Prior to the American Civil War, a number of families of Czech descent had begun migrating to south central Minnesota from Bohemia. In 1878, a small settlement of Norwegian farmers built a Lutheran church slightly to the southeast of present day Lonsdale. They called the area Trondhjem, after the name of the city in Norway from which they had descended. In 1891, a proposed new railroad from Mankato to Farmington was reported in the New Prague Times. However, construction of this railroad was never initiated due to an economic downturn.