Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near West Ceylon Ceylon, MN

Ceylon is a small city in Martin County in far southern Minnesota, about two miles north of the Iowa state line and roughly ten miles southwest of Fairmont, the county seat.

Ceylon was platted in 1899, the year the railroad came through this part of Martin County and the town was born.

The town was named after the island of Ceylon — then a British colony, today the nation of Sri Lanka — and local tradition says the name was picked after someone at a naming gathering in a general store spotted a box of Ceylon tea; residents pronounce it "SAY-lon."

A post office has been in operation in Ceylon since 1899, and the town's first newspaper, the Ceylon Herald, published its first edition in March 1901.

Ceylon is the birthplace of Walter Mondale, who was born there in 1928 and grew up to become a U.S. senator from Minnesota, vice president under Jimmy Carter, and the Democratic nominee for president in 1984.

The Congregational Church was the first church built in Ceylon, and the State Bank of Ceylon was established in 1901.

The 2020 census counted 303 people in Ceylon, down from 369 in 2010.

Ceylon was far bigger in the mid-20th century — its population peaked at 618 in the 1950 census, more than double its present size.