Shieldsville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Shieldsville Township, Rice County,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, United States. The center of Shieldsville is generally considered near the junction of State Highway 21 ( MN 21) and Rice County Road 10 (Dodd Road). Other routes include County Roads 37, 38, and 67. Nearby places include Faribault,

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

, Waterville, and Montgomery. Shieldsville is located in section 1 of Shieldsville Township. ZIP codes 55021 (Faribault), 56052 (Kilkenny), 56096 (Waterville), and 56069 (Montgomery) all meet near Shieldsville.

History

Shieldsville, named after its founder, American politician and U.S. Army officer, James Shields, was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in 1856. It was founded around the Irish St. Patrick Catholic Church. In the settlement's early years, land within the area was sold for $2.00 per acre with the mission of attracting Irish immigrants to settle in the area. On July 29, 2002, The St. Patrick Church of Shieldsville was hit by lightning for the second time in its history and was severely destroyed. It was rebuilt 2 years later on August 1, 2004.

Culture

Shieldsville holds a Fall Festival for the town and the surrounding area every September 29.

References

Unincorporated communities in Minnesota Unincorporated communities in Rice County, Minnesota {{RiceCountyMN-geo-stub