10/26/2000: Charles Perry Park (Arden Hills)

Join the hiking group for a hike in the varied terrain and scenery at the Charles Perry Park in Arden Hills. In 1850, Charles Perry (1816-1904,) originally from Switzerland, was the first settler to break ground in the area, planting potatoes on three acres next to Lake Johanna. During this time, the area was part of Mounds View Township. Aurelie Morissette (1828-1913,) the daughter of Jean Baptiste Joseph Morissette and Françoise Letendre, who came to Vadnais Heights from Quebec in 1847, first married Pierre Theroux, in 1847 in St. Paul, ang then married secondly, in a Catholic ceremony in 1849, to Charles Perry, with whom she had 13 children. The prior marriage between Morissette and Theroux was apparently annulled. Theroux drowned in Lake Vadnais in 1857. In 1906, Joseph Hackey, a State Senator and a millionaire, built a hobby farm called Arden Farms, which eventually formed the basis for the City's name. In 1941, the federal government purchased 2,530 acres of farmland for the establishment of an ammunition manufacturing site. In response to annexation requests by the City of New Brighton, in 1951, three residential areas and the ammunition site incorporated and became the city of Arden Hills.

From I-35W, proceed east on County Road D, then north (left) on Cleveland Avenue, then east (right) onto County Road E, then north (left) onto New Brighton Road. The entrance to the park is located on your right.

The hiking group will reconvene at a nearby restaurant after the hike for dinner or dessert.

Map to Charles Perry Park

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This webpage was last updated on April 11, 2004.