Withrow is an unincorporated community located in the city of Grant, Washington County, Minnesota, United States.

[4][11] The Minneapolis & St. Croix Railroad was extended through Washington County in 1883, giving rise to the village of Withrow.

[22] The creamery closed in 1930[6] and later became a feed mill, a restaurant, the Onekan store, and then a bar with risqué entertainment, Stan's Withrow Junction, before burning in a fire reported by the Soo Line depot agent in the early morning hours on November 22, 1979.

[11][23][25] South of the creamery, the Interstate Lumber Company maintained a machine shop which sold Minnesota Machinery farm equipment made by inmates at the state prison, as well as repair parts and hardware.

[11][33] Adjacent to the barbershop and pool hall was a well-fortified building, constructed in 1913, which housed the Withrow State Bank.

[24] By 1910 there was also a Chevrolet dealership and garage, which generated power using gasoline engines to run the lights in the dance hall above the Kinyon Store.

[6][33] The land south of the railroad tracks was surveyed and platted into lots; the map was filed at the Washington County Courthouse on December 13, 1914.

[6][35] In 1947 the community voted to incorporate as a village, but the petition was denied because Withrow did not meet the population requirement of fifty inhabitants.

However, in the 1920s, roads were being improved, and farmers started hauling their own potatoes and cattle to market, and milk producers from Minneapolis–St.

The store's proximity to the depot made it a favorite for passengers waiting for a train and railroad workers alike.

[59] After the fire, Clarence LeRoy Kinyon, who had been the mail carrier, reopened the store and post office, selling hardware, groceries, fabric, and clothing.

[6][60] The post office relocated to the former Withrow State Bank building in the mid- to late 1940s, and relocated again to the former Kinyon house, which had been purchased by William and Vivian Guse, in 1950; the post office was moved to the porch of the house, where residents could pick up mail from their P.O.

In 1962 the Guses opened the Withrow Tavern and a small grocery store selling Gulf gasoline in the old creamery building, locating the post office there until mail delivery was taken over by rural route carrier.

[6][7][8] Two rail lines converged at Withrow, making it an important railway and telegraph station; in 1887, a depot was built that turned out to be far larger than the village ever needed.

[63] After the creamery closed, the Soo Line bought the building which had housed the butter maker as a residence for the station agent.

[68] Withrow Elementary was in the Stillwater Area School District, ISD #834, and served 219 students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

[27] There was no indoor plumbing at the time, so the dance hall's lavatory, attached to the back of the building, was a two-story outhouse.

[79] Identified as an historic landmark in May Township, the 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) ballroom and 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) hardwood dance floor are widely regarded as one of the best rooms for live music in the Twin Cities.

Ed and Gertrude Zahler continued the tradition of polka dances, but during the late 1950s, musical tastes started to change.

Ed Zahler Jr. purchased the ballroom from his father in 1974, adding large picture windows,[79] food, and a kitchen, and made the venue available for weddings and catered events.

[82] When Mark Babcock purchased the facility, the Withrow Ballroom was a white rectangular box in the middle of a corn field.

[79][88] The Aamodts added dance lessons with the concept of expanding the Withrow Ballroom to include a future conference center, motel, bar, and restaurant.

[98][99][100] Lawrence Xiong purchased the facility from Mendele in December 2019, who rebranded the ballroom as the Keystone Wedding and Events Center.

[101][102][103][104] Many popular musicians have played at the Withrow Ballroom, including the Six Fat Dutchmen, the Lamont Cranston Band, Bobby Z., and Grammy-award winning musicians Yanni and Jonny Lang,[105] in addition to many local bands and comedians, including Kevin Farley.

[19][115] Oak woodland and brushland was a common ecotonal type between tallgrass prairie and the Eastern deciduous forest.

[116][117] Land cover today mostly consists of cultivated crops, pasture, and hay, along with scattered deciduous forests of oak and aspen, hazelnut thickets, and prairie openings.

[118] A grove of black walnut trees lines the east side of Keystone Avenue at its intersection with County Road 9.

[120] The bedrock formations of Washington County at Withrow are part of regionally extensive, gently sloping layers of sandstone, shale, and carbonate rock.

[121] Withrow is in the northern continental United States and is characterized by a cool, subhumid climate with a large temperature difference between the summer and winter seasons.

[48][125][126] Withrow lies at an elevation of 981 feet (299 m) in Washington County, Minnesota, 15 miles (24 km) northeast of St.