History
Step back into time to Kerkhoven, also now often known as "Kerk." The town got its official name on February 17, 1883, when Johannes and Theodores Kerkhoven, of the Kerkhoven Brokerage Company in Amsterdam, were granted permission to extend the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad out to the area. But Kerkhoven’s story started earlier—some of the first settlers had already made their way to Pillsbury Township nearly twenty years before, and the townsite was first platted back in 1870. Even before the trains rolled in, the community was thriving: by 1882, it boasted four general stores, three saloons, a cheese factory, multiple blacksmith shops, hotels, grain elevators, a pharmacy, a hardware store, a harness shop, a carriage works, and its own newspaper. Once the railroad came through, growth took off—population jumped from just 94 residents in 1880 to 299 by 1890, as new connections brought people and opportunities to town.
The name "Kerkhoven" is Dutch and translates to "church cemeteries" or "churchyards". The family name was originally "van Kerckhoven," with "van" meaning "from," "kerk" meaning "church," and "hoven" meaning "gardens" or "yards".
