The area of Rosemount was first inhabited by the Lower Band Mdewakanton of the Santee Sioux Tribe, who settled on the glacial plains. However, in 1851 Chief Little Crow, leader of the New Ulm Indian Uprising, signed a treaty at Pilot Knob in Mendota, turning the land over to the federal government.

The first settlers in Rosemount were primarily Irish. After the county opened settlement in 1853, William Strathern made the first Rosemount claim in today’s Rich Valley area. In 1854, C.H. Carr opened a public house and stagecoach station nearby on the Mendota Wabasha Road. By 1855 a wave of new settlers filed claims and made homes, farms, and families in Rosemount. At first, most settlers were hesitant to venture into the plains and instead settled in the area’s wooded regions. However, farmers soon realized that the prairie land was better suited for growing crops.

When Rosemount gathered to organize as a township on May 11th, 1858 the main issue that was discussed was naming the town Saratoga or Rosemount. Years earlier, in 1855, the town’s first post office had been named Rosemount. Because of the area’s rich Irish heritage and the fact that there is a village in Ireland of the same name, Rosemount was chosen for the township’s name.

After the finished construction of the Minnesota Central railroad in 1864, which ran between Mendota and Faribault, business started to thrive in Rosemount. The railroad put a 40,000 bushel capacity grain elevator in town in 1867 and the new business district developed around it. By 1880, the town’s population had grown to 848 and the village 116.

In 1942, the Gopher Ordnance Works was built in Rosemount to produce gunpowder for WWII. Over 19,000 workers were hired, which was 18 times the size of the town’s population. In 1955, Pine Bend Refinery finished construction in Rosemount near U.S. Highway 52. Today the oil refinery is ranked 14th in production in the U.S. with a nameplate capacity of 320,000 barrels a day.

On January 21st, 1971, the village and the township merged together to become the Village of Rosemount. Three years later, the village became a city by state statute. As of 2010, the city has grown to a population of 21,874 residents.

If you have any questions regarding the city of Rosemount, Minnesota, or if you would like to sell or buy a house in the area, please feel free to visit TwinCitiesPropertyFinder.com or call 1-800-909-1953.