Since 1973, all incorporated towns were declared officially to be ‘cities’ by an act of the Minnesota Legislature. Ever wonder about those ‘little cities’? This series of 100 waymarks will take you to all corners of the great state of Minnesota to visit the 100 smallest of the incorporated cities in the state. All have a great story to tell.
This is the 3rd of 100 of the cities described in the book LITTLE MINNESOTA. Barry is a railway village in northern Big Stone County that was named in honor of the Barry brothers, two men who came to the area from Lowell, MA to homestead. Incorporated as a village in 1900, it was located on the land claim of Edmond Barry, who with his brother William came in 1879 to the area following their brother James and William Nash. First called Lowell, the name was changed when the post office was established in 1881 with Miss Maria M. Barry as first postmaster in the Barry farmhouse. Her brother James owned the general store and lumber dealership. The blacksmith shop and general store were built in 1880 and the coal and wood yard in 1885. The elevator and bowling alley were added by the Barry brothers in 1891. The city also was home to a station of the Great Northern Railway.
Barry is currently home to 16 persons. As in many of Minnesota’s smallest communities, the Beardsley Farmer’s Coop Elevator is the last thriving business in Barry.
This series of waymarks is tuned to getting people to visit these wonderful small communities before they disappear completely. To validate your ‘find’, please post a photo at the coordinates and please relate a little tidbit about what you learned about the town and its people that is not in this narrative or the book. You can learn more about ‘LITTLE MINNESOTA’ by logging on to (
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