Bayport, Minnesota 4.35

Bayport is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,471 at the 2010 census.Bayport is located along the St. Croix River, one mile south of Stillwater, Minnesota.HistoryThe City of Bayport began as three small settlements along the St. Croix River. In 1873, the St. Croix Railway Improvement Company combined the three settlements into South Stillwater, which was incorporated as a village in 1881. Because many people confused South Stillwater with the City of Stillwater, the City changed its name to Bayport in 1922.Like its northern neighbor Stillwater, the early economy of Bayport centered around the lumber industry. From 1852 to 1916, several sawmills operated within the City. The Andersen Corporation is the successor to Bayport’s early lumbering firms. The Andersen Corporation (then the Andersen Lumber Company) moved to Bayport in 1913, among other reasons, to take advantage of the City’s rail lines first built in 1872. The Andersen Corporation prospered in Bayport, becoming the largest window and patio door manufacturer in the world.In 1914, the Minnesota Correctional Facility - Stillwater moved from Stillwater to Bayport. Experts at the time considered the prison to be one of the most modern penal institutions in the world. As of 2010, the prison housed about 1600 inmates, who are counted as Bayport residents for census purposes. The maximum security Minnesota Correctional Facility - Oak Park Heights opened just beyond Bayport’s western boundary in 1982.