Minnetonka Mills was the location of the first permanent white Settlement (1853) in Hennepin County west of the Minneapolis area.

Minnehaha Creek has had five or more names. In 1823: Brown's Falls, thence Brown's Creek; 1845: Cascade Creek; 1856: Little Falls Creek ( smaller than those at St. Anthony); Minnehaha after Longfellow's poem 'Hiawatha' published (1855). The name is derived from Indian words: 'minne' means water, 'haha' means falls or laughing.

Minnetonka, the name given first to the lake by the Indians means water great or big. The lake is of special significance to several tribes, who had sacred places, such as Spirit Knob, and left numerous burial mounds .

How Purgatory Creek got its name? Early settlers, traveling to Excelsior along an old Indian trail, came to springs around dusk. The road here was the worst they had traveled over, the land was swampy and the mosquitoes were dreadful. One of them said, "This is Hell!!" "No, it's even worse," another replied, "It's Purgatory . "

The first woman medical doctor in Minnesota to graduate from the University of Minnesota was Dr. Catherine Burnes of Minnetonka Town. She practiced in Hopkins from her graduation in 1887 until her death in 1932.

The original Chowen's Corner, where W.S. Chowen had his house, is where Minnetonka Boulevard and Highway 101 meet, now commonly known as Ty Abel's corner. Half a mile west on Minnetonka Blvd., where his niece's house stood, is more properly known as Annie Chowen's corner.

Minnetonka's brickyard was located one-fourth mile north of Highway 7 on Shady Oak Road from 1888 until the mid-1890s. Bricks made from this Wilmatt Hill clay were used to construct the first brick building in Hopkins at the corner of 9th Avenue and Excelsior Boulevard. The owner of the land received 50 cents for the clay used to make 1,000 bricks. The bricks were sold for about $6 per thousand (6 cents for 10 bricks).

The old Town Hall was built in 1906 at the corner of Baker Road and Minnetonka Blvd. at a cost of $2,5000 in order to have a place for the Annual Town Meeting, for meetings of the Town Board and for safe storage of municinal records. Before that, Town Meetings were held in the hotel. the church, or the dance hall, with records being kept at the home of the Clerk.