Banning, Minnesota facts for kids

Banning is a ghost town located in Pine County, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A ghost town is a place where people used to live and work, but now very few or no people live there anymore. Often, these towns become empty because the main reason people settled there, like a mine or a railroad job, disappeared.

A Look Back at Banning

The community of Banning was named after a man named William L. Banning. He was a contractor who helped build railroads. Railroads were very important back then for moving goods and people across the country.

A post office was opened in Banning in 1896. This means the town was active enough to need its own mail service. However, the post office closed its doors in 1912. This often happens when a town starts to shrink, and fewer people live there.

The population of Banning changed quite a bit over time:

As you can see from the numbers, the population dropped significantly between 1910 and 1920. This decline is a common story for many ghost towns.