Historic and Accessible Shakopee
Just 30 minutes southwest of Minneapolis is the historic city of Shakopee, the county seat of Scott County. Given its close proximity to the Twin Cities, this city of 37,000 is also a much sought after suburban enclave in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metropolitan area. Driving to and from downtown Minneapolis-St.
Paul is easily facilitated by the two primary state highways of 169 into Minneapolis and 13 into St. Paul. Of course, this also means that Shakopee is a great place for businesses serving the automotive market, such as Shakopee used car dealers. However, Shakopee does have its own place in history, dating back thousands of years. In fact, this area along the Minnesota River has been home to Native Americans dating back around 2,000 years, as evidenced by burial mounds in Shakopee from that period.
When European settlers first came to the area in the 1800s, the Dakotas, a Sioux Indian tribe, were already inhabiting this valley. The first Chief Shakpay had settled his people along the river banks here as far back as the 1700s in a village they called Tintonwan, meaning village of the prairies.
That village was located just east of present downtown Shakopee. In 1844, fur trader, Oliver Faribault, and his wife, Harriet, built the first permanent settlement along the river. A few years later, Samuel Pond, a missionary, came to the area at the invitation of Chief Shakpay’s son, the second chief of the tribe and for whom the city is named. It was Thomas Holmes, considered the father of Shakopee, who established a trading post near the current site of the city in 1851, and when he platted the town, named it after Chief Shakpay II.
Once the area opened for settlement as a result of two treaties signed in 1851 and 1853, an act of the legislature created Scott County and Shakopee was designated as the county seat in 1853.
Shakopee was then incorporated as a city in 1857, but a few years later the state legislature rescinded the city’s charter and put it under a township form of government. Initially, the city was settled by farmers of German descent, who came to the area by steamboat on the Minnesota River, followed by numerous land speculators in the 1850s. However, by the mid-1860s, the railroad arrived in the area and the first train rolled into town by late 1865. Then, once again, in 1870 Shakopee was incorporated as a city and within 10 years the first bridge was constructed across the Minnesota River, facilitating further development.
By the early 20th-century a municipal electric system was built and, although automobiles began to arrive at this time, the railroad still remained the community’s primary mode of transportation to the surrounding areas.
The city’s population had more than doubled by 1910 to around 2,300 residents. Interestingly, though it was still a relatively small town, Shakopee earned a reputation as Little Chicago during the Prohibition period that was to follow, due to its somewhat shady past that included illegal gambling. Yet, the city was also quite progressive in that it elected its first female mayor, Elizabeth Ries, in 1925, not long after Congress gave women the right to vote, having ratified the 19th amendment on August 18, 1920.
Following World War II, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the city’s economy continued to thrive, but by the 1960s Shakopee’s economy began to shift when the Valley Green Industrial Park was built as the metropolitan area’s largest ready-to-occupy industrial park, and by 1970, the population had grown to over 7,700 people.
This was followed by a boom in the tourist industry with the building of Valleyfair Amusement Park and followed by the establishment of Canterbury Downs horse-race track. However, it was the opening of the Bloomington Ferry Bridge in 1995 that really encouraged growth and over the next 10 years, Shakopee’s population doubled. The bridge,
as well as expansion of highways in the area, made the city accessible for those who wanted to work in the Twin Cities, but also wanted to enjoy the charm of living in a small town. With such great accessibility by car and the availability of Shakopee used car dealers to service the population, it’s no surprise that Shakopee is a highly desired community in which to live.
