Helen Anderson

Take time to read and forget about the televisions and enjoy books and be selective on books you pick. Enjoy reading and it will make you happy your whole life.

Helen Anderson

My name is Helen Anderson. I was born on July 23rd, 1911 in a town called Aitkin, Minnesota. I married Calvin Anderson and moved to Eden Prairie 65 years ago. At one time you couldn’t step on any land east of Eden Prairie where there wasn’t an Anderson living there.

When you go out in Eden Prairie today you see houses, churches, schools, apartment houses and business buildings; all the land is taken up except for land saved for parks which we are fortunate to have.

One hundred and seventy-five years ago this was the home of the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux people. There were wild strawberries, blueberries, wild raspberries and cranberry bogs here. The Dakota called it Wa-shi-sha, “land of plenty.” It was as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. They didn’t realize something would happen to change their way of life.

Fortunately there was Mary Jane Hill Anderson, one of the first settlers in Eden Prairie, who wrote down about her journey in Eden Prairie. How lucky we are that she did that.
There was a potato famine in Ireland. Times were hard, so Robert Anderson and his wife, Mary Jane Hill, took a boat across the Atlantic Ocean. To get to Eden Prairie they had to come up the Mississippi River. When they got to St. Paul they piled all their things on a wagon and an oxen took them here.

I thought, if you don’t have it written down people in the future won’t know anything about it in the future. I wrote a book, Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years. In sixth grade you’ll be studying this book.

I have one daughter, Mary Ellen, a biologist who teaches at the University, and one son, Paul Anderson, who is a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court. One of my granddaughters, Uvania Anderson, teaches in this building. I love being a grandmother.