Hutchinson is the largest city in McLeod County, Minnesota, United States.

Several outlying buildings were burned before the townspeople were able to repel the assault from behind the town's stockade.

In 1942, muralist Elsa Jemne completed an egg tempera on plaster mural, The Hutchinson Singers, in the town's post office.

[7] The program created public art for numerous buildings constructed during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Public Works Administration's program to provide employment and improve infrastructure.

During the mid-20th century, there was extensive restructuring in the railroad industry, as automobiles caused a decline in passenger traffic and trucking cut into freight movement.

In 1985 Burlington Northern petitioned to abandon its line to Hutchinson, but Dakota Rail took over operations that same year.

Dakota Rail struggled to turn a profit and sought to abandon the line in 2000.

[1] The South Fork of the Crow River flows around the north and east sides of downtown.

Otter Lake is formed by a dam on the river at Main Street and extends west to the city limits, then south.

According to the 2000 United States Census,[4] there were 13,080 people, 5,333 households, and 3,418 families living in the city.

Data from the top 31 employers in Hutchinson[26] show the following distribution of employment: Manufacturing jobs are with Hutchinson Technology (~390 employees, computer and peripheral equipment), Uponor, and 3M (2,900 employees, flags and vinyl, Scotch tapes).

[citation needed] The retail and service economy has grown from agricultural supply and processing to include a combination of local manufacturing, shopping, and a growing restaurant and food service industry with multiple new options opening recently.

The Vo-Tech merged with a similar institute in Willmar, and ultimately the Willmar Community College joined the two Vo-Techs to form Ridgewater College, a member of the MnSCU system.

From 2004 to 2006, significant remodeling included the installation of new facilities for the school's nursing programs, plus new biology, chemistry, and physics laboratories.

A notable and unique technical program on the Hutchinson campus is Nondestructive Testing.