Olivia Irvine Dodge (October 7, 1918 – January 24, 2009) was a philanthropist who, along with her sister Clotilde Irvine Moles, donated the house that is now the Minnesota Governor's Residence. Dodge was a well-known environmentalist, founding the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul and

Mendota Heights, Minnesota Mendota Heights is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a first ring southern suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 11,744 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tot ...

in 1967 and the

Irvine Nature Center Irvine Nature Center is a nature center in Owings Mills, Maryland. The center, which is set on of land in the Caves Valley Historic District, includes a green exhibit hall, classrooms, outdoor classroom, a Native American Education site, amphi ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1975. In the mid-1960s, Olivia could see the properties around her in West St. Paul being sold for development, and knew the natural environment could be lost. She bought up neighboring properties and then formed the nonprofit Dodge Nature Center to keep it as a resource for the public. The centers teach local schoolchildren about nature and the environment. Dodge also had a renowned collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt related material (one of the largest in the country), which she donated to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1975. In 2017 The Olivia Irvine Dodge Library and History Center was added as part of the Dodge Nature Center's 50th Anniversary celebration. It honors her work as founder of the Dodge Nature Center, and also contains some of her personal mementos and local historic information.

Dodge Nature Center

In 1967, Dodge founded the Dodge Nature Center. The board director is now Sara Beckstrand along with many staff, fellow naturalists, and environmental educators.

Notes

External links

Dodge Nature CenterIrvine Nature Center
1918 births 2009 deaths American environmentalists American women environmentalists People from Minneapolis 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women {{environmentalist-stub