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is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 17,147 at the 2000 census. Most of the city lies in Rice County, and only a small part of the city extends into Dakota County.
Founded by John W. North in 1855, Northfield was an early agricultural center with many wheat and corn farms. The town also supported lumber and flour mills powered by the Cannon River. As the "wheat frontier" moved west, dairy operations and diversified farms replaced the wheat-based agriculture. The region has since moved away from dairy and beef operations, currently producing substantial amounts of corn, soybeans, and hogs. The local cereal producer Malt-O-Meal is one of the few remnants of Northfield's historic wheat boom, and the city's motto "Cows, Colleges, and Contentment" reflects the influence of the dairy farms, despite that fact there are more pigs than cows in Northfield today.
Since very early in its history, Northfield has been a center of higher education. Carleton College (then Northfield College) was founded in 1866 on the northern edge of town by New England Congregationalists, like those who established Harvard University more than 200 years earlier. St. Olaf College was founded in 1874 on the western edge of town by Norwegian Lutheran immigrant pastors and farmers eager to preserve their faith and culture by training teachers and preachers. These two institutions, which today enroll a total of more than 5,000 students, have a major influence on the makeup of Northfield.
In the 1970s the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area expanded south of the Minnesota River with the completion of Interstate Highway 35 (6 miles west of Northfield via Minnesota Highway 19), allowing traffic across the Minnesota River. Northfield is now growing and urbanizing. The downtown grain elevator accepted its last load of corn in 2000 and was torn down in 2002. Residential growth has been rapid since the mid-1990s. Northfield is becoming a suburb and bedroom community on the southern fringe of the metropolitan area. A new hospital, which opened in 2003 in the northwest corner of town, is actually in Dakota County.
Many of the buildings in downtown Northfield are reasonably well-preserved examples of late 19th/early 20th century architecture. Because of early economic successes and the stability of two thriving colleges, the downtown is more extensive and better maintained than otherwise similar Midwest communities. Today, commercial development continues on the southern edge of the city, where room for growth remains.