Shoreview is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 25,924 at the 2000 census.
The area that is now Shoreview was once inhabited by Dakota and Ojibwe Indians. Indian mounds containing human bone fragments, arrowheads, pieces of pottery, and bits of charcoal have been found on Rice Creek near the north shore of Long Lake in New Brighton. In 1837 the land lying between the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers, including what is now Shoreview, was ceded to the United States Government by the Ojibwe.
In February 1850, Socrates A. Thompson, accompanied by an Indian friend, left St. Paul in search of a good location for farming. Thompson was the first person to settle on land that is now within the boundaries of the City of Shoreview. Soon people from Switzerland, England, Ireland, Germany, Vermont, Virginia, Illinois and New York began farming here.
At one time Shoreview was part of Mounds View Township. The name came from a range of hills running through the center of the township. Mounds View Township was organized on May 11, 1858, the same day that Minnesota became a state.
Later in the 1800s railroad lines expanded to include Shoreview. The first railroad lines in Shoreview, owned by “Soo Lines”, were built in the 1880s.
On March 14, 1957 a group of citizens, feeling the inadequacy of a township government, presented a petition to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners that called for the incorporation of the Village of Shoreview. This action would separate Shoreview from Mounds View Township. After a bitter dispute, an election was held at the Snail Lake School and the incorporation of Shoreview was approved by a vote of 853 to 748.
April 23, 1957, Shoreview was officially incorporated. Kenneth Hanold, the first Mayor of Shoreview, was elected on May 23, 1957. At this time, Shoreview had a population of 5,231.
December 10, 1963, Interstate Highway 694 was opened through Shoreview. The three broadcast towers, located on the north side of Highway 694, have become familiar landmarks in Shoreview and are the tallest structures in Minnesota.
Citizens worked to change the form of government, and on November 5, 1963, in order to better deal with the village’s growing population, the citizens of Shoreview voted to shift to a “Plan A” form of government under which the village clerk and treasurer were appointed rather than elected.
Shoreview changed forms of government once again and became a city on January 1, 1974 through an act of the State Legislature. With a population of over 14,000 at the time, the residents voted in November 1974 to adopt the present “Plan B” Council-Manager form of government.
Many Twin Cities-area broadcasters use Shoreview as a site for their transmitting antennas. KMSP channel 9 owns one tower (KMSP TV Tower) reaching 1466 feet (446.8 m) high, shared with WFTC, KTCA/KTCI, and ten FM radio stations. Another pair of towers nearby (Telefarm Towers Shoreview) stand approximately 1437 feet (438 m) tall and are co-owned by WCCO-TV, KARE, and KSTP-TV, and are also used by WUCW.
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