Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Dakota County is mix of old and new 35E - 11/15/1985Dakota. County is mix of old and new
Autonomy, identity
are long-established
By Lucy Dalglish
Staff Writer
Drive down Interstate 35E in Ithe
northwestern part of Dakota County 'and
take a good look at the scenery.
Everything — from the concrete on the
freeway to the roadside convenience stores
— looks brand new.
But Dakota County didn't appear over-
night with the opening of the interstate belt -
line.
Long before development took off like
wildfire in the northwestern part of the
county, Dakota County had established its
identity. Perhaps more than any other coun-
ty in the metropolitan area, Dakota County
has its own political, economic and social
identity.
Mention the Metropolitan Council's seven -
county planning efforts to a local or county
politician in Dakota County and you're likely
to get a lecture on how those folks up in St.
Paul and Minneapolis should stay on their
side of the river and mind their own busi-
ness.
Talk about fiscal 'disparities legislation
used to stimulate business in downtown Min-
neapolis and St. Paul and Dakota County pol-
iticians and business owners will tell you
they're sick of paying the bill for the inner
city's redevelopment efforts.
However, the most strident criticism in
the county is reserved for the University of
Minnesota.
The university received about 1,300 acres
of prime agricultural land in the Rosemount
area at the conclusion of World War II, land
that had been confiscated by the federal gov-
ernment for an arms plant.
Local residents never have forgiven the
university for accepting the land, for not
turning it back to the original owners.
Dakota County residents know where the
Twin Cities are, and they visit frequently.
But they can get along without them.
Why shop in downtown St. Paul when
there is Burnsville Center, the largest indoor
shopping mall in Minnesota?
In some respects, there are two Dakota
Counties. There is the established, old-line
county exemplified by West St. Paul, South
St. Paul and Hastings. And there is the new,
growing, developing western portion one
of the fastest growing areas in the state —
exemplified by Eagan, Apple Valley and
Burnsville.
Eagan
Eagan probably has the dubious honor as
the city with the longest twice -monthly city
council meetings in the metropolitan area.
Because of the volume of planning and zon-
ing issues the rapidly developing city must
consider, most meetings start at 6:30 p.m.
and council members are lucky if they finish
by 1 a.m.
Because of delays in opening segments of
Interstate 35E, Eagan is one of the last cities
in the northern part of the county to be de-
veloped, despite its proximity to St. Paul and
Minneapolis.
As a result, city officials say they have
been able to learn from the mistakes and
successes cities such as Apple Valley and
Burnsville had in establishing zoning regula-
tions.
Only about half of the city has been devel-
oped, but already a strain has been placed on
District 196, the Rosemount -Apple Valley
School district that includes most of Eagan's
land area.
Eagan is one of the prettiest cities in the
county, with rolling hills, hundreds of pictur-
esque ponds and lakes and thousands of oak
trees.
The oak is Eagan's logo, designed to com-
memorate one of the county's best-known
landmarks — the Lone Oak tree. For dec-
ades, the Lone Oak was the city's official
bulletin board. Notices were posted on its
trunk and it was a sentimental meeting
place for sweethearts.
But as the city grew, highways encroached
on the tree, located at the intersection of
Dakota County
residents know where
the Twin Cities are,
and they visit
frequently. But they
can get along without
them.
Lone Oak Road and Minnesota 55. By 1980,
the tree was dying. After a lengthy battle
between the city and state Highway Depart-
ment officials, the tree was cut down in
April 1984 and a replacement planted near-
by at Trinity Lone Oak Lutheran Church.
Apple Valley
Apple Valley is known to most Minneso-
tans as the home of the Minnesota Zoological
Garden.
The zoo is a rare example of eager county -
state cooperation.
Dakota County officials decided they
wanted the state zoo that was proposed in
the early 1970s. As an incentive, the County
Board offered about 500 acres of prime park
land.
County officials already owned some land
in the area as part of Holland -Jensen County
Park (now called Lebanon Hills Regional
Park), but the county bought several re-
maining parcels in the area and turned them
over to the state.
Dakota County residents have made good
use of the zoo, one of the state's major at-
tractions.
Few residents even remember the days
when Eaton's Ranch was Apple Valley's
most famous landmark. For more than 50
years, the ranch was the closest many Min-
nesotans ever got to the Old West.
In 1930, Arthur Eaton Sr. moved to Minne-
sota from Iowa and bought 1,000 acres of
hilly forested land in Lebanon Township.
Cowboys traveling through Minnesota to the
South St. Paul stockyards often stopped at
Eaton's Ranch and performed in rodeos.
As the events started attracting specta-
tors, Eaton decided to start a dude ranch.
World War II stilled the dude ranch business,
but the family held on to some of the land
over the years and Art Eaton Jr. operated at
various times a riding stable, restaurant and
western store until the pine and fieldstone
structures were torn down in 1982 to make
room for on/off ramps where Minnesota 77
intersects Dakota County Highway 38.
The rest of the old ranch now is developed
with expensive homes in the Palomino Hills
and Heritage Hills neighborhoods.
Apple Valley also is known as the town
that Orrin Thompson built. Old Lebanon
Township was the site of several gravel pits,
the old dude ranch and numerous farms
when Thompson moved in with his plans for
moderately priced houses in the early 1960s.
It was Thompson who pushed for the name
change from Lebanon to Apple Valley, the
name of a similar development in Califor-
nia.
Burnsville
Had it not been for strong communit)
cohesiveness in the early 1960s, the northern
part of Burnsville township probably would
have become South Bloomington.
Not that Bloomington really wanted the
land area south of the Minnesota River — it
wanted the tax base that would follow con.
struction of Northern State's Power Co.':
Black Dog power plant.
But the struggle to keep the power plane
site probably gave Burnsville township the
push it needed to incorporate as.. a city. A
few years later, development exploded witl
the completion of the I -35E bridge over the
river.
Now, Burnsville is the retail heart of the
county, with hundreds of franchise opera.
tions focused around Burnsville Center neat
the intersection of Interstates 35E and 35%
and County Highway 42.
Burnsville, with dozens of ponds, rollin€
hills and picturesque neighborhoods, is con•
sidered the most "Minneapolitan" suburb it
Dakota County. Most of its residents work or
the western end of the metropolitan area.