Celebrating 150 Years

Whatever your Carver County connection, we invite you to join in the county's 150th anniversary celebration throughout 2005! For those living in the area, events and activities are being held at the Carver County Historical Society, the county fair, the public libraries, and the county parks throughout the year. Watch for event listings below!

Whether you live near or far, you can celebrate this monumental anniversary by exploring our expanded website which features more local history on-line exhibits and photographs. Some of the new features will change monthly so you will have a reason to visit the site again and again. There are also many opportunities throughout the site for you to share your Carver County memories…we hope to hear from you.

We invite you to strengthen your connection to Carver County by getting to know its interesting heritage. Everyone is welcome!

About the Project    Celebrating 150 Years!

150th Related Events    Read on:

150 Interesting Things about Carver County History    As we celebrate Carver County's sesquicentennial in 2005, it's an opportunity to look at 150 interesting historic events and happenings that have happened throughout the county during the past 150 years. Read on:

Headlines This Month in Carver County History      What happened this month in Carver County history? Check out headlines from the 1860s until the 1990s. Read on: Jan, Feb, Mar , Apr , May , Jun , Jul , Aug , Sep , Oct , Nov , Dec

Carver County Scrapbook    Flip through the pages of a virtual scrapbook featuring photographs from our collection with "journaling" about Carver County topics. Continued: Read on Ghost Towns(all on one page) Page through the scrapbook    Mother Nature’s Revenge (all on one page) Page through the scrapbook

Our Communities: A Walk Back Through Time    Explore the bygone days of our local communities through photographs and brief historical backgrounds. More community sections, including communities that are no longer on road maps, will be added throughout March and April. Continued: Read on Carver Chanhassen Cologne Hamburg Mayer New Germany Norwood Victoria Waconia Watertown Young America

History of Carver County    This very brief history features a few highlights of Carver County's past including early settlement, agriculture, and suburbanization. Continued: Read on

What Is It?    Every month we will feature a different object from the collection with size and material information. Feel free to submit your guess and the following month we will identify the object and post some of the submissions we receive.

Local Personality    This monthly feature will highlight a different local personality who will share his or her insights into local history and direct you to his or her favorite spots in this website. Continued: Read on

Puzzles      Try your hand at putting together our virtual puzzles featuring photographs from our collection. Continued: Let's play Puzzle 01 Level: Easy - Medium - Advanced Puzzle 02 Level: Easy - Medium - Advanced

Online Exhibits   This Day in History…Ten Thousand Years Ago      People have been roaming the land we now call Carver County for more than 10,000 years. This on-line exhibit features some of the objects and stories found in the museum's exhibit Akta Dakota: To Honor the People. Continued: See the exhibit   The Fur Trade in Carver County      Until the 1850s, the fur traders were the only European-Americans that most Native Americans in the area knew. The fur trade built relationships between the two cultures which met each group's needs. Continued: See the exhibit   Chaska's Sugar Industry      For years, Chaska was nicknamed Sugar City because of the sugar beet processing plant located in the community. Written in conjunction with the Chaska Historical Society, this feature highlights the history of Chaska's sugar industry   Following the Yellowstone Trail      Begun as the first highway to connect Minneapolis and Seattle, the Yellowstone Trail followed roads through Carver County. The Yellowstone Trail helped improve the quality of area roads for the early automobile owners. Continued: Read on