Eden Prairie is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It had a population of 64,198 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-largest city in Minnesota. The city is adjacent to the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from its confluence with the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, about southwest of downtown

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Set in the Twin Cities' outer suburbs, the community was designed as a mixed-income city model and is home to numerous commercial firms, including the headquarters of SuperValu, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Winnebago Industries, Starkey Hearing Technologies, Lifetouch Inc., SABIS, and MTS Systems Corporation. It contains the Eden Prairie Center mall and is the hub of SouthWest Transit, providing public transportation to three adjacent suburbs. The television stations KMSP and WFTC are based in Eden Prairie. The nonprofit news organizatio
Eden Prairie Local News
(EPLN) also serves the community. The area features numerous municipal and regional parks, conservation areas, multi-purpose trails, and recreational facilities. There are more than of multi-use trails, of parks, and of open space. Popular recreational areas include Staring Lake, Lake Riley, Purgatory Creek, Miller Park, Round Lake, and the Minnesota River Bluffs Regional Trail.

History

Native Americans were the first to live in the area. Originally, the land was part of the Great Dakota Nation, but when the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

arrived from the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

, the tribes began to clash over the land. The Ojibwe were armed with knives and guns traded to them by white settlers and fur traders, and after years of bloody warfare the Ojibwe had forced the Dakota to give up all their land east of the Mississippi River, and north of the Crow Wing River, land that did not include what is now Eden Prairie. On May 25, 1858, a battle was fought between the Dakota and the Ojibwe in the southern part of Eden Prairie, just north of the Minnesota River, an area known as Murphy's Ferry. The Ojibwe wished to "avenge the murder" of one of their people by the Dakota the previous fall. The Ojibwe had 200 warriors and the Dakota somewhere between 60 and 70, but the Dakota proved victorious, wounding the young Ojibwe chief. The tribes continued to fight over territory well into the 1860s, even after the " Sioux Uprising" of 1862, when most Dakota people were removed from Minnesota. Among the notable Native Americans who lived in the Eden Prairie area was Chief Shoto. Born into the band of Chief Wabash, he went on to be the chief of the Red Wing Dakota tribe for 15 years, leaving them and becoming Chief of the "Little Six" band of Dakota until the uprising in 1862, during which he became a scout for then Governor Sibley from 1862 to 1870, returning to the Little Six band in 1872. He died in 1899 at age 99 at his home in Eden Prairie. In 1851, a treaty opened land west of the

to settlement allowing pioneers to settle in what is now Eden Prairie. Many early farmhouses remain in the town and can be found on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. One of these early settlers was John Cummins, an Irish-born immigrant who built what is now known as the "Cummins-Phipps-Grill House" with his wife Mattie in 1880. Manuscripts indicate that Cummins was an avid and respected horticulturist, scientist, and farmer; he used his farmland to experiment with different strains of apples and grapes to try to find one that could withstand the harsh climate in Minnesota. The Cummins family sold this property to the Phipps family in 1908. In 1853, John H. McKenzie and Minnesota Territory secretary Alexander Wilkins platted the town of Hennepin along the Minnesota River in what is now southeastern Eden Prairie. According to area historian Helen Holden Anderson, topographic disadvantages for the transport of agricultural goods caused Hennepin to be eclipsed by other towns in the region and the town soon vanished from maps. Reconstructed Eden Prairie Depot

The city was originally named "Eden" in 1853 by the writer Elizabeth F. Ellet, who chose the name because of her admiration of the "beautiful prairie" that occupies the southern part of town. Eden Prairie's town board held its first meeting in a log schoolhouse on May 11, 1858, the same day Minnesota became a state. In the 1870s, a post office called Washburn was established in Eden Prairie Township and would be discontinued in 1903. Also that decade, a depot along the Minneapolis-St. Louis Railroad was constructed near modern Eden Prairie Road and Highway 212. A replica on restricted land was built in 2022 beside the Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional Trail. Eden Prairie's farming community grew slowly over the years. For most of its existence, Eden Prairie was a slow-growing, pastoral village on the far southwest fringes of the Twin Cities. Between 1880 and 1960, Eden Prairie's population only grew from about 739 to 2,000. Flying Cloud Airport was the first sign of big development in 1946. The 1960s and 1970s were decades of growth for the city's parks and recreation system. In the mid-1970s, the community gained a higher profile with the addition of Interstate Highway 494 and the Eden Prairie Center mall. Eden Prairie became a village in 1962 and a statutory city in 1974. One of Eden Prairie's popular lakes, Staring Lake, is named for Jonas Platt Staring (1809–1894), who built the first house by the lake.

Geography

Eden Prairie is about southwest of

along the northern side of the Minnesota River. Interstate 494, U.S. Highways 169 and 212, and Minnesota State Highway 5 are four of the city's main routes. Eden Prairie's land consists of rolling hills and bluffs overlooking the Minnesota River, with zones of

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

and mixed (primarily

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

) forests. Eden Prairie has parks, such as Staring Lake Park and Bryant Lakes Regional Park, with trails for running and biking. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 60,797 people, 23,930 households, and 16,517 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 25,075 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 81.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.6%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.2% Native American, 9.2% Asian, 1.0% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino residents of any race were 3.0% of the population. There were 23,930 households, of which 36.3% had children under age 18 living with them, 58.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 31.0% were non-families. 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.08. The median age in the city was 37.6. 26.4% of residents were under 18; 6.5% were between 18 and 24; 27.6% were from 25 to 44; 30.8% were from 45 to 64; and 8.6% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.5% male and 51.5% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 54,901 people, 20,457 households, and 14,579 families residing in the city. The

was . There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 90.7%

, 2.3%

, 0.2% Native American, 4.8% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.50% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.6% of the population. There were 20,457 households, of which 42.6% had children under age 18 living with them, 61.3% were

living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.4% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.20. In the city, 30.5% of the population was under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 35.6% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 4.9% was 65 or older. The median age was 34. For every 100 females, there were 96.3 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 92.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $54,328, and the median income for a family was $105,177. Males had a median income of $59,303 versus $37,196 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $38,854. About 2.8% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 7.9% of those under 18 and 6.3% of those 65 or older.

Economy

Eden Prairie is home to more than 2,800 businesses, including many that specialize in logistics/distribution, retail and wholesale trade, health care, industrial equipment, communications, and information technology.

Top employers

According to the city's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, its top employers were: Video game retailer FuncoLand, which operated in over 400 locations nationwide before its acquisition and merger, was headquartered in Eden Prairie.

Arts and culture

In 2008, Eden Prairie raised roughly $500,000 from the community to build a veterans memorial. The memorial has two components, service to country and world peace. It was constructed in Purgatory Creek Park near the intersection of Technology Drive and Prairie Center Drive. Sculptor Neil Brodin designed and constructed two bronze sculptures. The service-to-country sculpture represents a wounded airman carried over the shoulders of a soldier in the battlefield. The world-peace sculpture depicts a woman service member touching a globe, honoring women who have served. Community members could purchase a place on the memorial for the names of loved ones who served in any branch of the U.S. service in any war or conflict. Minnesota-based Cold Spring Granite provided Mesabi black granite for the memorial's walls.

Sports

The 2017 USA Rink Bandy League Cannon Cup Playoffs took place at the Eden Prairie Rinks.

Government

Eden Prairie is in Minnesota's 3rd congressional district, represented by Kelly Morrison, a Democrat. City council officials include Mayor Ron Case and council members Mark Freiberg, Kathy Nelson, PG Narayanan and Lisa Toomey. The city manager is Rick Getschow. The Eden Prairie Police Department has a chief, a captain, three lieutenants, about 66 sworn law-enforcement officers, and 30 civilian staff. The department was established on January 1, 1973. It has three divisions: Patrol, Investigations and Support. The Patrol Division includes

SWAT A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

and police dog elements.

Education

The first school in Eden Prairie was Anderson School, a schoolhouse near a farm. At the time of its construction, it was in the center of the city. The former Eden Prairie Consolidated School, built in 1924, is now the school district Administration Building and is next to Central Middle School. Eden Prairie operates eight K-12 schools, six elementary (PreK-5) schools (including one Spanish immersion), one middle school (6-8), and Eden Prairie High School (9-12). Eden Prairie High School is Minnesota's fifth-largest high school, with about 2,600 students, and is near the grounds of Round Lake Park and the Eden Prairie Community Center. Some students attend public schools in other school districts chosen by their families under Minnesota's open enrollment statute. Eden Prairie is home to one charter school, the Performing Institute of Minnesota Arts High School. Eden Prairie has one

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

, The International School of Minnesota, which offers a private, non-denominational, college preparatory education for students from preschool through grade 12. The school, founded in 1985, features non-selective admissions and year-round open enrollment, daily world language education beginning in preschool, and 19 AP courses at the upper school level. The student body consists of 85% local residents and 15% international students. Hennepin Technical College, whose main campus is in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, has a campus in Eden Prairie with an enrollment of roughly 7,000 full- and part-time students. It offers day and night classes.

Infrastructure

The city is served by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (Soo Line) Chicago to Miles City line.

Notable people

* Andrew Alberts, ice hockey player for

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

* Leith Anderson, president of U.S. National Association of Evangelicals * Adam Bartley, actor * David Baszucki, CEO and co-founder of

Roblox Roblox (, ) is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users. It was created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 200 ...

* Michael Bland, former drummer for

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and current drummer for Nick Jonas & the Administration * Rachel Bootsma, Olympic swimmer * Jasper Brinkley, football player for

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

* Laurie Coleman, actress and wife of former

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Norm Coleman * Todd Downing, former offensive coordinator of the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

; born in Eden Prairie * Chuck Foreman, former

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

football player * Jay Foreman,

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

player; born in Eden Prairie * Dan Gladden, former MLB player for

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, and Japanese

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

; radio broadcaster for the Twins * Daerek Hart, professional gamer, particularly

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

* Ben Husaby, 1992 &

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

cross-country Olympic skier * Alla Ilushka, Miss USA 2007 contestant * Jermaine Johnson II, defensive end for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

* Nick Leddy, defenseman for

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

* Mark LeVoir,

player * Casey Mittelstadt,

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player * Reynold Philipsek, jazz guitarist * Allison Pottinger, world champion curler * Kyle Rau,

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

forward * Robert Remus, a.k.a. Sgt. Slaughter, wrestler * William Sawalich, racing driver *

Malik Sealy Malik Sealy (February 1, 1970 – May 20, 2000) was an American professional basketball player, active from 1992 until his death in an automobile accident at the age of 30. Posthumously inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004, Sealy ...

, Minnesota Timberwolves guard * Nick Seeler, defenseman for the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

* Sheila E., singer-songwriter, actress, percussionist * Kenny Stills, wide receiver for Miami Dolphins; born in Eden Prairie * Charlie Vig, chairman of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community since August 2012 * Ryan Wittman, basketball player * Ethan Wragge, basketball player with Gießen 46ers in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

In popular culture

The city's regional shopping mall, Eden Prairie Center, stood in for the Mall of America in the 1997 comic mockumentary ''Drop Dead Gorgeous''. Two years earlier, the mall served as the principal filming location of Kevin Smith's '' Mallrats''. The railroad overpass that lent its name to the 1990

album '' Graffiti Bridge'' passed over Valley View Road in the city's northwestern quadrant. It was torn down in 1991 to make way for an expansion of the road and has since been replaced with a bridge carrying the Minnesota River Bluffs LRT rail-to-trail recreational path. Prince also owned a warehouse on Flying Cloud Drive to rehearse and record music; today, the site is occupied by TGK Automotive. The cult television show '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' was filmed out of an industrial park in Eden Prairie for much of its original run.

References

External links

*
Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control Cities in Minnesota Cities in Hennepin County, Minnesota Populated places established in 1858 1858 establishments in Minnesota