Indigenous voices key to Eden Prairie history project

We are writing in response to a recent article (Feb. 18) about the efforts of the Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) and the Eden Prairie Historical Society to research and document our city’s Indigenous history, as well as a subsequent letter to the editor (Feb. 19), which expressed questions and concerns about our endeavor.

I write as chair of the HPC, with the support of Kathie Case, president of the Historical Society, our project partner.

We first want to thank the writer to EPLN for sharing his thoughts about the project and want to address some of the concerns shared in the letter. A primary mission of both the HPC and the Historical Society is to preserve historical sites for the people of the city. We seek to share the stories of its people and places and inform the community of our past. While there has been some work on telling the story of our community prior to the 1850s, this project is one of the first fully dedicated to gathering stories of how Native Americans lived in the land we call Eden Prairie.

From the beginning of this project, we understood the Indigenous voices are of vital importance and need to be part of our work. We have chosen two researchers for this project who not only understand the importance of this but have committed to helping facilitate the help of one or more Native American tribes.

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As representatives of the Historical Society and HPC, we welcome participation from members of Eden Prairie’s Native American community. If you’re interested, please reach out. Contact Beth Novak-Krebs at the Eden Prairie City Center at 952-949-8490 to share your name and contact information. We will reach out to discuss how you can get involved.

We are excited to begin work on this project and are thankful to have a City Council committed to researching and documenting the full story of our city.  We want to represent all of the people who have lived in the area we call Eden Prairie.