Edina ( , ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota.
Edina began as a small farming and milling community along Minnehaha Creek in the 1860s and became one of Minneapolis's first incorporated suburbs in 1888. After years of being a streetcar suburb, Edina saw expanded development as a car-centric suburb in the 1950s and 1960s.
The city is known for its shopping, parks, and high quality of life and also has the nation's oldest indoor mall, the Southdale Center.
History
thumb|[[Minnehaha Grange Hall]]
thumb|Ruins of Edina Mill next to Minnehaha Creek
thumb|Edina Cinema, a theater in downtown Edina that opened in 1934
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 of Ireland, had come to Minnesota and claimed land in the southwest section of what was then Richfield Township. They were followed by settlers from New England and Germany, who claimed additional land near Minnehaha Creek. 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.
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.
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:
At the next meeting, the name Edina was chosen with a vote of 47 for and 42 against.
The name "Edina" may also come from the language of the nearby Dakota tribe. The word ' means "to catch fire."
Morningside
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. In 1966, however, the Village of Morningside once again became part of Edina.
Early settlement
Edina was not the first settlement in its location. According to historian Deborah Morse-Kahn, the 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." At the November 1898 general election, 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.
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. Researchers point in particular to Samuel Thorpe's development of the Country Club Historic District, which used deed restrictions as means to exclude non-whites, stating explicitly that:
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. 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. 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."
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Residential areas comprise the largest portion of the city, which is now more than 95 percent developed.
Within Edina are many different neighborhoods; Highlands, Indian Hills, Morningside, Country Club District, Cahill Village, Chapel Hill, South Harriet Park, Interlachen, Rolling Green, Presidents, Sunnyslope, White Oaks, Parkwood Knolls, Braemar Hills, Birchcrest, Dewey Hill and Hilldale.