24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Granite Falls, MN

Granite Falls sits on the Minnesota River in western Minnesota, lying mostly in Yellow Medicine County — of which it is the county seat — with a small portion extending into Chippewa County.

The town was platted on May 7, 1872, and named for the granite and gneiss outcroppings over which the Minnesota River flows at this spot.

A post office began operating at Granite Falls in 1870, and the settlement became the Yellow Medicine County seat in 1874; the present county courthouse was erected in 1880.

Granite Falls was incorporated as a village in 1879 and became a city on April 24, 1889, when East Granite Falls joined it.

Granite Falls had 2,737 residents at the 2020 census, living in 1,262 households.

Granite Falls was the hometown of Andrew J. Volstead, who served as the city's mayor in 1900–1902 before representing Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives for ten terms, from 1903 to 1923.

Volstead sponsored the National Prohibition Act of 1919 — the Volstead Act that enforced Prohibition nationwide — and co-authored the Capper–Volstead Act, which legalized farmers' cooperatives and is still in effect.

The Andrew John Volstead House at 163 Ninth Avenue is a National Historic Landmark and museum, and the Julian A. Weaver House gives Granite Falls a second National Historic Landmark.

On July 25, 2000, a powerful tornado rated F4 tore through Granite Falls, killing one person, injuring more than a dozen, and causing millions of dollars in property damage.

Just south of Granite Falls lies the Upper Sioux Community, a Dakota community created in 1938 when 746 acres along the Minnesota River valley were returned to the Dakota people.