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The city of Carver is in southeastern Carver County, Minnesota. When the first European Americans came, there was a Wahpeton village at the current location of the town. Jonathan Carver explored the area for England in 1766, searching for a water route to the Pacific Ocean, naming a waterway that flowed into the Minnesota River for himself, although Carver's River is now known as Carver Creek. A trading post was established just upriver from the current location of the town in 1805. The area was opened for settlement with the 1851 Treaty of Traverse de Sioux, and Axel Jorgenson, a Norwegian immigrant, came in 1852, claiming 415 acres of land that would later become Carver, although he named it Lukenborg. Later, it became known as Fulton. A land boom in the 1850s led to speculation along key river locations, with the location of Carver deemed a good location for a steamboat and barge terminal. Jorgenson sold his claim to the Carver Land Company in 1854, and the land company platted the town in 1857. By then, the town already had a tailor, a hotel, boarding house, carpenter, livery stable, blacksmith shop, two shoemakers, and a general store, as well as a school district. The Panic of 1857 caused several frontier settlements to collapse, one of them being Louisville, across the Minnesota River, and many of its buildings were moved to Carver. During the Dakota War of 1862, many settlers moved to Carver because the availability of steamboat transportion offered evacuation to Fort Snelling if needed. The construction of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway in 1871 diminished the importance of water transport, leading to a decline in Carver. Prohibition and the Great Depression led to the decay of many of the town's historic houses and commercial businesses. In recent years, however, the city's population has been growing, more than doubling between 2000 and 2010. Nearby communities include Augusta, Chaska, Cologne, Jordan, and Shakopee.

 

 

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