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The only village in Stately Township was platted in 1899 as Bedford, named for a town in Massachusetts. The village began when the Chicago & North Western Railroad opened a depot near Mound Creek. The town changed its name to Dotson in 1901 when a post office opened and was named for Enos Dotson, an early settler from Sanborn, Redwood County. Dotson was a small, but active town. In addition to the railway depot, numerous businesses opened after 1900, including two grain elevators, a lumber yard, a blacksmith, a general store, a creamery, a bank, a dance pavilion, salloon, and a school. By the 1960s, all of Dotson’s businesses had closed.