Appleton is a city in Swift County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 1,412 at the 2010 census. The town is home to a vacant medium-security prison, the Prairie Correctional Facility, which is wholly owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America. Appleton also includes a plant-protein factory operated by Eat Just, Inc. Elmer A. Benson, who served as a United States Senator and as governor of Minnesota, was born in Appleton on September 22, 1895.