Main St. E and Independence Ave., Clarks Grove, Minnesota. County/parish: Freeborn.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places March 20, 1986. NRIS 86000480.
1 contributing building.
The Clarks Grove Cooperative Creamery is a historic creamery in Clarks Grove, Minnesota, United States. It was established in 1890 as one of the first cooperative creameries in Minnesota. The Clarks Grove Cooperative Creamery used new technology and a well-organized cooperative system. It became a model for the Minnesota dairy industry. Ten years later, there were more than 550 cooperative creameries in the state.
The original building burned down and was replaced with a new facility in 1927 which included a second-floor meeting hall. Still standing, this building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 for having local significance in the themes of agriculture, architecture, commerce, and social history. It was nominated for its seminal status and influence on the state's cooperative creameries, as well as its association with the small local community of Danish Americans and their outsized success in dairy farming, its role as a social center, and being Minnesota's best example of its type architecturally.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93201719