Vergas, Minnesota
Location of Vergas, Minnesota
Coordinates: 46°39′21″N 95°48′22″W / 46.65583, -95.80611
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Otter Tail
Area
- Total	1.5 sq mi (3.9 km²)
- Land	1.5 sq mi (3.8 km²)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.1 km²)
Elevation	1,414 ft (431 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	311
- Density	213.9/sq mi (82.6/km²)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	56587
Area code(s)	218
FIPS code	27-66766[1]
GNIS feature ID	0653630[2]

Vergas is a city in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 311 at the 2000 census. The name comes from a railroad station.

Vergas claims it is Home of the World's Largest Loon, actually a twenty foot high sculpture of a loon, the state bird.

History

The community was platted in 1903 as "Altona." It was rather quickly changed to the Station name of the Soo Line.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), of which, 1.5 square miles (3.8 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (2.01%) is water.

Vergas is located at the junction of State Highways 4 and 17 at the west end of Long Lake. Loon Lake is southwest of the community.

Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 311 people, 143 households, and 78 families residing in the city. The population density was 213.9 people per square mile (82.8/km²). There were 165 housing units at an average density of 113.5/sq mi (43.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.75% White, 0.32% African American, 0.32% Native American, and 1.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.96% of the population.

There were 143 households out of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.8% were non-families. 38.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 25.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 107.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,344, and the median income for a family was $37,250. Males had a median income of $23,214 versus $17,222 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,461. About 4.7% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 19.7% of those age 65 or over.

The Loon

The loon statue overlooks Long Lake.

External links

• Vergas web page
• Brief Vergas history

Coordinates: 46°39′24″N, 95°48′19″W