Red Wing Minnesota
Red Wing Minnesota |
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 Above is a panoramic view of Red Wing and Barn Bluff as seen from atop the bluff in Red Wing's city park. The image is a link; click on it to load a much larger copy that you can scroll through. Just the FactsNOTE: The data that follows derives primarily from the 1990 U.S. census and as such is a decade out of date. Comparative data for the U.S. at large and for the St. Louis metro area are presented to establish perspective. St. Louis was chosen because it is the largest city on the river as well as smack dab in the middle.
Red Wing is not only attractive due to its natural setting. It is an historic city in which much of the old architecture has been preserved. Constructed largely of red brick (one of Red Wing's early industries was brick manufacturing), the buildings in the center of town are as much as 125 years old. Beautiful old red brick victorian homes edge up the bluff to the northwest of town. Red Wing is a city made for walks; if you visit Red Wing, be sure to park your car and tour both the city and residential areas on foot. Just an hours drive south of the Twin Cities, Red Wing is a favorite weekend escape location and as such the shops in town are rather touristy, but not nearly as bad as they could be.
Although the state of Minnesota has had the good sense to prohibit gambling, casinos are permitted on Native American reservations, and wouldn't you know it, just such a reservation is located a short drive north of Red Wing which is also a short drive south of St. Paul and a short drive north east of Rochester, in other words ideally located near the state's highest concentration of population. The entire area between the Twin Cities and Red Wing being too populated and industrially valuable to permit the placement of a traditional Native American reservation, space was found on an island in the river. Red Wing's tourist industry is of course boosted by the presence of the casino -- shuttle buses run back and forth all the time. They even have a big yatch that travels the river between the casino and Red Wing.
Red Wing's tourist industry is also supported by the nearby presence of Lake Pepin. Twenty two miles long, Lake Pepin extends from Red Wing in the north to Wabasha at the confluence of the Mississippi and Chippewa rivers. Glacial drift carried by the Chippewa river built up a natural dam across the Mississippi forming the lake. Lake Pepin is a boating enthusiast's dream-come-true and Red Wing is an ideal place to keep your boat. Not only is Red Wing about an hour drive from the Twin Cities it is also about an hour drive from Rochester. Consequently Red Wing's marinas are full of literally millions and millions of dollars worth of boats. Isaac and I saw plenty of pleasure boats in Red Wing easily worth more than a hundred thousand dollars each. It's also interesting to see the large number of sailboats in the town's marinas -- an uncommon sight on most of the river. Lake Pepin however is big enough to support large sailboats. Apart from the tourist trade, Red Wing has a sound economy with an unemployment rate lower than the national average. This little city of fifteen thousand people has been, and continues to be, nationally recognized for what it produces. Before the railroad network was in place, Red Wing's strategic position on the river made it the largest exporter of wheat in the nation. Today Red Wing still has a sound foundation in the agricultural industry with ADM and Continental Grain plants in town, but Red Wing's best known products are pottery and shoes. In 1905 Charles Beckman founded the Red Wing shoe company. Almost one hundred years later, with two production plants in Red Wing, they're still a small U.S. company successfully selling a quality product. Red Wing's most well known product is its pottery, and in fact the salt glazed stoneware with the red wing emblem on it is a hot collectible item today. The pottery industry in Red Wing got started in the 1860s around the time of the Civil War. In 1878 the Red Wing Stoneware Company was founded. |
Red Wing Minnesota is the Mississippi River's jewel. If all the cities and towns on the river were wiped away and I had to select one place on the river to build a city and live. . . . Woah, I'm not sure I want to make such a definitive committment here, but certainly the location where Red Wing now sits would be a finalist. At the head of Lake Pepin and nestled amidst some of the most beautiful bluffs on the river, the scenery around Red Wing ranks with the very best this country has to offer. If you like cool summers and very cold winters you could be real happy in Red Wing. The Mississippi here in Red Wing is as lovely as you could dare expect any river to be. Dotted by dozens of small islands and flanked by wetlands teaming with wildlife, the river twists and winds past Red Wing to pour itself into Lake Pepin. A climb to the top of Barn Bluff along with the subsequent view of the city and river valley will set your spirit soaring.
Red Wing's most outstanding geological feature is Barn Bluff which closes off the south end of town. (The entire bluff is pictured in the panorama above). From just north of Minneapolis all the way down to Natchez, there are bluffs along the river that provide scenic vistas of the river valley. Half a dozen of these overlooks are just spectacular and this is one of them. Here's what some earlier visitors had to say: The English explorer Jonathan Carver in his book Travels through the Interior Parts of North America in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768, described the view from Barn Bluff as, "The most beautiful prospect that imagination can form." Stephen Long in his account Voyage in a Six-oared Skiff to the Falls of St. Anthony, had this to say of the view, "...the sublime and beautiful blended here in a most enchanting manner." I'm afraid that the one time Isaac and I climbed Barn Bluff the weather precluded taking any decent photographs from the top. The photograph shown here was taken along the trail near the top.
Red Wing has three large city parks; Bay Point Park is right along the river in downtown. Soldier's Memorial Park is on the bluff to the south west of town and Colvill Park is along the river south of town and around the other side of Barn Bluff. Although the view from the bluff in Soldier's Memorial Park doesn't show the river as well as the view from Barn Bluff, it is nonetheless a splendid view of the city. The panorama above was taken from that bluff. The best view of Barn Bluff by the way is from Bay Point Park on the river downtown.
Then during the next twenty years came the Minnesota Stoneware Company and the North Star Stoneware Company and Red Wing became a national manufacturing center for pottery. By 1936 one large manufacturer, Red Wing Potteries Inc., emerged from various mergers and consolidations. They remained in business until 1967. Recently in 1996 the company was re-born in a small facility on the north edge of town where they are making the same traditional salt glazed stoneware that Red Wing Potteries produced for nearly a hundred years.