Place:Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Willmar is a city in, and the county seat of, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 21,015 at the 2020 census.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Agricultural expansion and the establishment of Willmar as a division point on the Great Northern Railway determined the growth of the community. The first settlers arrived during the 1850s, attracted to the fertile land and an abundance of timber and game. The Dakota War of 1862 left the township abandoned for several years. The advent of the railroad in Kandiyohi County in 1869 brought new settlers. Many were of Swedish and Norwegian origins; residents of Scandinavian heritage are still a majority. In 1870, Leon (Chadwick) Willmar, a Belgian acting as an agent for the European bondholder of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, purchased the title to Section 1 of Willmar Township. Willmar was established as the county seat in 1871 and was incorporated as a village in 1874 and as a city in 1901.

Willmar was the site of a bank robbery by the Machine Gun Kelly gang on July 15, 1930. They robbed the Bank of Willmar (later Bremer Bank) of about $70,000 (worth $1,149,802.40 counting for inflation[2021]) and wounded three people.

From 1977 to 1979, Willmar was the site of the Willmar 8, a famous strike of female workers confronting sexual discrimination at a local bank. The story of the strike was reported in mainstream media and made into a documentary.

The music of Willmar native Bradley Joseph draws inspiration from his childhood there, and his company, Robbins Island Music, is named after a Willmar city park.

Willmar was home to the annual Sonshine Festival, a Christian music festival, from 1982 to 2014.

Research Tips