GRACEVILLE, MINNESOTA

'Graceville' is a city in Big Stone County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 605 at the 2000 census.

Contents

Geography

History

Demographics

Famous Residents

References

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.6 km² (0.6 mi²), all land.

History

Graceville was originally granted to Archbishop John Ireland of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Wishing to settle the Minnesota prairie with Catholic Irish-Americans, he actively promoted settlement in Graceville and the surrounding region. The town was named for Bishop Thomas Grace and a special line was built across the prairie from Morris, Minnesota.
In the summer of 1880, Archbishop Ireland paid for the passage of a ship filled with Famine refugees from the Connemara in County Galway. Arriving in Graceville too late to adequately prepare and having little grasp of English, the Irish language speakers were ill prepared for the massive blizzard which descended in the winter. As both the Protestant Freemasons of Morris and the English speaking Irish-Americans of Graceville both schemed to manipulate the situation for their own ends, the sufferings of the Connemara refugees became an international scandal.
With the future of his entire Catholic Colonization Bureau in jeopardy, Archbishop Ireland offered up the "Conamaras" as a sacrifice, condemning them as shiftless, lazy and drunken. In the early months of 1881, all but three families were evicted from their claims and resettled in a shantytown in Saint Paul which was instantly dubbed The Connemara Patch. Meanwhile back in Graceville, the name "Conamara" became an insult, a pejorative term for a lazy, drunken failure. Archbishop Ireland would later describe the scandal as the greatest grief of his life.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 605 people, 257 households, and 149 families residing in the city. The population density was 389.3/km² (1,007.7/mi²). There were 283 housing units at an average density of 182.1/km² (471.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 99.50% White, 0.17% Native American, 0.17% Asian, and 0.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.17% of the population.
There were 257 households out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were married couples living together, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were non-families. 39.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 32.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 80.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,143, and the median income for a family was $35,385. Males had a median income of $27,031 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,451. About 3.9% of families and 8.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.7% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Famous Residents

★ Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo

★ Birthplace of former Twins Manager Tom Kelly

★ Legendary Irish language storyteller Éamon a Búrc (1866-1942) was a resident in the early years of settlement.

References

★ Bridget Connelly, "Forgetting Ireland; Uncovering a Family's Hidden History," Borealis Books, 2003.