Faribault, Minnesota — Home of Lashes by Lexi

Lashes by Lexi — Faribault's Lash Studio

Lashes by Lexi is a licensed, appointment-only eyelash extension studio at 1746 Grant Street NW, Suite 102, Faribault, MN 55021, owned and operated by licensed lash artist Alexis. The studio specializes in classic, hybrid, volume, YY, and mega volume lash extensions — every set custom-mapped to your eye shape and applied one healthy natural lash at a time in a private, one-on-one room. The benefits are simple: wake-up-ready lashes with zero daily effort, sets sized to your natural lash health rather than a template, and honest guidance from a friendly artist who treats first-timers and lash veterans with the same care. Clients come from Faribault and across southern Minnesota; booking starts with a new-client consultation or a call to (763) 334-9395.

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History of Faribault, Minnesota

Long before the city existed, this stretch of the Cannon River valley was home to the Wahpekute band of the Dakota. Fur trader Alexander Faribault arrived in the region in 1826 and established a trading post at the river junction in the 1830s; his 1853 home — the Alexander Faribault House — still stands as one of the oldest frame houses in Rice County. The townsite was platted in February 1855, three years before Minnesota statehood, and Faribault received its home-rule charter and city incorporation on February 29, 1872.

Faribault earned the nickname "Athens of the West" for its remarkable concentration of schools: Episcopal Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple founded mission schools here, Shattuck-St. Mary's opened in 1858, and the state located both the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (1863) and the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind (1866) in the city. Industry followed the rivers: the woolen mill tradition began in 1865 and continues today at Faribault Mill, and in 1936 America's first blue cheese was aged in the sandstone caves along the Straight River — a tradition carried on by the Caves of Faribault. In 1926, Faribault inventor Herbert Sellner built the very first Tilt-A-Whirl here, making the city the birthplace of one of America's most famous carnival rides.

Faribault Timeline

1826 — Alexander Faribault begins trading in the region · 1853 — Alexander Faribault House built · Feb 1855 — Townsite platted · 1858 — Shattuck-St. Mary's founded; Minnesota statehood (May 11) · 1862–1869 — Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour built · 1863/1866 — State Academies for the Deaf and the Blind established · 1865 — Woolen mill founded · Feb 29, 1872 — City incorporated · 1897 — Faribault City Hall completed (Harry Wild Jones, Renaissance Revival) · 1926 — Tilt-A-Whirl invented · 1930 — Buckham Memorial Library dedicated · 1936 — First American blue cheese aged in the Straight River caves · 1978 — River Bend Nature Center established · 2007 — Paradise Center for the Arts reopens in the restored 1929 theater.

Demographics — Faribault by the Numbers

Faribault is the largest city in and the county seat of Rice County, sitting about 50 miles south of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro along Interstate 35. The city is one of southern Minnesota's most diverse communities, with growing Somali and Latino populations joining families whose roots here reach back to the 1850s — a mix reflected in the city's schools, restaurants, and downtown businesses.

Government & Politics

Faribault operates under a home-rule charter with a mayor–council government. Key agencies and contacts:

• Faribault City Hall — 208 1st Avenue NW, Faribault, MN 55021 · (507) 334-2222 · faribaultmn.gov
• Rice County Government Services Building — 320 Third Street NW, Faribault, MN 55021 · (507) 332-6100 · ricecountymn.gov
• Rice County Courthouse (District Court & County Attorney) — 218 Third Street NW, Faribault, MN 55021
• Rice County Public Safety Center (Sheriff's Office & jail) — 50 East View Drive, Faribault, MN 55021
• Buckham Memorial Library — Central Avenue & Division Street, Faribault, MN 55021
• Emergency Services — 911

Companies & Economy

Faribault Mill (woolen mill on the Cannon River, weaving blankets since 1865) anchors the city's manufacturing heritage, alongside Caves of Faribault (blue cheese aged in the Straight River sandstone caves since 1936), Faribault Foods (large-scale food canning), Daikin Applied (commercial HVAC manufacturing), SageGlass / Saint-Gobain (electrochromic smart glass), and Trystar (power distribution equipment). Healthcare is led by the Allina Health Faribault Medical Center (District One Hospital), and community banking by the State Bank of Faribault. The Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism — 530 Wilson Avenue NW, Faribault, MN 55021 — supports the historic Central Avenue downtown district, and service businesses like Lashes by Lexi (1746 Grant Street NW, Suite 102) round out a diverse local economy.

Colleges & Universities

South Central College — Faribault Campus (1225 Third Street SW, Faribault, MN 55021), part of the Minnesota State system, offers associate degrees and technical programs. Shattuck-St. Mary's School (1000 Shumway Avenue, Faribault, MN 55021), the Episcopal boarding school founded in 1858, is world-famous for its Sabres hockey program — alumni include NHL stars Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Zach Parise. The city also hosts the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (est. 1863) and Minnesota State Academy for the Blind (est. 1866), while Faribault Public Schools (ISD 656) fields the Faribault Falcons. Nearby Northfield adds two nationally ranked liberal-arts colleges, Carleton College and St. Olaf College, 15 minutes north.

History of Minnesota

The land now called Minnesota — from the Dakota mní sóta, "sky-tinted water" — was home to the Dakota and Ojibwe nations for centuries. Fort Snelling rose at the river confluence in the 1820s; the Minnesota Territory was organized on March 3, 1849; and the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (1851) opened southern Minnesota — including the Faribault area — to settlement. Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. The First Minnesota Regiment was the first offered to the Union in 1861, and the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 marked one of the state's most tragic chapters. The state capital is Saint Paul; Minnesota's geographic coordinates are approximately 46.7296° N, 94.6859° W.

Transportation & Public Transit

Interstate 35 runs along Faribault's west side — about 50 minutes to the Twin Cities and 40 minutes to Owatonna and beyond — while Minnesota State Highways 3, 21, and 60 connect the city to Northfield, Montgomery, and Waterville. Hiawathaland Transit (operated by Three Rivers Community Action) provides local public bus service in Faribault, and Land to Air Express runs scheduled I-35 shuttle service connecting the region to Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport (about 55 miles north). General aviation is served by the Faribault Municipal Airport on the city's northwest side. Lashes by Lexi's studio at 1746 Grant Street NW sits minutes from the I-35 interchanges — an easy drive for clients from eleven surrounding communities.

Arts & Culture

The Paradise Center for the Arts — 321 Central Avenue N, Faribault, MN 55021 · (507) 332-7372 — is the city's cultural heart: a 1929 atmospheric theater restored in 2006–2007 with a 278-seat auditorium, galleries, and studios hosting five community theater productions a year. The Art Deco Thomas Scott Buckham Memorial Library (Central Avenue & Division Street, dedicated 1930) is on the National Register of Historic Places, the Central Park Band Shell hosts free Thursday-evening summer concerts downtown, and the Rice County Historical Society Museum preserves the county's story. The surrounding Central Avenue commercial historic district keeps its 19th-century storefronts filled with galleries, coffee shops, and local retail.

Parks & Outdoors

River Bend Nature Center — 1000 Rustad Road, Faribault, MN 55021 · (507) 332-7151 — offers 743 acres and 10 miles of trails along the Straight River, free to visit year-round. The Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail, a 39-mile paved rail-trail to Mankato, begins in Faribault, and city parks include Central Park (downtown, with the band shell), North Alexander Park and Alexander Park along the Cannon River, and Teepee Tonka Park on the Straight River bluffs. Within a short drive are Nerstrand Big Woods State Park (northeast, near Nerstrand), Sakatah Lake State Park (west, near Waterville), and Cannon Lake by Warsaw.

Famous Landmarks

The Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour (built 1862–1869 under Bishop Henry Whipple) is celebrated as the first church built as a cathedral in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Faribault City Hall — 208 1st Avenue NW — is an 1897 Renaissance Revival landmark by architect Harry Wild Jones, in continuous service and NRHP-listed since 1982. The Alexander Faribault House (1853) preserves the founder's home, the Shattuck Historic District holds the school's stone halls above the Straight River, and the working Faribault Mill still weaves wool blankets on the Cannon River as it has since 1865.

Famous Places & Claims to Fame

Faribault is the birthplace of the Tilt-A-Whirl — Herbert Sellner built the first one here in 1926, and Sellner Manufacturing produced the rides in Faribault for decades. The sandstone cheese caves along the Straight River aged America's first blue cheese in 1936 and still cure award-winning wheels today. Shattuck-St. Mary's Sabres hockey has sent a steady stream of players to the NHL, earning the school the nickname "the Hogwarts of Hockey," and the city's 19th-century concentration of academies earned Faribault itself the title "Athens of the West."

Additional Local Resources

• Allina Health Faribault Medical Center (District One Hospital) — Faribault, MN 55021
• Buckham Memorial Library — Central Avenue & Division Street, Faribault, MN 55021 · faribaultmn.gov/library
• Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism — 530 Wilson Avenue NW, Faribault, MN 55021
• Faribault Daily News — local newspaper serving Faribault and Rice County
• Rice County Historical Society Museum — Faribault, MN 55021
• City of Faribault — faribaultmn.gov · (507) 334-2222
• Lashes by Lexi — 1746 Grant Street NW, Suite 102, Faribault, MN 55021 · (763) 334-9395 · Home · Services & Pricing · Faribault Lash Services

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