History of Dellwood, Minnesota
Dellwood is one of the smaller communities of Washington County consisting of about 1,800 acres with a current population of just over 1,000. It is situated along the northeast shore of White Bear Lake, quietly nestled into a rolling rural landscape.
Originally Dellwood was a part of Greenfield Township, which was organized
in October, 1858. The township name was changed to Grant in 1864.Dellwood
became a part of Lincoln when a new township was organized from the western
sections of Grant in 1918. Over the years, Mahtomedi, Willernie, Birchwood,
and Pine Springs broke away from Lincoln Township. Lincoln township disappeared
when its last community reorganized as the City of Dellwood in 1993.
The area near White Bear Lake began to be settled in the early 1850s, mostly
by people moving out from St. Paul. James M. Goodhue, editor of the Minnesota
Pioneer, published in St. Paul, was an early booster of the region. In 1850
he wrote "…in all directions around White-bear lake, Speculation
is turning its eager eye - a beautiful region, of rich land, diversified with
meadows, hills, valleys, oak-openings, lakes, timber and partial prairies."
The region received another impetus to settlement when in 1870 the Stillwater
and St. Paul Railroad was completed around the north end of White Bear Lake
and across Grant. In the days before automobiles and good roads, travelers
depended upon the railroads to take them to their summer places.
The community was also reached from Stillwater and White Bear Lake by the
old Indian trail that became the first public road in the area, now Dellwood
Road. By 1900 the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (Soo Line) had
also crossed the northern part of Dellwood.
The Village of Dellwood, platted in 1882, began as a community of summer homes
near White Bear Lake, conveniently located on the Stillwater and White Bear
Railroad line. The original plat of 250 acres was developed with large, architect-designed
cottages of often palatial proportions. Homes for the Kirby Barnum, Lucius
Ordway and Truman Ingersol families were among the first constructed in the
1890s.
Byrd Hewitt and Kirby Barnum opened a summer hotel on the site of the present
White Bear Yacht Club. Part of the area's lore is that F. Scott Fitzgerald
celebrated summer at a Dellwood cottage in which he wrote The Beautiful and
the Damned..
Some of the prominent families over the years have been the Ordways, Hills,
O'Briens, Weyerhaeusers, Hannafords, and Griggses. Former Minnesota governor
Jesse Ventura also makes Dellwood his home. Dellwood is now the wealthiest
city in Minnesota, having surpassed Edina with a median income of over $130,000.
Dellwood is a quiet city that does not desire a city lifestyle. About half
of its population lives in a suburban setting. The other half enjoys a rural
lifestyle-there are nineteen farms in the city. There is next to no commercial
property in Dellwood, the exceptions being golf courses and an apple orchard.
There is not even a city hall-the city council meets in nearby Willernie and
services are provided by White Bear Lake.