Blooming Prairie, Minnesota

Episode 561 / 9 January 2025 / 174 min / full

Losing Streak covered name

"James: 'This is Blooming Prairie, Minnesota' in southern Minnesota, in Steele County, edging into Dodge County, about an hour and twenty minutes from Minneapolis" about 0:04:14

The case: Murder of David Reese (March 2018); Murder of Pamela Hutchinson (April 2018). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2025

Population

2,074

Median age

36 and a half

Median household income

$57,625

Median home value

$212,800

Two-bedroom rent

$990

Cost of living

83

Religious

72.3%

Property crime

▼ about one quarter

Violent crime

▼ about one third

History, in brief

• The town's motto is 'A great place to spend the next hundred years'. about 0:05:02
• The town is in Steele County, edging over into Dodge County, area code 507, about an hour and twenty minutes from Minneapolis. about 0:04:41
• The town started in 1868 and took the name of the surrounding Blooming Prairie township, dropping the word township. about 0:05:18
• Before Prohibition, the town's position near the intersection of several counties made it a place to stop and buy alcohol; in 1917 Steele County was the only one of the four around it (Mower, Freeborn, Dodge and Steele) where alcohol could be sold. about 0:05:43
• During Prohibition several tunnels were dug under the businesses on Main Street to make and move moonshine out of sight. about 0:06:03
• The town holds an annual old-fashioned Fourth of July; the most recent was the 49th, with a 5K race, parade, tractor pull, street dance and beer gardens. about 0:14:17
• The town has a State School Orphanage Museum, where children dress as orphans and there are tours and a genealogy research assistant. about 0:17:21

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