Stanton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

in Stanton Township,

Goodhue County Goodhue County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,582. Its county seat is Red Wing. Nearly all of Prairie Island Indian Community is within the county. Goodhue County comprises the Red Win ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, United States. The center of Stanton is generally considered near the junction of State Highway 19 ( MN 19) and State Highway 56 (

MN 56 Minnesota State Highway 56 (MN 56) is a highway in southeast Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with U.S. Highway 63 near the Iowa state line and Chester, Iowa, and continues north to its northern terminus at its junction with U.S ...

). Nearby places include Northfield, Dennison,

Randolph Randolph may refer to: Places In the United States * Randolph, Alabama, an unincorporated community * Randolph, Arizona, a populated place * Randolph, California, a village merged into the city of Brea * Randolph, Illinois, an unincorporated commun ...

, and

Cannon Falls Cannon Falls is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,083 at the 2010 census. Located along U.S. Route 52, southeast of the Twin Cities, Cannon Falls is the home of Pachyderm Studio, where many famous musici ...

. Stanton is located seven miles east of Northfield. Stanton is six miles north-northeast of Dennison; and seven miles west-southwest of Cannon Falls. Stanton is near the northwest corner of Goodhue County, and immediately adjacent to Dakota County. Rice County is also nearby.

Community

Prairie Creek and the Little Cannon River both flow through the community. The Cannon River and Lake Byllesby are nearby. The community is served by an airport, Stanton Airfield, with two grass-surfaced runways. The runways are plowed in the winter. The

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

serves the sport

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

community, with a notable volume of glider, classic aircraft, and Sport Pilot activity. The airport was previously known as ''Carleton Airport'', and still appears with that name on some maps, due to its prior association with

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowlin ...

. Stanton Airfield is also home of the Minnesota Soaring Club, the largest soaring club in the upper Midwest. Over 25 gliders are based at Stanton Airfield. Soaring takes place primarily on weekends from mid April through November. Despite its small size, the airport was used by U.S. president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

, who arrived there by helicopter for a commencement address at Carleton College in 2000. Stanton Airfield was designated a historic site in November 2004. It has been in continuous use for flight training since April 1942, when it was used to train pilots during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Stanton Airfield also has a

Link Trainer The term Link Trainer, also known as the "Blue box" and "Pilot Trainer" is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Link Aviation Devices, founded and headed by Ed Link, based on ...

, one of the first flight simulators, used to train World War II pilots. A post office previously operated in Stanton. The post office closed in the 1970s due to federal budget cuts.

References

External links

Stanton Airfield Website
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Minnesota Unincorporated communities in Goodhue County, Minnesota