Location
Medo is in Blue Earth County MEDO, a township of the Winnebago reservation, was named by the county commissioners April 16, 1858, but it was not organized until September 2, 1863. This is a Dakota word meaning a species of plant (Apios tuberosa), which has roots that bear small tubers much used by the Indians as food. It is common or frequent through the south half of this state, extending north to the upper Mississippi River. Dr. Charles C. Parry, with David D. Owen's geological survey in 1848, wrote of it as "Pomme de Terre of the French voyageurs; Mdo, or wild potato, of the Sioux Indians." It is also called ground-nut because its nutlike tubers grow in a series along the root. Medo, a village in section 9, had a post office, 1866-1904, a sawmill, a feed mill, a wagon maker, two general stores, and a hotel. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
