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 77th of 100 of the cities described in the book LITTLE MINNESOTA. St. Leo is a city in central Yellow Medicine County and ‘was named after the church, and the church was so christened in honor of Pope Leo I’. The church, built in 1896, is commemorative of Saint Leo, the first Pope of this name [440AD to 461AD], who is surnamed "the Great." The city was incorporated in 1940 and is the current home to 100 persons.
Over the years St. Leo has had its share of disappointments & tragedies. Counting on a railroad bringing prosperity to the community, in 1910 the company ran out of funds and the line stopped in Gluek, some 40 miles distant to the northeast. In early November 1921, bank robbers blew the bank’s safe and destroyed the bank. Bank robbers struck again in 1931, but the teller memorized the car license plate numbers on the car. Times were tough during the Great Depression and robbers struck the general store in 1932 getting away with food, clothing and tobacco.
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 of you with your GPS 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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