Guide to Brooks Minnesota

Brooks (city)	1970	1980	1990	2000	1990-2000 Change
Brooks (city)	1970	1980	1990	2000	Actual	Percent
Population	163	173	158	141	-17	-10.76
Land Area (sq. mile)	1.10	1.26	1.16	1.16	0.00	0.24
Density (persons per sq. mile)	148.18	137.30	136.21	121.26	-14.94	-10.97
Housing Units	57	72	67	64	-3	-4.48
Households	--	60	64	61	-3	-4.69
Persons Per Household	--	2.88	2.47	2.31	-0.16	-6.43

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.0 km² (1.2 mi²), all land.

As of the census of 2000, there were 141 people, 61 households, and 37 families residing in the city. The population density was 46.9/km² (121.3/mi²). There were 64 housing units at an average density of 21.3/km² (55.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 100.00% White.

There were 61 households out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.8% were married couples living together, 4.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 19.1% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 21.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 110.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,417, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,947. There were none of the families and 2.8% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 11.8% of those over 64.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Brooks was established in 1904 as a station on the Soo Line Railroad. By 1926, Brooks had two general stores, a grocery store, a bank, hardware store, butcher shop, blacksmith shop, a livery barn, two saloons, a community hall and a hotel to accommodate travelers. Brooks was primarily a service town for the surrounding agricultural townships, and a creamery was established as the local dairying business developed on neighboring farms. After the invention of the cream separator, family farms in adjoining townships of Red Lake County and Polk County switched from subsistence to a market economy and became a part of the dairy industry.

In 1926, the Brooks creamery was purchased by the owners of the cheese factory in nearby Terrebonne who moved their operation to Brooks. The business widely known as the Brooks Cheese Company, a cheese factory owned by the Parenteau family, which sold its product to Kraft Food Company, and marketed its products throughout the Midwest. Local farmers would process the milk from their own cows by removing the butterfat or cream, which was hauled in cream cans to the cheese factory, while the skim milk or whey was fed to hogs or pigs raised on the same farm. The Brooks Cheese Company continued in business until the late 1970s, at which point the decline of the family farm and the predominance of large grain farms and other monocultural farms eliminated the mixed agriculture that formerly had predominated in the area of Brooks.

Although the local history of Red Lake County blames the National Farm Organization or NFO for organizing farmers to cooperative actions in withholding milk shipments, the reality is that Brooks Cheese Company could not compete with the major industrial cheese manufacturers and the development of agribusiness which portended the demise of the family farm. By the beginning of the 21st century, no dairy cows could be found anywhere within thirty miles of Brooks, whereas at one time virtually every quarter section could be counted on for the cream produced by 10 or 15 cows. Nonetheless, Brooks continues to be the site of an agricultural supply business, a gas station, and several other local businesses, as well as one church.

BROOKS, a city in section 14 in Poplar River Township, was incorporated as a village on April 7, 1955. The post office was established in 1883, with Daniel Little, postmaster. The city was platted in 1904 as a farm community with a number of small stores and a station of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (Soo Line) in section 15.