According to legend, the naming of Edina in 1888 stopped just short of bloodshed. On one side were the Scots, who favored the name Edina, a nickname of the Scottish capital Edinburgh. On the other were the Irish, who argued for Killarney Lakes, to reflect their native country. The controversy became so intense, according to one version of the story, that the town meeting broke out in fisticuffs and the Scots voted on Edina after the Irish had gone home.
While meeting minutes do describe the naming discussion as “boisterous,” in reality the disagreement didn’t fall along ethnic lines because the two families of Scottish extraction would have been easily outvoted. “There was some argument all right, but the Scotch didn’t put anything over on us Irish—why I voted for ‘Edina’ myself,” Irishman James T. Delaney told a reporter years later.
Resident Sarah Baird described the meetings in her diary as “really very enthusiastic.” Although married to a Scotsman, she didn’t like the name Edina—or any of the other proposals, like Westfield or Hennepin Park.
Henry Brown, a wealthy cattleman neighboring the Bairds, lobbied hard for Edina, perhaps because the area had long been known as Edina Mills, after the Minnehaha Creek mill named by Scottish owner Andrew Craik.
On October 29, 1888, the name Edina won by a narrow margin of 47-42. Once that matter was settled, on December 12, 1888, voters approved incorporation nearly unanimously (54 for, 2 against).
That night, two Irishmen had dinner with the Bairds.
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In 2013, Edina marks its quasquicentennial, or 125th year, as an independent village. Celebration events include a Founder’s Day program on December 12, 2013, as well as a historic home tour that includes the Baird home. To learn more, check out the Edina Historical Society's website.
