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CMP Part 2. Community Management Plan Foundation <br />Table 2-1: IMPORTANT DATES IN ORONO HISTORY <br />1803 <br />The Louisiana Purchase: U.S. acquires 828,000 square miles of land from France for about 3C an acre <br />1822 <br />W. J. Snelling and Joe Brown explore the upper reaches of Minnehaha Creek and sight Lake <br />Minnetonka <br />1851 <br />Treaty of Traverse des Sioux opens lands west of Mississippi for settlement; ratified by U.S. Senate in <br />1852 <br />1852 <br />Hennepin County organized; first township surveys conducted <br />1853 <br />First settlers arrive in what is now Orono: Rev. Stephen Hull at 'The Narrows'; Stephen Bean of <br />Maine at north shore of Stubbs Bay; John Carman at Spring Park; James and Francis Maxwell on <br />Maxwell Bay. <br />1855 <br />Arrival of many settlers in the Orono and Long Lake area: David Lydiard, Eleazer Dickey and Miles <br />Bayer, all of Nova Scotia; the Edwin Turnham and George Maxwell families settle in Medina; the <br />French, Fox and Fogelman families bring first horses to region; John Carman filed first subdivision in <br />Orono, "Town of Tazaska" for land lying between North Arm, Forest Lake, West Arm and Crystal <br />Bay, on May 3, 1855 <br />1856 <br />First sawmill in Orono on the Watertown Road, erected by Long Lake founder George Knettle; <br />'Tamarack' Post Office begun at home of Henry Stubbs; first stageline extended through Orono <br />to Irvin Shrewsbury's corner in Independence <br />1858 <br />Minnesota becomes 32nd state <br />1860 <br />The Governor Ramsey, built by Charles Galpin, becomes first steamboat on Lake Minnetonka; many <br />area roads surveyed by B.F. Christlieb, including "Harrington Road" (now Ferndale Road); final year <br />that Chief Shakopee and his band of Sisseton Dakota winter at Teepee Hill (Union Cemetery ). <br />1861 <br />Union Cemetery Association formed <br />1863 <br />First church in area, Presbyterian Church of Medina, formed in the Old North (Lydiard) School, <br />near Wolsfeld Lake. <br />1868 <br />Railroad reaches Long Lake; land on north shore of Lake Minnetonka annexed from Excelsior <br />township to Medina township <br />1870 <br />Joel Stubbs patents sorghum processing unit, replacing wheat as major crop for a decade <br />1873 <br />First dredging and widening of 'Hull's Narrows' opens upper lake for navigation <br />1880 <br />George A. Brackett purchases 'Starvation Point' from Nathan Stubbs, renames it'Orono Point' after <br />boyhood home in Maine; Saga Hill colony begun on north shore of North Arm <br />1882 <br />James J. Hill's spur line to Minnetonka Beach opens in conjunction with grand opening of Hotel <br />Lafayette in June, 1882, helping to make Lake Minnetonka an internationally known resort <br />destination; development grew up around the railroad stops such as Crystal Bay and Navarre <br />1884 <br />Areas of Minnetonka Beach, Navarre and Spring Park added to Medina Township <br />1889 <br />Town of Orono formed from parts of Medina and Excelsior Townships <br />1894 <br />Village of Minnetonka Beach formed <br />1898 <br />Formation of Minnetonka Fruit Growers Association <br />1906 <br />Village of Long Lake incorporated, first telephone lines begun <br />City of Orono Community Management Plan 2020-2040 Part 2, Page 5 <br />