In Search of Lake Wobegon

Lake Wobegon is the most famous lake town in Minnesota. It is said to be just over the hill from our Starbuck and Glenwood towns on Lake Minnewaska.


At the town's edge, Lake Wobegon is said to have a sign stating "Gateway to Central Minnesota". It was described by America's storyteller Garrison Keillor as "here the women are strong and the men good-looking and all the children above average".


I don't know anyone who has ever been to Lake Wobegon. It got lost somehow and many have asked why the town appeared on no maps, Apparently, when the state map was drawn after the Civil War, teams of surveyors worked their way in from the four outer corners and, arriving at the center, found they had surveyed more of Minnesota than there was room for between Wisconsin and the Dakotas, and so the corners had to be overlapped in the middle, and Lake Wobegon wound up on the bottom flap. Yes, Lake Wobegon is, and always will be, lost under that flap in the original map of Minnesota.


Around the year 2000 National Geographic sent a team of investigators out in search of Lake Wobegon. They took lots of pictures and verified that it is lost for all time. They wrote it up for the whole world to know.


Garrison made Lake Wobegon famous with his weekly radio show "Prairie Home Companion". His "News from Lake Wobegon" was the centerpiece of his weekly show.


I am content to know that this legendary lake town is just over the hill from us, not far from Glenwood.


Most of you have listened to Prairie Home Companion. If not, I invite you to listen to Garrison in the clip below. He has the amazing ability to bring several story threads together with unmatched Minnesotan humor. Enjoy this clip when you have some quiet time.