Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Nowthen, MN

Nowthen is a city in northwestern Anoka County that was known as Burns Township until June 30, 2008, when it incorporated as a city — making it one of the youngest cities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Burns Township originally broke off from St. Francis Township in 1869 and remained a township for nearly 140 years before becoming a city.

Residents voted to incorporate after the township's annual meeting in March 2007, largely to prevent annexation by nearby growing cities and to protect the area's rural character and large lots.

The name Nowthen came from an unincorporated community near the intersection of County Roads 5 and 22 within the former township, and local tradition traces it to the township's first postmaster James Hare, who often used the phrase "now then."

The population of Nowthen was 4,536 at the 2020 census, living in about 1,450 households counted in 2010 across the city's roughly 35 square miles.

The Census Bureau classifies all of Nowthen's residents as rural, and about half of the roads across its 35 square miles are still gravel.

Even as suburbs grow around it, Nowthen has added only a couple hundred residents since becoming a city in 2008, deliberately keeping its government small and its properties large.