The History of Lake Minnetonka.
The first people who inhabited the Lake Minnetonka area were indigenous natives who migrated to the region at the end of the last ice age. In the early 18th century, Native Americans used Lake Minnetonka as a fish source and the surrounding areas for its game and edible plants. None of the tribes actually settled around the lake, but then around 1822, the first recorded people of European descent discovered Lake Minnetonka, and in 1860 the area was heavily populated with prospectors and their families.
In the late 1800's, several grand hotels and resorts were built, making Lake Minnetonka a place to visit, but these soon closed when the depression hit the State. Early 1900’s saw a resurgence of rapid settlement, as a community in which to live and a place to have lakeshore cabins began.