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Arlington

Arlington was founded by the Western Town Lot Company in 1880, and originally named Nordland, with the platted streets given Norwegian names. The city was renamed a few years later, and in 1885 given the name of Arlington, after the colonial center in Virginia. (It was briefly named Denver in the interlude, but postal authorities did not approve of the name.) The city boundaries extend across two counties, Brookings and Kingsbury, with a majority of the population residing in Kingsbury County.

Arlington was relatively innovative in its early history, as an early adopter of city-wide electrical and water utilities, as well as telephone, but innovation slowed with the passing of the original citizens. Fortunately, the city has experienced a renaissance of sorts in recent years, with a new high school, an improved park system, excellent broadband and cellular access, and continued work on the city’s utility infrastructure.

Theodore Schultz, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in economics in 1979, was born in Arlington in 1902.

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