Shakopee Heritage Society

06/15/2026

Roughly a half hour southwest of downtown Minneapolis, businesses in Shakopee, Minnesota, say they're booming due to area growth.

06/14/2026

“We Were Fierce!” Women in Early Shakopee

Tuesday, June 16, 2-3 p.m. | Free | Benedictine Living Community, 1705 Windermere Way

The third edition of the book “We Were Fierce!” Women in Early Shakopee by David R. Schleper of the Shakopee Heritage Society discusses twelve women in early Shakopee. The book includes Wakan Yaŋke Wiŋ, Cordelia Eggleston Pond, Mahalia Conklin Shumway, Elizabeth Gerdesmeier Lenzmeier, Minnie Josephine Otherday Weldon, Paula Morales Johnson, and Laura Reiko Koeck, along with other women who helped develop the city of Shakopee. Along with pictures, the book helps learn about the women who are often forgotten, but who made Shakopee great!

No pre-registration required.

06/14/2026

06/14/2026

🌊 For decades, Boston commuters drove over them without knowing. In 1913, workers excavating for a subway line made an astonishing discovery: 28 to 40 feet below the streets, buried in layers of clay, were the remains of 65,000 ancient fishweirs. The structures were built by Native Americans between 3,700 and 5,300 years ago. They had been fishing on the Shawmut Peninsula long before Europeans arrived.

🔨 A fishweir is a fence-like structure made of interlaced brush wood, designed to guide fish into narrow channels where they could be easily speared or netted. The Boston weirs were built from invasive buckthorn, carefully woven to withstand river currents. Some were nearly a thousand feet long. The engineering required a deep understanding of hydrology, fish migration patterns, and seasonal flooding.

🏙️ Today, the Ancient Fishweir Project returns to Boston Common every May. The installation is built in collaboration with Boston Public School students and members of the Massachusett Tribe. The weir now stands near the Charles Street entrance, close to where the original shoreline once was. Visitors can walk past it and imagine the river that once flowed there.

📜 The fishweir installation will remain through June. It is a reminder that Boston's history did not begin with the Pilgrims. For thousands of years before, Native people lived, worked, and fished on this land. Their traps are still there, buried beneath the city. The subway runs above them. The fish still swim where the river used to be.

Disclaimer: This content is based on archaeological records and news reports. Images are for illustrative purposes only.

06/14/2026

06/13/2026

Very informative presentation at the Catholic Cemetery this morning.

06/13/2026

Nominations will be accepted through June 15, 2026. All nominations must be submitted electronically using the form below. Additional information and nominee qualifications and can be found here. Download/Print a blank copy of this form, for reference, here. Questions? Please contact the Shakopee Al...

06/11/2026

I’ve never seen these inside photos before.