Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Lanesboro, MN

Lanesboro is a city in Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota, platted in 1868 and named for F. A. Lane, one of its founders and an early landowner.

Lanesboro's post office opened in 1868 under the spelling 'Lanesborough,' and the name was not shortened to Lanesboro until 1883.

Lanesboro had 724 residents at the 2020 census — a far cry from its milling-era peak of more than 1,600 people in 1876.

The South Branch of the Root River flows through Lanesboro past Sylvan Park, where a historic waterfall dam dating to 1868 spans the river.

After rail service ended and Lanesboro lost a fifth of its population in the 1970s, the town reinvented itself — the abandoned rail line became the 42-mile Root River State Trail, which runs through town and anchors its tourism economy.

Lanesboro is home to the Commonweal Theatre Company, a professional ensemble theater founded in 1989 that opened its own purpose-built theater in 2007.

Lanesboro received the Great American Main Street Award in 1998, and author John Villani named it one of the 100 Best Small Art Towns in America.

Much of downtown Lanesboro is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lanesboro Arts runs a juried gallery showcasing more than 100 regional artists and operates the St. Mane Theatre next door to the Commonweal, giving the little town a genuine theater district that draws tens of thousands of visitors a year.

In 2008 the governor of Minnesota declared Lanesboro the Rhubarb Capital of Minnesota.