Settlement Edina began as part of Richfield Township, Minnesota. By the 1870s, 17 families, most of them immigrating as a result of the
Great Famine of Ireland, had come to Minnesota and claimed land in the southwest section of what was then Richfield Township. They were followed by settlers from
New England and
Germany, who claimed additional land near
Minnehaha Creek. The Baird and Grimes neighborhoods (both listed on the
National Register of Historic Places) and the Country Club District (then known as Waterville Mills) in northeastern Edina were among the first areas to be established. The area then known as the Cahill Settlement, at West 70th Street and Cahill Road, was also an early community center and the home of
Cahill School. In 1888, the township's residents held a meeting to consider founding a new village, thus separating themselves from Richfield Township. The idea was accepted and a committee was established to oversee the transition.
Naming After the decision was made to form a new village, debate ensued about the new village's name. Several town meetings were held in the
Minnehaha Grange Hall, during which the names Hennepin Park, Westfield, and Edina were suggested. Minutes taken by Henry F. Brown, a farmer and future owner (1889) of the
Edina Mill, are summarized as follows: At the next meeting, the name Edina was chosen with a vote of 47 for and 42 against. The name "Edina" may also come from the language of the nearby
Dakota tribe. The word '''' means "to catch fire."
Morningside The first suburban development in Edina occurred during the early 1900s in Morningside, a neighborhood in the northeastern part of the village. As Morningside grew, conflict arose between its residents who wanted more city services, and the residents of the rest of the village who wanted to maintain Edina's rural character. As a result of that conflict, Morningside seceded from Edina in 1920 and became a separate village. In 1966, however, the Village of Morningside once again became part of Edina.
Early settlement Edina was not the first settlement in its location. According to historian Deborah Morse-Kahn, the
Quaker village that existed where Edina would be built included African American families of Civil War veterans and freed slaves "became very involved in community life—especially as farmland owners, civic and cultural leaders." At the November 1898 general election,
J. Frank Wheaton, a Republican African American, was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives representing District 42, which included all of Edina. Wheaton beat his white Democratic opponent in every Minneapolis city ward and in every village within the legislative district, including Edina, even though the legislative district had only approximately 100 African American residents out of a total of 40,000 residents.
Early development In the early 20th century suburban development brought discriminatory policies that led to nearly all of the African Americans who had been living in Edina to move away. Historian
James W. Loewen described the suburb as a
sundown town. Researchers point in particular to Samuel Thorpe's development of the
Country Club Historic District, which used
deed restrictions as means to exclude non-whites, stating explicitly that: Other developments, like that built by N. P. Dodge Corporation just a mile away, followed suit in attempting to protect land values through racial policies. Though the Supreme Court ruled these kinds of discriminatory housing clauses unenforceable in its
Shelley v. Kraemer decision of 1948, reports of discrimination persisted through the 1950s and 1960s. According to the Edina Historical Society's story about the first black family in Morningside (then a separate village) in 1960, attempts to keep them out included tactics like trying "to get [their] lot condemned for drainage." ==Geography==