Sha K'Pay to Shakopee: Project to showcase history

Shakopee Valley News

Shakopee is a small town with a long history — and the Shakopee Heritage Society aims to educate people about this history with its planned “Pathways of Shakopee History” interpretive project.

The society plans to place signs along a walking and biking trail near Memorial Park, each detailing a different part of Shakopee’s past. The area will be called History Park.

“I’ve always been interested in promoting Shakopee and I think this is a great way to do it and involve people in the history of Shakopee,” Shakopee Heritage Society President Lois Marschall Wendt said.

Multiple groups are involved with the project, including the Scott County Historical Society, the Pond Dakota Heritage Society, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community and more, said Shakopee City Councilor Jay Whiting, who has been involved with the project from the start.

”It’s something we’ve wanted to do for many, many years and finally we have gotten the project off the ground,” Wendt said.

The trail will include 10 signs: “What Once Was,” “Powerful Names,” “Rollin’ Down the River,” “Betting, Booze, and Beautiful People,” “Traveling on the River,” “Stagecoaches to Shakopee,” “Faribault Springs,” “Who Else was Here,” “The Railroad to Shakopee” and “The Ox Cart Trail,” according to the project’s website.

”Eventually, what we’d like to see this do is carry on throughout the city in different areas, like along the river path and have things talking about the history of the community,” Whiting said. “We’re a very historic city but we don’t share that or sell it as much as I think we should.”

The pathway would create “historic tourism,” in addition to the beer and entertainment tourism Shakopee already draws in, Whiting said.

”We think people will hang around, spend a little more money, maybe stay in a hotel room overnight,” Whiting said. “There’s so much we could share about the Shakopee history.”

The project would also share a much more diverse side of Shakopee’s history than is typically told in textbooks, Whiting said.

”We’ve made it a conscious effort to — rather than tell the history of the old, white, dead men — add more history about the women and the Native Americans,” Whiting said. “We actually had a slave that was in Shakopee and we are telling that story. We’re trying to keep it a little more diverse.”

The kiosk will focus on three groups that lived in Shakopee: the Native-American village of Tinta-otonwe, the Faribault Trading Post and the Pond Mission House.

”This is one of the most historic sites because that’s where the Rev. Samuel Pond came to minister to the Dakota community and the footprint of his farmhouse is still there,” Whiting said. “Right across the pond was Oliver Faribault, who traded with the Indians. It’s where everybody gathered to get their water from, so it’s got a lot of historic significance.”

The project is in the beginning stages, fund raising and creating mock-ups of the signs and kiosk. A silent auction and dinner will be held at Turtle’s 1890 Social Centre on Aug. 17 to raise money and market the project.

The goal is to raise more than $60,000.

”If people want to learn more about this, then they should really come to the Aug. 17 event,” Wendt said. “There will be a very nice dinner, and a speaker about the project and a great silent auction with many Shakopee-related items.”

For more information about the sponsorship levels or how to donate, visit the project’s website at www.shakopeeheritage.org.