DANUBE

A short history of Danube

Renville County's youngest incorporated municipality is Danube. The land on which the village is located was purchased by Fred Emde in 1878, later sold to August Sommerfield in 1893 and then transferred to Ferdinand A. Schroeder in 1899. A community was plotted in the north of Troy Township, Minnesota. Its residents referred to the community as Miles. Like many rural communities, the advent of the railroad (CMSTP&P) affected its origin. The Milwaukee Road RR had placed a siding at the location to serve a mile-long gravel pit 1/2 mile north. That railroad switch had become known as the Gravel Pit Station. The gravel was needed as track ballast for the railroad in its continued expansion. The local farmers were also in need of market rail access closer than the already established towns of Olivia (east) and Renville (west). The first building lots were plotted by F. A. Schroeder, Thomas Slough and J.W. Beck. The town, then known as "Miles", was laid out by 1899 and a rail depot had been constructed.

F. A. Schroeder having been 4th District County Commissioner since 1895, was influential in the community's name change from Danube to Miles. The "Miles" moniker was often confused with other mail drops with similar names, and there was already an established Milwaukee Road depot in Miles, Montana. Ferdinand A. Schroeder was born in Regensburg, Germany which was situated adjacent to the Danube River (Donau auf Deutsch). Many of the early residents were German immigrants. With incorporation, "Danube" had become the popular name-change choice. This occurred in 1901, concurrent to the moving of the county seat from Beaver Falls to Olivia. The Danube Post Office began operation in 1903.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Danube, Minnesota, revision 1380076208 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.