In 1856, just five years after the Treaty of Mendota opened the area for settlement, the Dakota Weekly Journal, an early Minnesota territory newspaper, said this about Farmington: “This place is rightly named, for it looks like a village of farms. Good soil, good water, good timber and intelligent citizens is their wealth.”
The “village of arms” in Empire township, the heart of Dakota County, was initially settled by pioneer families from New York and later by Civil War veterans who became Farmington’s first merchants, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers and educators that provided good and services to the community and the surrounding townships.

In 1872, Farmington became the second community to incorporate and organize a municipal government in Dakota County. For all of these years, the City of Farmington has served the needs and interests of its residents by providing quality public services, personal and property protection, attractive amenities and a healthy environment.