Welcome to Cannon City.

The following pages provide an interactive, multi-layered history of the southeastern border between Faribault and Cannon City. Through text, images, and maps, the people who once lived here and the way in which they lived on and made use of this land will be brought to life. The changes in ownership and land usage will be discussed through an examination of what is no longer visible in the landscape today.

Chapter One tells the story of the Wahpekute band of the Dakota–the first people to inhabit this land–and of their eventual forced migration following white settlement/invasion. Chapter Two tells the story of the Faribault State School and Hospital, Minnesota’s first “insane asylum.” Chapter Three tells the story of the River Bend Nature Center, Faribault’s first private non-profit organization dedicated to land preservation and public education.

While each chapter tells a different story, all three histories are bound together by the commonality of place. Primary sources, cartography, digital humanities theory, and geospatial technologies provide the tools for collecting and communicating these stories.