# New Germany, Minnesota *A city in Carver County, Minnesota, renamed Motordale from 1917 to 1922.* New Germany is a city in Carver County, [[Minnesota]]. The 2020 census counted 464 residents.[^1] The [[Carver County Historical Society]] says the town was named for its large German immigrant population.[^2] The society's county driving tour lists New Germany with Hamburg and Cologne among the towns founded by Germans.[^4] From 1917 to 1922 the village carried the name [[Motordale]]. The Historical Society and the Wikipedia article give the same two dates.[^2][^1] The Historical Society describes the 1917 renaming as a move "to distance itself from associations with Germany."[^2] MNopedia, the Minnesota Historical Society's encyclopedia, dates St. Mark's Lutheran School in New Germany to 1914.[^3] The town enters this record through one at-issue pair, AI-Carver-041. The pair sets the 1917 renaming beside that school and is anchored to a January 2025 White House presidential action, *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity*.[^5] The sources in the pack document the renaming, the restoration and the school's 1914 founding. They do not document the school's language of instruction or its operation between 1917 and 1922.[^2][^3] ## When Carver County was organized in March 1855 and was "named in honor of the explorer, Jonathan Carver." [[San Francisco Township]] was the first county seat, and "voters moved it to Chaska in 1856."[^4] The sources disagree on when the settlement began. The Carver County Historical Society dates settlement around the Great Northern depot to the 1850s.[^2] The Wikipedia article places the community's establishment around the railroad depot in the 1880s.[^1] The Historical Society records a lumber center operating from 1887 to 1895. It also records a post office opened in 1889 under the name "Purity."[^2] According to Wikipedia, that post office had been moved in from another site and kept the Purity name until 1902. In that year it was renamed to match the railroad and the community.[^1] New Germany became an incorporated village in Camden Township in 1901. In 1974 it became a separate city under state law.[^1] The Historical Society dates the First State Bank to 1905 and St. Mark's Church to 1914.[^2] MNopedia lists St. Mark's Lutheran School, New Germany, as founded in 1914. It is the most recent of seven private schools the entry names in Carver County. The earliest is Emanuel Lutheran School in Hamburg, founded in 1857.[^3] The village took the name Motordale in 1917, during World War I. It readopted the name New Germany in 1922.[^2][^1] ## Where The city lies in Carver County. Citing the [[United States Census Bureau]], Wikipedia gives its total area as 1.00 square mile, all of it land.[^1] The main routes through the community are County Roads 30 and 33. Minnesota State Highway 7 passes nearby, and the city borders the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail.[^1] [[Waconia Public Schools]] runs the public schools serving the area, including Waconia High School.[^1] ## How many The city's population was 346 in 2000, 372 in 2010 and 464 in 2020.[^1] The 2000 census counted 143 households and 94 families. The 2010 census counted 146 households and 99 families.[^1] ## In the at-issue record Pair AI-Carver-041 is filed in the record's Carver package, in a block on Motordale. It cites two record sources, from carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org and mnhs.org.[^5] The pair states that the town changed its name to Motordale in 1917 and changed it back in 1922. It further states that, in between, the town "kept its German-language Lutheran school, founded 1914, running the whole time." The pair calls this a "gesture-delivery gap."[^5] - **Name change.** The Historical Society and Wikipedia both document the 1917 renaming and the 1922 restoration.[^2][^1] - **School.** MNopedia documents St. Mark's Lutheran School's founding in 1914.[^3] The pack's sources do not establish that instruction was in German, or that the school ran continuously from 1917 to 1922. The record does not document any decision to close the school.[^3][^2] - **Anchor.** The pair's stated anchor is the January 2025 presidential action *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity*.[^5] The pack does not carry the text of that order. ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *New Germany, Minnesota* (revision 1378592215, retrieved 2026-10-27) — census counts for 2000, 2010 and 2020; area; roads and trail; post office renaming in 1902; incorporation in 1901 and city status in 1974; Motordale name 1917–1922. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Germany,_Minnesota [^2]: Carver County Historical Society, *New Germany* — settlement from the 1850s around the Great Northern depot, "named for its large German immigrant population"; lumber center 1887–1895; post office 1889, originally "Purity"; First State Bank 1905; St. Mark's Church 1914; renamed Motordale in 1917 "to distance itself from associations with Germany," with "New Germany" readopted in 1922. https://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/new_germany.php [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Private Schools in Carver County* — St. Mark's Lutheran School, New Germany, founded 1914; Emanuel Lutheran School, Hamburg, founded 1857. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/thing/private-schools-carver-county [^4]: Carver County Historical Society, *Carver County Driving Tour* — county organized March 1855 and named for Jonathan Carver; first county seat at San Francisco Township, moved to Chaska in 1856; "The Germans founded towns like Hamburg, New Germany and Cologne." https://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/pdfs/CarverCountyDrivingTour.pdf [^5]: The White House, *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity* (January 2025) — the presidential action named as the anchor of at-issue pair AI-Carver-041. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/