LAKEVILLE

A short history of Lakeville

A military road was constructed between Fort Snelling and forts to the south. In 1855, J. J. Brackett, a Saint Paul lumber baron and mail carrier using the road, platted a site halfway between Saint Paul and Saint Peter on a lake he named Prairie Lake. The village was established as Lakeville Township in 1858. Notoriety came when Colonel Marion Savage expanded his entertainment business by constructing Antlers Amusement Park in 1910. Riding on fame from his success with the Dan Patch racing horse and the park's popularity, the lake was renamed Lake Marion, and the rail line serving the park was named the Dan Patch Railroad Line.

With the mostly rural landscape, early settlers were farmers. A high proportion were Scandinavian. Other ethnic groups included Irish, Scots, and English, each of whom had spread out from Hamilton Landing and Burnsville. In Karen Miller's diary from 1840 to 1895, Danes reportedly outnumbered Norwegians; travel to Minneapolis was not uncommon for the rural township. Enggren's Grocery was a downtown staple from 1900 until it closed in 2006.

Lakeville's development later in the 20th century followed a typical pattern for outer-ring Twin Cities suburbs. The town was officially incorporated as the City of Lakeville in 1967. It remained primarily agricultural, as postwar development did not immediately absorb Lakeville (and Interstate 35 had not yet been completed). In the early 21st century, housing and population increases were due to rising land costs in the metropolitan area, causing Lakeville to become a boomtown.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Lakeville, Minnesota, revision 1382258935 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.