Stand near the intersection of Valley View Road and Highway 100 today and you’ll see little trace of the Code family, who lived at the northeast corner of the crossroads for almost a century. But the pioneering family left an indelible mark on Edina’s church, school and community life.
The two thoroughfares started as trails blazed by Native Americans; George Code rented farmland at the corner in the 1850s. When he married Grace Watt in 1859, they helped build the area’s first school on “Code’s Corner” and also helped establish an Episcopal church that met at the school.
When student population fell after the nearby Cahill School opened in 1864, George Code hitched a yoke of oxen to the building and dragged it close to the Edina Mill, near today’s 50th Street, to be closer to more homes.
In addition to the church and the school, the Codes helped establish a farm organization, Minnehaha Grange No. 398. They were among the farmers who voted to break away from Richfield Township in 1888 and form the independent Village of Edina.
Son William served as justice of the peace for more than 20 years in the new village and delivered Minneapolis newspapers by horse and buggy. His wife Blanche served as an unofficial social worker and delivered donated food and clothing to families in need during the Depression. They also farmed an apple orchard and sold apples at Code’s Corner for several years, until they sold the land in 1944.
Although the family homestead no longer stands at Code’s Corner, their name lives on in Edina with Code Avenue, located west of the original farm.
& Edina will celebrate its quasquicentennial, or 125th anniversary, in 2013. For more about the celebration, visit edinahistoricalsociety.org/125th.
