Star Tribune
How did Northfield become home to St. Olaf and Carleton colleges?
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Minnesota boasts many college towns. But Northfield is unique.
Located just beyond the Twin Cities’ southern exurbs, Northfield is home to two prominent private colleges — St. Olaf and Carleton. Those institutions have shaped the city from a historical milling hub into an education-focused rural center.
Darrell Swanson, a 1970 St. Olaf graduate, regretted leaving Northfield after he got his degree. After recently reminiscing about his time there, the Pequot Lakes resident asked Curious Minnesota — the Star Tribune’s reader-driven reporting project — how Northfield became home to Carleton and St. Olaf.
“Why would there be these two liberal arts schools founded in the 1800s in Northfield, Minnesota, of all places?” he asked.
The short answer: Religion.
Religious groups across the U.S. were largely responsible for founding private colleges and universities in the 1800s, in part because there were no set college plans or direction from the federal government, according to Tom Williamson, an anthropology and sociology professor at St. Olaf College. Northfield’s colleges grew out of a camaraderie among Congregationalists and Lutherans who settled in the town.
That cooperation has given the city outsized stature. Alumni of the colleges include Supreme Court justices, governors and senators, as well as Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winners. And Northfield attracts a fair amount of visiting dignitaries for a small city of 20,000.
Northfield’s religious origins
A treaty between the federal government and the Dakota people in 1851 opened up much of southeastern Minnesota to white settlement. Settlers raced to grab land and founded towns shortly after.
Among them was New York lawyer and abolitionist John North. He took a trip south from St. Anthony in 1855 to look at land along the Cannon River Valley, planning to harness the river’s flow to power new saw and grist mills. That same year, North gathered other settlers from New England in the area and platted Northfield.
North had designs for a college there, according to archivists at Carleton and St. Olaf. The idea didn’t gain traction, however, until the General Conference of Congregational Churches in Minnesota chose the city to build a school in 1864.
The conference of independent churches descended from New England Puritan churches. They had looked at multiple cities across the state for their school, including other southeast Minnesota towns such as Zumbrota and Mantorville, according to Tom Lamb, an archivist at Carleton College.
But Northfield was a growing burg, connected to St. Paul along the railroad in 1865. It also didn’t hurt that the city had the second-largest Congregationalist population in the state behind Minneapolis.
That was by design, according to Sean Allen of the Northfield Historical Society. North and his neighbors shared similar views on ending slavery and the evils of alcohol, so they chose to create Northfield rather than settle in nearby places with bars or liquor stores.
“It was generally considered to be a dry town,” Allen said.
The new school, Northfield College, evolved over time. It began as a preparatory program in 1867, with the first college students enrolling in 1870. The college was renamed Carleton College after a $50,000 donation by Massachusetts manufacturer William Carleton, which saved the institution from the brink of financial collapse.
Soon, Norwegian farmers and pastors in the community sought a college of their own. Congregationalists in town welcomed the effort. Carleton officials even helped their Lutheran counterparts found St. Olaf College in 1874.
From there, the two schools blossomed during the higher education boom in the 1880s through the 1920s. Colleges and universities in that era began offering specialized programs and enrollment across the country skyrocketed.
St. Olaf kept its reputation as a Lutheran school aligned with its heritage — the school was named after an 11th century Norwegian king who spread Christianity. The school also remained a dry institution well into the 20th century.
Carleton shed its religious identity in the 1960s, doing away with requirements to attend chapel after a group of students jokingly formed their own druidic society to skirt the rules.
“That was a big period of transition,” Lamb said.
An intense rivalry
The schools have largely helped one another over the years — they share a library, amid other resources. Their sports rivalry hasn’t been quite as cordial over the decades, even becoming bloody at times.
There would be downtown brawls in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s whenever the colleges played each other, often stemming from the tradition where students would turn an eagle statue on Bridge Square to face the opposing college, Lamb said.
Homecoming weeks were tough for both colleges. Freshmen would try to light the other school’s bonfire the night before it was set to be lit, often running into student guards who would catch them and shave their heads. Williamson’s father, a fellow St. Olaf grad, had his head shaved during his freshman year.
Things escalated to the point both schools had to sign a “peace treaty” in 1951, vowing to tone down their rivalry. Their competitive spirit took a slightly nerdy turn in 1977, when the two schools played the first game of metric football among U.S. colleges.
Northfield today
The colleges form the backbone of Northfield today. About three out of every 10 residents are students or faculty, according to each college’s records. The colleges help fuel the area’s vitality, but their dominance has its downsides.
“The colleges, they have such a large footprint in our community, but they don’t pay taxes,” Allen said. Each school instead contributes about $80,000 a year to Northfield.
Both schools continue to buy land for future growth. Yet Northfield also has become a draw for seniors looking to enjoy the vibrant college community in retirement. These factors have driven up home values and resulted in fewer housing options for would-be residents. Allen said many professors commute from the Twin Cities.
Aside from a Post cereal factory, there aren’t many large industrial employers in town where college students can start their careers.
“We just don’t have as much as a city our size needs to have, and so it’s something I know the city has been trying to improve on,” Allen said.
At the same time, Northfield arguably wouldn’t have grown without Carleton and St. Olaf drawing people to the area.
“I don’t know of any other small town … that would have two institutions like this,” Lamb said. “It is kind of a unique setup.”
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A former Medtronic consultant received an 18-month prison sentence this week for his role in a scheme linked to the $1.6 billion acquisition of an Israeli medical device company in 2018.
A federal jury in February convicted Doron “Ron” Tavlin, 69, of Minneapolis, of one count of conspiracy to engage in insider trading and 10 additional counts related to securities fraud. That same jury found David Jay Gantman, 58, of Mendota Heights, not guilty of all charges against him. A third defendant — Afshin “Alex” Farahan, 57, of Los Angeles — pleaded guilty in 2022 and has yet to be sentenced.
“His crime was cynical and brazen. It was also reckless,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert wrote in a memo calling for a 3-year prison term. “Tavlin’s conduct had the potential to blow up a deal that a team of executives and financial advisers had been diligently negotiating for months.”
Tavlin is now scheduled to self-surrender Jan. 5 to begin his prison term, which will be followed by 320 hours of community service.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Tavlin learned about a secret, pending acquisition by Medtronic of Mazor Robotics, where he worked as vice president of business development, in 2018. Tavlin also previously worked as a consultant to the Ireland-based Medtronic, which also has a headquarters in Fridley.
Tavlin illegally tipped off Farahan, his friend, about news of the imminent acquisition and told him to keep the news secret. Farahan knew the deal would likely result in a boost to Mazor’s stock price and quickly bought more than $1 million of the company’s stock throughout August and September 2018. Medtronic announced plans to acquire Mazor, which specialized in robotics for spinal procedures, in September 2018 and the deal closed three months later.
Prosecutors said Farahan netted more than $245,000, and Gantman made $255,000 in profit by selling the securities quickly after the deal was publicized. Farahan paid Tavlin for the secret information about the pending deal — including a $25,000 kickback about a year later —according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, who sentenced Tavlin Monday, also ordered Tavlin to pay a special assessment fee of $1,100 – or $100 per each count. Frank did not impose a fine.
Star Tribune
Charges detail assault in Minneapolis that led to shooting rampage, killing one in Kandiyohi County
Another friend of the ex-girlfriend arrived to help. He pulled up in a car as the group exited the apartment and Matariyeh immediately pointed a gun at him before pounding on the windshield with the gun. Everyone fled as Matariyeh ran back inside the apartment.
The two men met in a parking lot before attempting to return to the apartment. That’s when they looked up and saw Matariyeh on the balcony. Matariyeh immediately began firing multiple shots at them as they took cover behind parked cars.
It was around this time that Minneapolis police officers arrived and made contact with Matariyeh’s ex-girlfriend. She believed he was still inside the apartment, but officers later learned that he had fled. They reached him on the phone. He told officers he was going to kill innocent people if he couldn’t speak with his ex-girlfriend or see his daughter, who was at daycare at the time. He later told police negotiators that “he wanted to go out by ‘suicide by cop.’”
All the while, Matariyeh was speeding westbound.
Police officers pursued him near Cosmos in Meeker County after being alerted that Matariyeh might have stolen another vehicle at gunpoint in Carver County.
Around 2 p.m. he pulled into the rural driveway of Peter Mayerchak in Lake Lillian. Mayerchak, who was in his yard placing hay over his septic mound, went and greeted Matariyeh, who shot him in the chest.
Mixing progressive dreams with dire warnings, a group of DFL leaders riled up a group of volunteers in St. Paul on Thursday morning, urging them to push on through the day’s freezing rain and fatigue in the remaining days before the election.
Several elected officials including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the group of about 150 campaign staffers, volunteers and union members about how meaningful their work is to keeping DFL control of the Legislature, as the electeds start a statewide bus tour to turn out votes.
“We are here to keep our trifecta here in Minnesota,” U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar told volunteers on Thursday. “We’ve got five days, people!”
On the Republican side, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said earlier this month that the House Republican Campaign Committee had raised a record $2.7 million ahead of the election and she said Republicans have also set records in volunteering and door-knocking as they work to break DFL control.
Minnesota Democrats hold a rally before starting a bus tour around the state to get voters excited, including Rep Ilhan Omar, Sen Amy Klobuchar, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, Rep Betty McCollum and Sen Tina Smith on Thursday. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” Demuth said in a statement. “Minnesotans are ready to move on from the expensive two years of Democrat one-party rule.”
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said she thought voters preferred action to the gridlock of divided government. “They’re looking for people who can get things done,” she said.
These last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts come as Democrats around the country push to keep control of state legislative chambers and try to flip a few statehouses that Republicans hold by just a few seats.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the arm of the national Democratic party that works on statehouse races across the country, has spent $500,000 on Minnesota races this year, including House races and the state Senate contest.
