Editing Dakota County, Minnesota (section)

==History==
The county was the site of historical events at [[Mendota, Minnesota|Mendota]] that defined the state's future, including providing materials for the construction of [[Fort Snelling]] across the river and the signing of the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]] which ceded land from the native [[Sioux|Dakota]] nation for the Minnesota Territory. The county's history was initially tied to the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, both strategically important for United States expansion and as the convergence of the [[Sioux|Dakota]] and [[Ojibwe]] nations who regarded the site as sacred. Influence shifted westward during the post-World War II settlement boom when [[Interstate 35 in Minnesota|Interstate 35]] connected the western half of the county to [[Minneapolis]] and [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|Saint Paul]] and bedroom communities grew. Most work outside the county but like many metro counties, Dakota County continues to absorb industry and jobs from the core cities.<ref name="origin">{{Cite web |year=2005 |title=County Origin |url=http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/origin.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512000858/http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/origin.asp |archive-date=May 12, 2008 |publisher=Dakota County Historical Society}}</ref><ref name="DCemp">{{Cite web |last=Kevin Monroe |last2=Dawn Thongsavath |last3=Heidi Welsch |date=May 2006 |title=Public Assistance Caseload, Increase Analysis |url=http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/NR/rdonlyres/00000519/ibzkmqzmkyilpjfjtgytyocqfauykfmo/06PublicAssistCaseGrowthAnalysisFinalReportII.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128003248/http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/NR/rdonlyres/00000519/ibzkmqzmkyilpjfjtgytyocqfauykfmo/06PublicAssistCaseGrowthAnalysisFinalReportII.pdf |archive-date=November 28, 2007 |access-date=September 12, 2007 |publisher=Dakota County Employment and Economic Assistance}}</ref>

[[File:Little Crow-cropped image.jpg|thumb|left|[[Taoyateduta]] led the Mendota Mdewakanton in northern Dakota County. He and 121 [[Sioux]] leaders ceded much of the present Twin Cities region.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1904 |editor-last=Kappler |editor-first=Charles J. |title=Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties |location=Washington |publisher=Oklahoma State University Library |volume=II (Treaties, 1778-1883) |via=Government Printing Office}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 29, 1837 |title=Treaty with the Sioux |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0493.htm#mn1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201174618/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/sio0493.htm#mn1 |archive-date=December 1, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 23, 1851 |title=Treaty with the Sioux—Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0588.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616144255/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0588.htm |archive-date=June 16, 2008 |access-date=July 7, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 5, 1851 |title=Treaty With the Sioux—Mdewakanton and Wapahkoota Bands |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0591.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711133037/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0591.htm |archive-date=July 11, 2007 |access-date=June 26, 2007}}</ref>]]

In the 1600s, [[Mdewakanton Dakota]] fled their ancestral home of [[Mille Lacs Lake]] in northern Minnesota in response to westward expansion of the [[Ojibway|Ojibwe]] nation.<ref name="DakotaLife">{{Cite web |last=Mark Morrison |year=2008 |title=Dakota Life |url=http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/main_top/2_facilities/rec_facility/pond/signs/dakota_life/dakota_life.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501122521/http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/main_top/2_facilities/rec_facility/pond/signs/dakota_life/dakota_life.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2008 |publisher=City of Bloomington}}</ref> According to Dakota tradition, their ancestors pushed out the [[Iowa tribe|Iowa]] who were found settled at the mouth of the Minnesota River.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/iowa/iowahist.htm |title=Handbook of American Indians, 1906 |year=2008 |chapter=Iowa Indian Tribe History |via=Access Genealogy}}</ref> In 1680, the Mdewakanton Dakota were contacted by French [[explorer]] [[Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut]], and the Mendota (''mdo-TE'') band of the Mdewakanton south of the Minnesota River were contacted by [[Joseph Nicollet]] in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2007 |title=Who We Are |url=http://mendotadakota.com/mn/who/ |publisher=Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community}}</ref> While [[Taoyateduta]] (a.k.a. Little Crow) led the Mendota in northern Dakota County, upstream to the southwest, Chief Black Dog established his village of 600 people around 1750 at the isthmus between [[Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge#Black Dog Preserve|Black Dog Lake]] (which is named after him) and the Minnesota River, near the present site of the Black Dog Power Plant.<ref name="DakotaLife" /><ref name="DCHS">{{Cite web |last=Dakota County Historical Society |year=2005 |title=Historic Sites: Burnsville |url=http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/burnsville.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031230171659/http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/burnsville.asp |archive-date=December 30, 2003}}</ref>

[[File:St. Peter's Mendota 2006.jpg|thumb|right|[[Saint Peter's Church (Mendota, Minnesota)|Saint Peter's Church]] in Mendota is the state's oldest church]]

Following the published expeditions of explorers, in 1805, [[Zebulon Pike]] negotiated for military territory with the Mendota band which included land in Dakota County at the Mississippi River confluences with the Minnesota and St. Croix Rivers.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1999 |title=The Treaty Story |url=http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/exhibits/territory/territory/treaty/treaty4.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105010630/http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/exhibits/territory/territory/treaty/treaty4.html |archive-date=January 5, 2009 |publisher=Minnesota History Center}}</ref> In 1819, on what is now Picnic Island on the south bank of the [[Minnesota River]], [[Henry Leavenworth|Colonel Henry Leavenworth]] built a stockade fort called "St. Peter's Cantonment" or "New Hope," where materials were assembled for the construction of [[Fort Snelling]] to be built on the bluff on the north bank.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2005 |title=Historic Sites:Mendota Heights |url=http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/mendotaheights.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928063906/http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/mendotaheights.asp |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=February 28, 2008 |publisher=Dakota County Historical Society}}</ref> Permanent settlement on the island was impossible due to annual flooding. Alexis Bailey built some log buildings nearby to trade in furs in 1826. [[Henry Hastings Sibley]] later built the first stone house in Minnesota in 1836, overlooking Fort Snelling. Sibley was a partner in the [[American Fur Company]], and considerable fur trade occurred at Mendota due to the accessibility of the confluence.

Ongoing [[United States]] expansion into the then "Northwest Territory" led to government purchase of land from the Dakota people (the Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, [[Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate|Wahpeton]], and [[Sisseton]] bands) via the [[Treaty of St. Peters]], the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carley |first=Kenneth |title=The Sioux Uprising of 1862 |publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]] |year=1976 |isbn=0-87351-103-4 |oclc=2225048}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lass |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotahistory0000lass_v7g8 |title=Minnesota: A History |publisher=W. W. Norton & Co. |year=1998 |isbn=0-393-04628-1 |location=New York NY |oclc=37527613 |url-access=registration |orig-year=1977}}</ref> and the [[Treaty of Mendota]] in 1851.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meyer |first=Roy Willard |title=History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trial |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=1993 |location=Lincoln NE}}</ref> After the [[Minnesota Territory]] was established in 1849, Dakotah County (later Dakota County) spanned from the [[Mississippi River]] to the [[Missouri River]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dosh |first=Charles |title=Welcome To Dakota County MN |url=http://www.tc.umn.edu/~bluhm002/Dakota/public_html/index.html |access-date=March 2, 2008 |publisher=MN Genweb}}</ref>
By the time [[Minnesota]] achieved statehood in 1858, power and influence had shifted from Mendota, across the rivers to [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|Saint Paul]] and [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]].

===Hastings and South St. Paul===
By 1900, the hub of activity in the county was in [[Hastings, Minnesota|Hastings]], the county seat, and a focal point of transportation, communication, and commerce. St. Peter's, now Mendota, had lost out to Fort Snelling. Hastings is located on the [[Mississippi River]] at the confluence of the [[St. Croix River (Minnesota)|St. Croix River]] and on the [[Vermillion River (Minnesota)|Vermillion River]], which provided ample water power. Lumber, milling, and railroads provided good incomes. During this time, the [[Stockyards Exchange|stockyards]] and [[meat-packing]] plants in South St. Paul, Minnesota became the world's largest stockyards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South St. Paul Riverfront Trail |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/miss/tug/segments/seg16.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231195724/http://www.nps.gov/archive/miss/tug/segments/seg16.html |archive-date=December 31, 2006 |access-date=March 19, 2007 |website=Mississippi National River and Recreation area}}</ref> Ranchers in the west shipped their livestock to [[St. Louis]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], and [[New Orleans]].<ref>{{Cite web |year=2005 |title=County Origin |url=http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/origin.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512000858/http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/origin.asp |archive-date=May 12, 2008 |access-date=February 28, 2008 |publisher=Dakota County Historical Society}}</ref> These plants were worked by immigrants from [[Romania]], [[Serbia]], and other [[Eastern European]] countries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Sites:South St. Paul |url=http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/ssp.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807125536/http://www.dakotahistory.org/county/ssp.asp |archive-date=August 7, 2008 |access-date=March 19, 2007 |publisher=Dakota County Historical Society}}</ref> The rest of the county remained agricultural during the boom of milling activity north of the Minnesota River due to lack of bridge connections. Rail access came in 1866 via the [[Chicago and North Western Railway|Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railroad]] which shipped grain to millers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ED Neill |year=1881 |title=History of Dakota County 1881 |url=http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/6038/History_of_Dakota_County_1881.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020094827/http://geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/6038/History_of_Dakota_County_1881.html |archive-date=October 20, 2009 |publisher=Burnsville Heritage Committee}}</ref> The Minneapolis St. Paul Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company line in 1905 (now the [[Dan Patch Corridor]]), was primary for passengers going to resorts in Burnsville and Lakeville.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Dan Patch railway |url=http://www.slphistory.org/history/danpatch.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226224952/http://www.slphistory.org/history/danpatch.asp |archive-date=February 26, 2008 |publisher=St. Louis Park Historical Society}}</ref>

===Suburban growth===
By the 1950s, population growth shifted to western Dakota County, which had been predominantly Irish and Scottish extending southward toward the Scandinavians of Southern Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kevin Gerahty |date=March 2006 |title=Histories of the Dakota County Irish |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~friendsofthehighlandcemetery/ |publisher=Friends of the Highland Cemetery}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Karen Miller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FyL6GgAACAAJ |title=The diary of Karen Miller |publisher=s.n. |year=1896}}</ref> As population pressures expanded south from Minneapolis and Bloomington, the completion of [[Interstate 35W in Minnesota|Interstate 35W]] and [[Interstate 35E in Minnesota|35E]] brought about major construction in the post-World War II period, turning villages into cities within 20 years. [[Burnsville, Minnesota|Burnsville]], [[Apple Valley, Minnesota|Apple Valley]], [[Eagan, Minnesota|Eagan]], and [[Lakeville, Minnesota|Lakeville]] brought over 200,000 people into the county by the end of the century. The Western and Northern Service Centers were constructed in the early 1990s each with an additional courthouse location. License centers were subsequently set up in Burnsville and Lakeville. Though pressure remained since the postwar boom to move the county seat to a larger community, the Dakota County Board maintained the seat in Hastings, while providing government services across the county.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dan Gearino |date=August 11, 2000 |title=County breaks ground on $36.5 million Northern Service Center in West St. Paul |url=http://www.thisweek-online.com/2000/august/11nsc.html |access-date=May 10, 2008 |publisher=Thisweek Newspapers}}</ref>

===Historic sites===
The [[List of Registered Historic Places in Dakota County, Minnesota|Registered Historic Places]] in the county include the settlement at Mendota, the homes of well-heeled residents of Hastings, the ethnic gathering places in South Saint Paul, and other sites related to life on the prairie.