Goodview, MN

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The City of Goodview began as a suburban settlement situated along Minnesota City Road and six blocks west of the Winona City limits. Clarence F. Witt, the original owner announced that the area would be called Goodview Subdivision.

Goodview, Minnesota, shares the same majestic Mississippi River Valley and scenic towering bluffs as its sister city, Winona. Years and years ago the current site of Goodview served as the summer camp for constantly moving Native American tribes. Its proximity to the bounty of the river and the abundant wildlife of the valley and the bluffs made it an ideal stopover for the Indians who lived and thrived off of the offerings of nature. For many years after Captain Orrin Smith founded Winona in 1851, the sand river plains north and west of that new city served as a campsite for the Sioux tribe. Chief Wapasha led his tribe often to this area so he could help his people become accustomed to the new settlers while keeping their distance as they practiced their rich native heritage.

In the spring of 1946, long after the Native Americans had halted their annual pilgrimage to the area, a group of residents started a drive to incorporate an independent village called Goodview. On August 8 of that year, a vote was taken. Three hundred thirty-six of the original inhabitants of Goodview agreed that almost 800 acres of land occupied by numerous watermelon farms and sand and gravel sites, should become independent.

Since then, Goodview has grown in population by almost ten-fold. The border between Winona and Goodview has filled with commercial and residential development, making that boundary indistinguishable. Although their borders have blended, their identities have not. Goodview has outgrown the image of being merely a bedroom community to a larger neighbor. It has developed a small-town ethic that mandates that people work together to make a community. In doing so, Goodview has attracted a viable industrial base of its own, a park and recreation program second to none, and multiple volunteer organizations, such as the fire department and the local civic activity group, which nurture and grow with the spirit of the city.