City Tour of Mounds View


Although the Township of Mounds View was incorporated in 1958, the history does not start there. Counties and townships were established by the Territorial Legislature. The Township of Mounds View was created in the extreme northwest corner of Ramsey County on May 11, 1858, the day Minnesota became a state. For more than one hundred years, the residents of its 23,040 acres were governed only by the highly democratic township government which probably well served its scattered early residents: loggers, mill hands, trappers and truck gardeners.

When the occasional visitor would pass through the township, one thing that probably startled them was the strange and awesome mounds of sand and gravel in its northwest corner, high enough to be seen from almost anywhere in the township and from much of Anoka County. Today, the mounds are nearly gone, sacrificed to the ravages of nature, the needs of this country during World War II when this area became an important small arms arsenal, and the thousands of loads of sand and gravel that have since been removed. Only a few small battered hills remain to remind us of our name.

Those appearing to be the first landowners in the area now know as the City of Mounds View were H.C. Fridley, Olive Lee, E.F. Lambert, F.C. Baier, Nora O'Connell, Christinna Burg, B. Mora, E.A. Austin, and F. Olschesky. Until 1936 the population remained stable. There were the few scattered farms, a few roads and large areas of wooded and brush land. The land had been overlooked by most real estate developers because it was located too far north of Minneapolis and St. Paul, five miles beyond their city limits and city transportation.

By 1938, developers had begun to realize the possibilities for suburban housing in Mounds View Township, and by September of 1939, there were 45 new homes in Knollwood Park. As the population grew, so did the community spirit and cohesiveness. Booster clubs, local newspapers and the new businesses were active in community events.

In 1951, the township began to change with the break off of over 6,120 acres and 2,000 people to form the Village of Arden Hills. For the next several years, portions of Mounds View Township would be annexed into surrounding communities. By early 1957, plans were begun to incorporate the balance of Mounds View Township. Finally on April 22, 1958, Mounds View Township became a village by a vote of 593 to 452, and remained that way until 1973 when the state legislature made cities of every hamlet in the state (in name, at least.)


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City of Mounds View
Mounds View Schools