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    Mound Westonka     Stuff's getting better every day.  Â
Night Mapling
A painting by Terry Redlin, formerly of Mound, Minnesota.
The location is North of Lake Langdon, and is of a Sugar Shack that was operated by Rex Alwin, currently of Minnetrista.
I am told that it was not properly called a Maple Sugar farm, but rather a Sugarbush.
This is one of two paintings Redlin did of Alwin's Sugar Shack, and you will find that numbered copies of them are available. The other painting is called Spring Mapling. Try Googling it.
"The number of islands in Lake Minnetonka varies according to the different definitions of islands. The 1993-revised U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps lists 38 islands. The 1944 Hudson's Indexed Map of Lake Minnetonka and a 1964 map made by the Hennepin County Highway department lists 23 islands. Dredging and filling of the lake's original features has created, connected and obliterated islands." - From the Hennepin County Library  Â Â Â
"As an educational society we will provide a continuous history of the Westonka area for those who follow after us...."
- From the Westonka Historical Society's webpage.
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Use the "Site Search" tab at the top of the page for Site Naviagation. Lake Minnetonka covers an area of more than 14,000 acres (about 22 square miles) and has over 100 miles of shoreline. It is the 9th largest lake in Minnesota. Its maximum depth is 113 feet. It is part of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. "You enter Cook’s Bay, and the familiar sights of Mound City come into view—the Chapman House, Mound City House, Bartlett’s Place. It’s a beautiful sight—in a welcoming setting...  You stop at the general store to greet a friend (the local calico vendor) and then head toward Busy Corners to meet your mates at the local billiard hall—perhaps to have a libation or two. It’s good to be home." - by Orlo J. Otteson, Mound City: My Hometown  Villas on Lost Lake. Mound. March '07
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Located West of the SA station.
For an image from April '06, click: here
For an image from May '06, click: here
For an image from Sept. '06, click: here
The Villas are located on the NorthEast side of Lost Lake. A lot of money has gone into getting this site into shape. Dirt has been moved back and forth, and sometimes forth again. Pilings have been driven into the ground to support the villas I guess, and retaining walls built. The plan is to have 37 townhouses, 37 docks and 12,500 square feet of mixed use commercial real estate. For 2007, we are hearing about the construction of a commercial building, and perhaps a 2nd parking ramp just to the West of here. Docks went in during the Spring of 2007.Â
 Fishing on the Lake
Lake Minnetonka is a premier location in the southern section of the state, and especially the metro area, for fishing tournaments. There are dozens of fishing tournements every year, and several of the largest bass in the state have been taken from Lake Minnetonka. Regarding muskies, few lakes near Minneapolis have more, bigger fish. Big Island, a popular lounging island near Excelsior, holds many large fish. Common methods for Lake Minnetonka muskies include bucktails, surface lures, and spoons. More from: Wikipedia
 Mound is a city on Western Lake Minnetonka with perhaps over 1,000 docks, and even more boats. Mound’s early history revolved around the Lake. Its early days were perhaps like being or living at a cabin or resort up North. The Lakes geographically define our city.
Mound is Three Points, The Island, The Highlands, Grandview Boulevard and Shirley Hills. Because the Westonka School District encompasses Mound, it is also Spring Park, Casco Point, Saga Hill, and Minnetrista with few kids that belonged to 4-H. It is Grandview Middle School, Hilltop Elementary, the High School and the Mound Mohawks. It is Island Park Skelly, Joan’s Log Cabin, Al and Alma’s, Killer Hill, the Navarre Drive In, the Red Owl, the Breezy Hill 3.2 Bar, and the A & W. It is the big V, and Grimm’s Store, Surfside and the Depot.
And it is our downtown. John’s Pet & Variety, the House of Moy, the Legion, the VFW, Tonka Toys, Haddorff field with it's cinder track, the Pond, the Hardware Store. It is Pete’s Prize Pantry, Mr. B’s Minnetonka Bakery, William’s Store, Westonka Sports. It is the Piggly Wiggly, the two Barber Shops, Wolner field, the Netka Building, the State Bank of Mound, the Crow River State Bank, Carl’s Station, Longpre’s, and Duane’s 66. Yes, we know that some of these places exist only in our memories, but these other places are part of the history of Mound. For more pictures of Mound Westonka Minnesota: Click Here The Mound Westonka Blog on this page is where you can post your comments about all things having to do with our area. You'll find local happenings and perhaps an opinion or two at the blog. Your comments show up in "Comments" section of the blog, so look there for what is being written by others. You can also feed the blog to your own reputable website. (Email me if you have technical questions about this.) You can send email to: email@MoundWestonka.com about current events, and chances are it will end up below. Help me out there by keeping me informed. You can also search the blog by keyword to see certain entries and comments. The blog is moderated, meaning posts to it may take awhile to show up. Thank you for visiting these pages. Some blog links on this page may not work as you are seeing an RSS feed of the blog. They should work at the web log itself where you can see everything.   Some of the pictures on these pages can be made larger by moving the mouse over the image and that will bring up one of these symbols which can be clicked to expand the image to full size.Are you looking for something from any of the advertisers on these pages? You can support this local site and buy it through these pages. Simply click on the ad, and proceed with your purchase. I receive a small commission when a sale is completed, and it helps to keep this website going. Other ways you can help is to simply tell others about this site and by linking to it, if you have your own site or blog. Thank you for visiting these pages. |
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Visit the Westonka Wiki - A local wiki about Westonka that anyone can edit. The best known wiki is Wikipedia. The Mound Mohawk
 "Mound derived its name from the Indian mounds once found within the present day limits. They were not built by the Dakota Indians but were made by prehistoric Indians...." - Melvin Gimmestad, from the book, Historical Backgrounds of Mound, Minnesota.
Many of us went to school here and we were Mohawks. Though I realize the issue is long since over, the school board did not change what we were when they changed the name, three times I believe. See my Westonka Photos Slideshow at Flickr. It is mostly pictures and photos I've taken over the past few years: Pictures The first cabins in Mound were built in 1854. The post office was originally called Mound City in 1876, changing to Mound in 1894. Mound incorporated as a village in 1912. According to the City of Minnetrista's webpage, Mound separated from Minnetrista. This might explain why Minnetrista seems to surround Mound. Map of Minnetrista Lake Minnetonka derived its name from the Sioux words for water (mni) and great (tonka). Governor Ramsey officially named it in 1953. Other Sioux place names are: Minnehaha (waters laughing) and Minnesota (water sky). Westonka would seem to mean West Great. Saint Bonifacius was named for its Catholic church. Saint Boniface was the Apostle of the Germans. Bonifacius in Latin means, of good fate or fortune. Six Mile Creek that runs through Minnetrista is not 6 miles long. This waterway connecting Halsted’s Bay to Mud Lake is only about 3 miles long. It would be about 6 miles from Halsted’s through Mud Lake then through Parley Lake then into Lunsten Lake. Perhaps this is the origin of its name. Or it's possible that it is six miles from somewhere. A Minnehaha Creek Watershed District map also shows that Lunsten then connects to Lake Auburn, which then connects to Wasserman Lake which connects to Marsh Lake, which connects to Pierson Lake. All these connections would appear to made heading upstream, from Halsted’s to Pierson. The City Council of Minnetrista has concluded that Six Mile Creek is not a creek at all, but rather a marsh. As far as I know, Pioneer and Painters creeks are still creeks. Minnetrista was settled in 1854, and organized in 1859. It was at first named German Home but took its present name by vote of the settlers at the date of organization. Minne means waters and trista means crooked. The settlers choice reflected the local crooked lakes. Whaletail Lake is one example. Spring Park's name came about because the area was known as a spa. It was once the center of the Native American ceremonial grounds. The Great Northern Railroad reached Spring Park around 1881. At the peak of Lake Minnetonka's glory days in the 1880s, more than fifteen trains a day traveled West to Spring Park bringing tourists. 
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According to the United States Census Bureau, Mound has a total area of 4.9 mi². 2.9 mi² of it is land and 2.0 mi² of it is water. The total area is 40.04% water.
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,435 people, 3,982 households, and 2,560 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,204 per square mile. There were 4,118 housing units at an average density of 1,399 per square mile. More about Mound from Wikipedia.
 
The West side of Commerce Boulevard in downtown Mound. The businesses in this area include: Magic Tailor & Cleaners, Styles by Diane, Mound Back & Neck Clinic, Westonka Tan, 3's Company Hair, Wiser Insurance, Threshold Gallery, and Larson Printing on the East side of Commerce. Â 
Auditors Road looking East. It turns onto old Shoreline. One can drive for about three blocks and visit maybe three businesses. Some have called it the Road to Nowhere. Â 
The Mound Mall. Some of the businesses that were located here in past are: Pete's Prize Pantry, Mueller's Drug Store, the Library, and Petersen's Eye Clinic. Can you think of any more? It now includes, Norwest Bank, Westonka Vision Center, V & S Jewelry, Happy Garden Restaurant, Christopher & Banks, City Looks, and the Thrifty Drug. Ridgeview Clinic, along with their sign has recently moved to Spring Park's Marina Shopping Center.  
Mound's Main Street. This is looking from the old parking lot that Dakota Rail and the City fought over for awhile. It seems Dakota Rail's attorneys brought in more revenue than their trains did. Dakota Rail is gone now, and in its place there will be a trail here before too long. Â 
The Westonka Educational Service Center for the district located at the High School. The new Haddorff field is in the background. Sept. 2006 If you are using the Mozilla Firefox Browser and some of these pages seem jumbled, boot up Internet Explorer and use that to view these pages. It appears Mozilla and Go Daddy, my website provider, don't spend a lot of time making sure their products integrate with each other. I use both browsers, Firefox is faster, just a little rough around the edges. |
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