Editing Edina, Minnesota (section)

==History==
[[File:Minnehaha Grange 4.jpg|thumb|[[Minnehaha Grange Hall]]]]
[[File:2009-0611-001-EdinaMill.JPG|thumb|Ruins of Edina Mill next to Minnehaha Creek]]
[[File:Edina Cinema, Oct 2017.jpg|thumb|Edina Cinema, a theater in downtown Edina that opened in 1934<ref name=EdinaCinema>[http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/4631 Edina Cinema]. cinematreasures.org. Retrieved October 9, 2017.</ref>]]

===Settlement===
Edina began as part of Richfield Township, Minnesota. By the 1870s, 17 families, most of them immigrating as a result of the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine of Ireland]], had come to Minnesota and claimed land in the southwest section of what was then Richfield Township.<ref name="edinachapterhistorybook">{{cite book|last1=Morse-Kahn|first1=Deborah|title=Edina : Chapters in the City History|date=1998|publisher=City of Edina|location=Edina, Minn.|isbn=0-9605054-1-5|pages=16–17}}</ref> They were followed by settlers from [[New England]] and [[Germany]], who claimed additional land near [[Minnehaha Creek]].<ref name="settler-nationality">{{cite book|last1=Hesterman|first1=Paul D.|title=The History of Edina, Minnesota : From Settlement to Suburb|date=1988|publisher=Burgess Pub.|location=Edina, MN|isbn=0-8087-9058-7|pages=4–5}}</ref> The Baird and Grimes neighborhoods (both listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]) and the Country Club District (then known as Waterville Mills) in northeastern Edina were among the first areas to be established. The area then known as the Cahill Settlement, at West 70th Street and Cahill Road, was also an early community center and the home of [[Cahill School]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Scott|first1=William W.|last2=Hess|first2=Jeffrey A.|title=History and Architecture of Edina, Minnesota|date=1981|publisher=City of Edina|location=Edina, Minn.|isbn=0-9605054-0-7|pages=5–6}}</ref>

In 1888, the township's residents held a meeting to consider founding a new village, thus separating themselves from Richfield Township. The idea was accepted and a committee was established to oversee the transition.<ref name="City of Edina">{{cite web|title=Edina's Name|url=https://www.edinamn.gov/1016/Edinas-Name|publisher=The City of Edina|access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref>

===Naming===
After the decision was made to form a new village, debate ensued about the new village's name. Several town meetings were held in the [[Minnehaha Grange Hall]], during which the names Hennepin Park, Westfield, and Edina were suggested. Minutes taken by Henry F. Brown, a farmer and future owner (1889) of the [[Edina Mill]], are summarized as follows:

{{blockquote|A long debate ensued with regard to the name by which the corporation shall be called. A motion was made and passed to reconsider the vote taken at the previous meeting of the name of the proposed village, Westfield. Another motion was then made by Andrew Craik to call the proposed village Edina (upon moving to the township in 1869 from Edinburgh, he bought and renamed the mill to the Edina Mill). Before the motion could be decided, James A. Bull, a member of the five person committee, made another motion to adjourn, which was seconded by the majority. However, the chairman of the meeting called this motion out of order, at which time disorder ensued with Baird, Wilson, Ryan and Bull declaring their intent to no longer serve as members of the committee if a gag law was to prevail. During this heated moment the meeting became somewhat boisterous until, after a few minutes order was restored. Seeing that no more work could be done at this time, a final motion was made and passed to reschedule the meeting to a future date.<ref name="From Settlement to Suburb">''From Settlement to Suburb: The History of Edina, Minnesota'' by Paul Hesterman, Published by the Edina Historical Society, 1988</ref>}}

At the next meeting, the name Edina was chosen with a vote of 47 for and 42 against.<ref name="City of Edina" />

A prevailing myth about the decision to name the new village Edina is that two opposing communities—the [[Irish people|Irish]] Cahill community and the Scottish Mill community—fought about whether to give the community an Irish name (Killarney Lakes) or a Scottish one (Edina). But the [[1860 United States census|1860 census]] indicates that there were no Scottish people in Edina in 1860, and only a couple were present at the time of Edina's founding (1888).<ref name="settler-nationality" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Edina's Name |url=https://www.edinamn.gov/1016/Edinas-Name |website=edinamn.gov}}</ref>

The name "Edina" may also come from the language of the nearby [[Dakota people|Dakota]] tribe. The word ''{{langx|dak|Idéna}}'' means "to catch fire."<ref name="dakota name">{{cite journal |last1=Daniels |first1=Karen |date=January 1963 |title=Ojibway and Dakota Place Names in Minnesota |url=http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/signing/docs/mn-archaeologist-place-names.pdf |journal=The Minnesota Archaeologist |volume=25 |issue= 1|pages=17 |doi= |access-date=December 22, 2022}}</ref>

===Morningside===
{{Main|Morningside, Minnesota}}
The first suburban development in Edina occurred during the early 1900s in Morningside, a neighborhood in the northeastern part of the village. As Morningside grew, conflict arose between its residents who wanted more city services, and the residents of the rest of the village who wanted to maintain Edina's rural character. As a result of that conflict, Morningside seceded from Edina in 1920 and became a separate village.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hesterman|first1=Paul D.|title=The history of Edina, Minnesota : from settlement to suburb|date=1988|publisher=Burgess Pub.|location=Edina, MN|isbn=0-8087-9058-7|pages=48–50}}</ref> In 1966, however, the Village of Morningside once again became part of Edina.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hesterman|first1=Paul D.|title=The history of Edina, Minnesota : from settlement to suburb|date=1988|publisher=Burgess Pub.|location=Edina, MN|isbn=0-8087-9058-7|page=97}}</ref>

===Early settlement===
Edina was not the first settlement in its location. According to historian Deborah Morse-Kahn, the [[Quakers|Quaker]] village that existed where Edina would be built included African American families of Civil War veterans and freed slaves "became very involved in community life—especially as farmland owners, civic and cultural leaders."<ref name=morsekahn>{{cite book|title=Edina: Chapters in the City History|location=Edina, MN|publisher=City of Edina|last=Morse-Kahn|first=Deborah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iLmeAQAACAAJ|year=1991}}</ref> At the November 1898 general election, [[John Francis Wheaton|J. Frank Wheaton]], a Republican African American, was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives representing District 42, which included all of Edina. Wheaton beat his white Democratic opponent in every Minneapolis city ward and in every village within the legislative district, including Edina, even though the legislative district had only approximately 100 African American residents out of a total of 40,000 residents.<ref>William D. Green, Degrees of Freedom, The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912, Univ. of Minn. Press, 2015, p. 235-243</ref>

===Early development===
In the early 20th century suburban development brought discriminatory policies that led to nearly all of the African Americans who had been living in Edina to move away.

Historian [[James W. Loewen]] described the suburb as a [[sundown town]].<ref name="pagefromthepast" /><ref name="smetanka">{{cite web|last=Smetanka|first=Mary Jane|date=January 1, 2013|title=Edina's historical mystery: Black flight|url=http://www.startribune.com/local/west/184985461.html|work=StarTribune}}</ref><ref name="Loewen20052">{{cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |author-link=James W. Loewen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2yR3-OaTMAC |title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism |publisher=[[The New Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-56584-887-0 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Researchers point in particular to Samuel Thorpe's development of the [[Country Club Historic District (Edina, Minnesota)|Country Club Historic District]], which used [[Covenant (law)#Exclusionary covenants|deed restrictions]] as means to exclude non-whites, stating explicitly that:

{{Blockquote|No lot shall ever be sold, conveyed, leased, or rented to any person other than one of the white or Caucasian race, nor shall any lot ever be used or occupied by any person other than one of the white or Caucasian race, except such as may be serving as domestics for the owner or tenant of said lot, while said owner or tenant is residing thereon.<ref name="morsekahn"/><ref name="Loewen20052"/><ref name=reinan>{{cite news|last1=Reinan|first1=John|title=Edina's Racist Past Is Focus of Wikipedia 'Edit War'|url=http://www.startribune.com/local/west/290835531.html|access-date=5 February 2015|work=Star Tribune|date=February 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623011122/https://www.startribune.com/edina-s-racist-past-is-focus-of-wikipedia-edit-war/290835531/ |archive-date=2015-06-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://edinamn.gov/edinafiles/files/Advisory_Boards/Heritage_Board/Heritage_Landmarks/Deed-Restriction-4524-Casco-Ave-1_4-15-1925.pdf|title=Deed Restrictions for the Country Club District of Edina, Minnesota|date=December 15, 1925|access-date=February 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205034540/http://edinamn.gov/edinafiles/files/Advisory_Boards/Heritage_Board/Heritage_Landmarks/Deed-Restriction-4524-Casco-Ave-1_4-15-1925.pdf|archive-date=February 5, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Edina Country Club District|url=http://edinamn.gov/index.php?section=heritagelandmarks_countryclub|publisher=The City of Edina, Minnesota|access-date=February 5, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108033053/http://edinamn.gov/index.php?section=heritagelandmarks_countryclub|archive-date=January 8, 2017}}</ref>|author=James W. Loewen|title=''Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism''}}

Other developments, like that built by N. P. Dodge Corporation just a mile away, followed suit in attempting to protect land values through racial policies.<ref name=abouttown>{{cite journal|journal=AboutTown|url=http://edinamn.gov/edinafiles/files/News_Publications/About_Town/Win15AboutTown.pdf|volume=26|issue=1|date=Winter 2015|title=A Convenience Corner: Valley View And Wooddale Businesses Served Neighborhood Since 1930s|last=Matson|first=Marci|access-date=February 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207062623/http://edinamn.gov/edinafiles/files/News_Publications/About_Town/Win15AboutTown.pdf|archive-date=February 7, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Though the Supreme Court ruled these kinds of discriminatory housing clauses unenforceable in its ''[[Shelley v. Kraemer]]'' decision of 1948, reports of discrimination persisted through the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name=morsekahn/><ref name=pagefromthepast>{{cite web|title=Page from the past: Morningside mayor addresses "A Matter of No Prejudice"|last=Matson|first=Marci|work=Edina Historical Society|url=http://www.edinahistoricalsociety.org/blog/page-from-the-past-morningside-mayor-addresses-a-matter-of-prejudice}}</ref> According to the Edina Historical Society's story about the first black family in Morningside (then a separate village) in 1960, attempts to keep them out included tactics like trying "to get [their] lot condemned for drainage."<ref name=pagefromthepast/> In response, then-mayor Ken Joyce wrote a note dismissing the drainage concern and challenging citizens "to live the Golden Rule". Shortly thereafter the village voted in favor of inclusion.<ref name=pagefromthepast/>

Jewish residents were also affected by exclusionary deed covenants. In the 1960s, some residents boasted that Edina had "Not one Negro and not one Jew."<ref>{{cite book|title=Race and Racism in the United States: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-0346-8|page=1208|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQlvBAAAQBAJ&q=some%20residents%20of%20Edina%2C%20Minnesota%2C%20the%20most%20prestigious&pg=PA1208}}</ref>