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Tiny Luxembourg made a big impact on Southeast Minnesota
The immigrants founded towns, built stone farms and helped inspire early hospital planning that led to the Mayo Clinic.
- In May, the Luxembourg Heritage Society of Elba, Minnesota, hosted a Rochester event celebrating the Luxembourg-Minnesota connection, partnering with Luxembourg ambassador to the U.S. Nicole Bintner-Bakshian to raise funds for refurbishing the 1850s Marnach House.
- Drawn to limestone bluffs resembling their homeland, immigrants from Luxembourg settled in Southeast Minnesota's Mississippi River valley during the late 1800s, establishing communities like Rollingstone, a town of 680 once almost entirely populated by people of Luxembourg descent.
- After an 1883 tornado struck Rochester, Sister Mary Alfred Moes, a Luxembourger, proposed building a hospital to William Worrall Mayo, who insisted she raise $40,000 for the facility that became Saint Marys Hospital, later joining Mayo Clinic.
- Locals attribute the settlers' success to stubbornness, a defining trait that allowed Moes to overcome clashes with superiors in Illinois before establishing the institution that eventually joined Mayo Clinic, shaping Southeast Minnesota's identity.
- Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian emphasized that "the generations who settled here carried with them values of hard work, community, and resilience that helped shape the American story," reflecting a shared history uniting Luxembourg and the United States.
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12 Articles
12 Articles
Duluth News Tribune+11 Reposted by 11 other sources
Tiny Luxembourg made a big impact on Southeast Minnesota
ROCHESTER — When you close your eyes and think of Luxembourg, what do you see? Nothing? Well, that’s a shame. Some would say it’s not right. This tiny European country deserves something more than a Rodney Dangerfield reputation. Just think: If not for tiny Luxembourg, Mayo Clinic, Rochester … Well, one shudders to think. Think of a "Back to the Future" scenario. History would be very different, indeed. Sister Mary Alfred Moes came from Luxembou…
·Cherokee County, United States
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Total News Sources12
Leaning Left0Leaning Right8Center1Last UpdatedBias Distribution89% Right
Bias Distribution
- 89% of the sources lean Right
89% Right
11%
R 89%
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