About us

Edina Historical Society
4711 W. 70th Street
Edina, MN 55435
612-928-4577
Email

Office hours:
Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon
or by appointment

Edina Historical Society serves city since 1969

Our mission

Contrary to popular belief, Edina's history began long before Southdale, the nation's first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall, opened in 1956. While the mall may have put Edina "on the map," it was settled nearly a century before when a community rose up around a little red mill on Minnehaha Creek. The Edina Historical Society formed in 1969 to collect, preserve and tell the story of our community as it grew from a mill town to a mall suburb. This web site is part of our education effort.

We operate the Edina History Museum at Arneson Acres Park and living history programs at two of Edina's oldest buildings, Cahill School and Minnehaha Grange Hall No. 398, located at Tupa Park. The Edina Historical Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that relies on the support of its members and the public. Please join us!

Our mission: collect, preserve and tell Edina's story

Forty years ago, residents saw Edina's pioneer past disappear before their eyes. Residential subdivisions replaced farms. Cahill School, which served Edina farm kids since 1864, closed its doors in 1958 and was sitting in disrepair. The kids who went to school by horse and buggy were now senior citizens.

Spurred by the city's effort to save Cahill School and provide history-themed program for the building, a group of citizens formed the Edina Historical Society in 1969. Led by the City of Edina, they successfully restored the school, created a living history field trip program and began collecting stories and artifacts from Edina's early settlement years.

The Society still works to preserve history from each era of the community's development, from the agricultural era to the early suburban years to present day.

The Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that operates in three city park buildings: Cahill School and Minnehaha Grange Hall No. 398 at Tupa Park and the Edina History Museum at Arneson Acres Park.

You can help preserve our past for future generations:
Become a member! Annual membership dues start at $15 for an individual. Members receive a quarterly newsletter with features on Edina history and updates on our projects. Your support makes a difference in preserving Edina's history.

Volunteer. Dues and other income pay for part-time staff, but much of our work is done by volunteers. Come in one morning a week or work on a short-term project.

Donate to our collection. We can't order Edina history from a catalog. We depend on the public to donate photographs, documents and objects that help tell the story of Edina. For information on what to donate, check out our collections needs and our blog.

Donate in-kind services or finance a project. The Edina Historical Society is a 501(c)3 organization and donations are tax deductible. For a list of our needs, see our project list.