{{short description|State highway in Minnesota, United States}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox road |state = MN |type=MN 1975 |route = 261 |map={{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=290|frame-height=260|type=line|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Wikipedia KML/Minnesota State Highway 261}}}} |map_custom=yes |map_notes=MN 261 highlighted in red |established = {{start date|1949|07|01}}<ref name=laws1949>{{citation |title=Chapter 663-H.F. No. 1792 |work=Session Laws of Minnesota for 1949 |publisher=Earl L. Berg, Commissioner of Administration |pages=1177–1185}}</ref> |decommissioned = {{end date|1996}}<ref name='decom'/> |section = 115 |subsection = 192 |length_mi = 16.004 |direction_a = South |terminus_a = {{jct|state=MN|US|212}} at Helen Township |terminus_b = {{jct|state=MN|CSAH|6|county1=McLeod}} at Winsted |direction_b = North |previous_type = MN |previous_route = 258 |next_type = MN |next_route = 262 }} '''State Highway 261''' ('''MN 261''') was a {{convert|16.004|mi|km|-long|adj=mid}} highway in McLeod County, Minnesota. It ran from Winsted to U.S. Highway 212 east of Glencoe. It was turned back to McLeod County maintenance in 1996,<ref name='decom'>{{cite web |url=https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/?doctype=Chapter&year=1996&type=0&id=456 |title=1996 Chapter 456-H.F. No. 2152, Section 24 |date=April 11, 1996 |publisher=Office of the Revisor of Statutes of the State of Minnesota |accessdate=2010-07-11}}</ref> becoming County State-aid Highway 1.

Highway 261 was known as ''6th Street'' in Winsted, and ''Babcock Avenue'', ''180th Street'', and ''Dairy Avenue'' elsewhere in the county.

==Route description== Highway 261 served as a north&ndash;south route between the communities of Winsted, Winsted Township, Bergen Township, Lester Prairie, and Helen Township. The highway's southern terminus was at U.S. 212 just outside the city of Glencoe.

The entire route was located in McLeod County.

==History== Highway 261 was authorized on July 1, 1949.<ref name=laws1949/> It was paved between Winsted and Lester Prairie in 1950<ref name=1950map>{{cite map |url=http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mdt&CISOPTR=1291&REC=10 |title=Minnesota 1950 Official Highway Map |publisher=Minnesota Department of Highways |date=January 1, 1950 |section=K18 |accessdate=January 20, 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721132203/http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmdt&CISOPTR=1291&REC=10 |archivedate=July 21, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=1951map>{{cite map |url=http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mdt&CISOPTR=1174&REC=11 |title=1951 Official Road Map of Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Department of Highways |date=January 1, 1951 |section=H16 |cartography=The H.M. Gousha Company |accessdate=January 20, 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825214156/http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmdt&CISOPTR=1174&REC=11 |archivedate=August 25, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and between Lester Prairie and Highway 212 in 1953.<ref name=1953map>{{cite map |url=http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mdt&CISOPTR=1177&REC=13 |title=1953 Official Road Map of Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Department of Highways |date=January 1, 1953 |section=H16 |cartography=The H.M. Gousha Company |accessdate=January 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721132115/http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmdt&CISOPTR=1177&REC=13 |archivedate=July 21, 2011 }}</ref><ref name=1954map>{{cite map |url=http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mdt&CISOPTR=1183&REC=14 |title=1954 Official Road Map of Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Department of Highways |date=January 1, 1954 |section=H16 |cartography=The H.M. Gousha Company |accessdate=January 20, 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825214357/http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmdt&CISOPTR=1183&REC=14 |archivedate=August 25, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It was decommissioned in 1996,<ref name='decom'/> becoming County State-aid Highway 1.<ref name=countymap>{{cite map |url=http://www.dot.state.mn.us/maps/cadd/county/mcleod.pdf |title=General Highway Map of McLeod County |publisher=Minnesota Department of Transportation |year=2010 |accessdate=January 20, 2011}}</ref>

==Major intersections== {{jcttop|type=highway|former=yes|county=McLeod|state=MN|length_ref=<ref>{{cite web |title=Logpoint Listings–McLeod County |url=https://www.dot.state.mn.us/stateaid/trafficsafety/logpoint/43-mcleod-2015.xls |publisher=Minnesota Department of Transportation |accessdate=August 10, 2019 |location=St. Paul |format=XLS}}</ref>}} {{MNint |township=Helen |ctdab=McLeod |mile=0.000 |road={{jct|state=MN|US 1961|212}} }} {{MNint |township=Winsted |ctdab=McLeod |mile=11.499 |road={{jct|state=MN|MN|7}} }} {{MNint |location=Winsted |mile=16.004 |road={{jct|state=MN|CSAH|6|name1=Linden Avenue West|county1=McLeod}} }} {{jctbtm}}

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Attached KML|display=title,inline}} *[http://www.steve-riner.com/mnhighways/r219-287.htm#261 Highway 261 at the Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page]

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