The 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux brought a wave of momentous change as the Dakota ceded lands west of the Mississippi River to the U.S. for about 7.5 cents an acre in what many now consider a gross deception by the government. Four years later, both settlers and land speculators purchased the now-surveyed plats of land for a minimum of $1.25 per acre from the U.S. government. Many of Minnetonka’s earliest settlers came from the eastern states, northern Europe and the British Isles, and Bohemia.

The strong current of what we now call Minnehaha Creek brought both milling and additional settlers to the area, forming Minnetonka Mills. In 1852 a sawmill was built. The mills later produced furniture and finally flour, continuing until the mid-1880s when Minnetonka’s mills could no longer compete with the larger St. Anthony mills in Minneapolis.

Streetcar service came to Minnetonka in 1906. It carried people from Minneapolis and St. Paul out to Lake Minnetonka’s hotels, cabins, and entertainment opportunities. You can still find a few remnants of the old streetcar lines around Minnetonka if you know where to look.

Easy streetcar access along with Minnetonka’s rural setting fit the bill for the development of Hennepin County’s tuberculosis (TB) hospital, Glen Lake Sanatorium. It opened in 1916 to treat patients with TB and became one of the top three TB centers in the world. In 1962, as the number of patients decreased, the building became the Glen Lake State Sanatorium and Oak Terrace Nursing Home. By 1991, both facilities had closed and were then demolished in 1993. In 1997, the Three Rivers Park District developed the Glen Lake Golf Course on the grounds.

In 1956, the race to become a village, and stop the annexation of land, began as developers petitioned St. Louis Park to annex 200 more acres of Minnetonka. After a somewhat tumultuous process, the residents of Minnetonka voted on August 22, 1956 to become the Village of Minnetonka.

The post-World War II housing boom from 1945 through the 1960s helped bring about Minnetonka’s rapid transition from a farming community to a suburb. Housing developments sprang up and new, larger schools were being built to accommodate the growing student population. The intersection of Highways 101 and 7 became a popular place to hang out with 7-Hi Drive-In theatre, Snuffy’s Drive-In restaurant, Lilli Putt mini-golf, and 7-Hi Shopping Center. Unfortunately, life in the suburbs wasn’t equally accessible to all who wished to live in Minnetonka due to over 530 racially restrictive covenants and racial discrimination that was often faced while attempting to acquire housing loans.

In 1968, Minnetonka became a city and the following decade brought the first stoplights as well as city water and sewer services, which replaced wells and septic tanks. Remaining farmland continued to be developed into both housing and commercial development, including Ridgedale Center, which opened in 1974. Opus Business Park and Carlson Towers are among the many developments that came to call Minnetonka their home in the 1980s and 1990s.

Today, Minnetonka is a fully established suburban community of more than 53,000 residents. The city's natural surroundings—including trees, wetlands, prairies, and diverse bodies of water—give it a distinct character. The city boasts 50 parks and open spaces and over 100 miles of trails. The community has a long history of habitat protection and restoration.

To learn more about the history of Minnetonka, plan a visit to the historic Burwell House and City of Minnetonka Museum.

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