Old Westonka Map from1881 by C. Wright Davison

The C. Wright Davison link will bring you to a page where you can see his complete map. There is a learning curve involved in using the map. I ended up downloading a free PNG file viewer. Here are two more maps not requiring a special viewer: Old Lake Minnetonka Map   Old Lower Lake Minnetonka map   What I find interesting in the above map is the Minneapolis Lyndale Minnetonka tracks running through Tonka Bay. I wonder if they had any relation to Manitou Station? (The station was at about Manitou and Brentwood.) Along Country Road 19, there is an area that could be the old rail bed. The second interesting point is the what appear to be tracks hugging Lake Minnetonka's South shore. But they don't have cross hatches, and while we might think they joined the current day Dakota Rail, no tracks had even reached Mound on this map's date, and when they did, they ran North of Langdon Bay, not South of it like on the map. The last mystery is this line crossing Six Mile Creek which is quite wide there. Does this crossing relate to what are called the fish traps on the creek?

Place Names of Lake Minnetonka
Cedar Point in Wayzata Bay is named for its trees. Gideon’s Bay is name for Peter Gideon the horticulturist, originator of the Wealthy apple who came to Minnesota in 1853. Hull’s Narrows joined the upper and lower lakes. It was a creek that was dredged into a channel allowing steamboat traffic in 1873. It was named for the Reverend Stephen Hull who had a farm there. The present day Narrows is North of the original Narrows that was just North of the present day West Point Road and not surprisingly joined the upper lake at Old Channel Bay.

Halsted’s (Halstead's) Bay is named for Frank William Halsted. His house on the shore was called the Hermitage. Upon his death in 1876 his brother George took up residence at the Hermitage. Dutch (Deutsch) Lake was named for its early German population. Phelps Island was named for Edmund Joseph Phelps, a Minneapolis banker in the late 1800s. Carman’s Bay is named for John Carman a farmer who settled here in 1853. Lafayette Bay takes its name from the old Hotel Lafayette. 

Credit is given to the book, "Collections" from the Minnesota Historical Society, Volume XVII, for much of the above.

There are some very nice Old Maps in the photo gallery, have a look.

Information on the Historic Maps on these pages:
M1 From U.S. War Department, Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Mound would be somewhere to the West.
M2 Township and county map showing drainage, cities and towns, and the named railroad network.
M3 Detailed map showing relief by hachures, drainage, cities and towns, township and county boundaries, and the railroad network.
M4, M6 & M7 Davison's map, 25 miles around Minneapolis 1881.
M5 Galbraith's railway mail service maps, Minnesota.

The above maps are from the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. USA

                          
The Mound Mural on the left was made possible by contributions from local businesses. It has been updated at least once. It includes hometown boy made good, Kevin Sorbo.                                     

Langdon Bay Creek on the right is also know as a ditch. It flows from Langdon Bay into Lost Lake. Each Spring the carp fight their way upstream like salmon, and then spawn at its headwaters. It's OK to have a look at the creek and the bay from Tulberg & Greenslit's (Green T Accounting), parking lot at 2567 Commerce Boulevard.

For more pictures of Mound Westonka Minnesota: Click Here

Click here for a nice aerial view of Upper Lake Minnetonka. It is a .pdf file so Adobe will boot.

Ridgeview Mound Clinic as it was on May 2006. It moved to Spring Park in the Spring of 2007, and I am not sure who is using this location now?

  Sandy's town on the shores of the "Minnetonka".  
  See also, "A walk around Mound."

The Marina Shopping Center in Spring Park. In the past the Big "V" Variety Store was located here, as well as the Red Owl. Its current tenants are: Ridgeview Clinic, Gentle Dentistry, Hair Graphics, the Movie Gallery, Shape Up for Women, the Asian Bistro,  Papa Murphy's and MGM Liquor. Recently Ace Hardware closed up to make way for Ridgeview Clinic that moved here from Mound in 2007.        

The Minnetonka Drive In, across the road from the Shopping Center, used to be an A & W. It has car hops and you order by talking into a speaker. The root beer comes in heavy mugs, just like in the old days. Classic Car Clubs often meet in its parking lot. During the fall you can buy a bale of hay, a pumpkin or some corn stalks there, and during the Winter, a Christmas tree.

Minnetrista Township
Minnetrista seems to surround Mound. Townships in rural Minnesota are typically made up of thirty six, one square mile sections.  On this map, I have added marks along the edge that are one mile apart. You can see that many of our roads are/were section roads. It would be reasonable to assume that Minnetrista would have originally had 36 square miles, with the towns of Mound and Saint Bonifacius at later times, breaking off from it. This is my assumption, not verified historical fact. Minnetrista lacks an identifiable downtown, with that role mostly falling on Mound. Minnetrista's future and Mound's are tied together by their geographical relation. It seems reasonable to conclude that Minnetrista's generally conservative approach towards new development impacts Mound's business traffic.

Orono Township
Like Minnetrista, Orono seems to been platted using the 6 by 6 mile formula for townships. Along the maps borders you can see the 12 - half mile marks. Orono's loses some area to Wayzata, Long Lake, Minnetonka Beach, Tonka Bay, Woodland, Deephaven, Spring Park and Mound. Orono does not appear to have been an "original" township (see Lake Minnetonka Townships). It has recently acquired Big Island though. It's current day downtown would have to be Long Lake, with Navarre running a close second.

Lake Minnetonka Townships  Here is a map that shows, I think, the 12 original townships around Lake Minnetonka. When you click on it, you will be able to see them. From West to East and North to South, they are the townships of: Franklin, Independence, Medina and Plymouth, then Watertown, Minnetrista, Excelsior and Minnetonka, then Waconia, Laketown, Chanhassen and Eden Prairie. Each township is a 6 by 6 mile square.

This is a MNDOT webcam feed, and also the Westonka Traffic Report. I-494 is on top. A lot of our traffic passes through this interchange. You can refresh the image using your browser, to see if anything is moving?

A survey map from the U.S. Surveyor General’s Office, dated 1856. The lake in the middle is Lost Lake in Mound. The image gets bigger when you click on it. You will see the sections lines which are one mile apart and typically 36 sections make a township. Many more images are available here and along with this map are the result of a collaborative effort of several Minnesota governmental agencies.