rail hub. First National was granted a U.S. Government bank charter in 1868. In 1885, service on the Chicago Great Western Railway first started in Austin. George A. Hormel started George A. Hormel & Co. in 1892. Dr. O.H. Hegge and area Lutherans organized the Austin Hospital Association, and thus St. Olaf Hospital was established as a non-profit organization. Charles Boostrom opened the Southern Minnesota Normal College and Austin College of Commerce in 1897; both remained open until 1925.

20th century



The Austin Park Board was created in 1902 to build and maintain the city's parks. On March 10, 1903, the city adopted a Home Rule Charter that still forms the basis of city government to this day. The original Austin Public Library, one of the nation's many Carnegie libraries, was completed in 1904. The Recreation Board was created in 1939. In April 1949 the Park Board and the recreation Board were merged to become the Austin Park and Recreation Board. The last passenger train (the Chicago Great Western Railway) left Austin on September 30, 1965, and Austin has not had passenger service since. Ground was broken for the Salvation Army building on October 16, 1967. The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center was created in 1971 when the land was purchased from Geordie Hormel with a state grant. Riverside Arena opened in 1973. Victor Borge performed with the Austin Symphony Orchestra on April 28, 1977. Austin had a bad flood on July 6-7, 1978, when the waters reached 19.5 inches. Over 1,000 homes and businesses were damaged. Ten days later, 16 inches of rain fell at Waltham and the Cedar River crested in Austin at 21 feet, 9 inches.

From August 1984 until June 1985, there was a major strike at Hormel that resulted in then-Governor Rudy Perpich requesting National Guard intervention allowing replacement workers to enter the plant. This strike was documented in the Academy Award-winning Barbara Koppel film, "American Dream." The town still remains divided over the issue of labor unions at the plant.

21st century


 * , what makes the edit that removed this almost completely unreferenced chunk of text vandalism? The only two sources on it were quite unreliable and both are now dead. It's almost entirely WP:OR and should have been removed. John from Idegon (talk) 03:58, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
 * I was assuming vandalism because the IP that removed these sections had also made this and this edit, which were reverted. I thought that the info might be useful to someone, so put it here as a FYI.
 * I was looking at the article history because I was trying to figure out why the redirect Chauncey Leverich points here. — Gorthian (talk) 04:35, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://factfinder2.census.gov/
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20160602200744/http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2015/SUB-EST2015.html to http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2015/SUB-EST2015.html
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160412161129/http://www.tvb.org/media/file/2015-2016-dma-ranks.pdf to http://www.tvb.org/media/file/2015-2016-dma-ranks.pdf
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External links modified
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Merge from Riverside Arena
I have merged in content from Riverside Arena per Articles for deletion/Riverside Arena.


 * The initial proposer of a merge suggested merging into the section "Parks and recreation". As that section is about open spaces, and there is a another facility already included in the preceding section "Sports" I have merged it into a subsection there. I have also moved the existing sports facility into its own subsection.
 * Apart from the infobox, I have moved the entire content from the original article. At the AfD I proposed curtailing some of the detail about refurbishments but no-one (including the closer) commented on that.
 * I have done some minor copy editing, predominantly necessitated by the articles being combined.

Dorsetonian (talk) 17:29, 22 July 2023 (UTC)


 * @Dorsetonian.Agree positioning under the Sports section makes more sense. Nice merge! I think you're right about including too much detail so have trimmed. Rupples (talk) 19:15, 22 July 2023 (UTC)
 * @ - thank you! And IMO the text which is now there following your change is more balanced - both in terms of its factual content, and in its relation to the remainder of the section. Dorsetonian (talk) 08:55, 23 July 2023 (UTC)