Lake Minnetonka Real Estate

The Lake Minnetonka Real Estate market has never been more exciting. The perfect property is waiting for you,  just a few clicks away. To search all Lake Minnetonka properties, simply click on the price ranges listed below. 

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Lake Minnetonka Area - City Links

The Lake Minnetonka area is located just west of Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota. The cities around Lake Minnetonka blend into one beautiful community that offers a wide variety of recreation and parks, shopping and entertainment. To get more information on one of these cities, Click on the links below.

City of Minnetonka   City of Wayzata   City of Orono   City of Minnetonka Beach

City of Mound   City of Shorewood   City of Excelsior    City of Tonka Bay

City of Deephaven   City of Greenwood    City of Woodland   City of Spring Park

Lake Minnetonka Informational Links

Lake Minnetonka residents enjoy a lifestyle rich in leisure opportunities and amenities to attract families of all types. Professionals and urban dwellers will find the perfect blend of community features, parks and trails, shopping, restaurants and plenty of lakeshore related activities. The following links will help you navigate the Lake Minnetonka area.

LakeMinnetonkaOnline.com - a great place to find everything related to Lake Minnetonka.

Map of Lake Minnetonka - Maps of Lake Minnetonka and Boating Information

General Lake Information - Beaches, Boat Safety, Charter Cruises, Lake Access, Marinas.....

Lake Minnetonka Area Chamber of Commerce - a community resource for the area.

History of Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka is a large lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Throughout its recorded history, the lake has been a resort destination. It is located west-southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The first known Europeans to visit the lake were two 14-year-old boys from Fort Snelling, Joe Brown and Will Snelling. They found the lake in 1822 by paddling up Minnehaha Creek, though few people visited the lake in the following 30 years.

In 1852, the lake was given its name by Minnesota's territorial governor Alexander Ramsey. He had been told that American Indians in the area used a phrase sounding like minn-ni-tanka, meaning “big water,” to refer to the lake. The same year, the first settlements were constructed around it, and in 1853, the first hotel was built.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the epic poem The Song of Hiawatha in 1855, which referred to Minnesota and landmarks of the area such as Minnehaha Falls. This gave the area national interest.

1861 saw the introduction of steamboats; the first one was the Governor Ramsey, named to honor the man who named the lake. Following the Civil War, a rail line operated by St. Paul & Pacific Co. connected to the area in 1867.

The first inland steamboat to have electric lights, the City of St. Louis, was built in Wayzata in 1881. The next year, the largest ship to ever sail the lake was launched; the Belle of Minnetonka was 300 feet long and could carry 2500 passengers. The 1880s marked the steamboats' heyday as tourist destinations. By 1892, the Belle stayed moored at her dock all summer long.

In 1905, Twin City Rapid Transit first connected streetcar lines to the lake. This marked a golden age for the lake, with more rapid growth as TCRT added more resorts to the area and launched their “streetcar boats.” Actually named Express Boats, they were steamboats that shared the appearance of streetcars. At first six, and then seven such boats would take arriving streetcar passengers and steam them to over twenty different endpoints on the lake. For a time, one destination was the Big Island Amusement Park, about the same size as today's Valleyfair, but it only lasted about five years before it was shut down. Later, Excelsior Amusement Park had greater success, with seasonal operations running from 1925 through 1973. In early 2006, the City of Orono pulled together the $5.7 million needed to purchase the park property from veterans groups that owned the Big Island Veterans Camp (closed in 2004). Visitors will now be able to explore areas in the park, including old growth forest areas and a beach with views of Lake Minnetonka's Lower Lake.

President William Howard Taft made Lake Minnetonka his summer home in 1911, but business in the area had started going down again by that time. In 1926, most of the Express Boats were scuttled in deep water near the lake's Big Island.

As the century drew on, many visitors came, although some were unwanted. Environmental concerns started to become important after Curled Pondweed (Potamogeton crispus L.) was discovered in 1900. Following decades brought Purple Loosestrife in 1940 and Eurasian Water Milfoil in 1987. The lake also experienced problems with pollution, both from sewage and fertilizer runoff. Lake Minnetonka is now closely monitored.

Even with the troubles, the lake remained a fairly popular destination, with tourist boats from one company or another still operating in the warmer months. One of the old streetcar boats that had been scuttled in 1926, the Minnehaha, was even raised to the surface in 1980 so it could be restored. After many years of work, it returned to the lake in 1996 as an exhibit of the Minnesota Transportation Museum.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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Your Lake Minnetonka area home search will be an enjoyable, fun experience. My passion and dedication to helping my clients find, purchase and or sell Lake Minnetonka real estate is unsurpassed. Call me today to see why I can service your needs the best.  My direct line is 651-209-8686.