Before Europeans settled the area of the Calhoun Isles Community, Dakota Indians populated Lake Calhoun. The first recorded village on the Lake was founded in 1928 thanks to Cloudman, a Dakota leader, and Major Lawrence Taliaferro who was stationed in Fort Snelling. The village, known as Eatonville, had a brief existence, but the village was ended by a Dakota-Ojibwe feud.

Lake Calhoun was named in memory of John Caldwell Calhoun, the United States Secretary of War at the time, who sent an army to inspect the area around Fort Snelling, a historic Minnesota landmark, in 1817. He also eventually approved the construction of Fort Snelling. The lake was originally called “Mde Ma-ka-ska” by the Dakota, which means “Lake of the White Earth”. Settlers later named it “Medoza” or Loon Lake.

In the 1870s, Lake Calhoun was developed as a resort area. People came to the area to get away from the busy and stressful city. In 1874, Louis Menage established a resort hotel on the western shoreline of Lake Calhoun, where the Minikahda Club is today. The area was called Menage’s Lake Side Park. Visitors found their way to the park by a small steamer run by the Motor Line. Over time, the Calhoun-Isles community developed into one of the prettier and more desirable places to live in the Minneapolis area. Today, it is one of the premier communities in the city.

If you have any questions regarding the city of Minneapolis, Calhoun Isles, or if you would like to sell or buy a house in the area, please feel free to give Twin Cities Property Finder a call at 952.204.7950.