History
Eagan was named for Patrick Eagan, who was the first chairman of the town board of supervisors. He farmed a 220-acre parcel of land near the present-day town hall. Eagan (born 1811) and his wife Margaret Twohy (born 1816) emigrated from Tipperary, Ireland to Troy, New York, where they married in 1843. They arrived in Mendota circa 1853–54, before settling in the Eagan area.
The city was also visited by the “20th hijacker” of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Zacarias Moussaoui, before the attacks. Moussaoui attempted to complete flight training school, but was ultimately refused service by local resident Tim Nelson.
In 2012, Money ranked Eagan the 14th best place to live in the United States.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 33.43 square miles, of which 31.12 square miles is land and 2.31 square miles is water.
Interstate Highway 35E, Interstate Highway 494, Minnesota Highways 13, 55, 77, and 149 are six of Eagan’s main routes.
The Eagan Core Greenway is an ongoing project to preserve Eagan’s environmentally sensitive green space, with particular emphasis on Patrick Eagan Park and a two-mile (3 km) greenway connecting the park with Lebanon Hills Regional Park.
Economy
Eagan is home to legal publisher West, part of Thomson Reuters (7,350 employees), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota (3,900 employees), Scantron, and Coca-Cola’s Midwest bottling facility (900 employees).The sparsely populated northern portions of the city, being convenient to freeways and MSP Airport, are also home to a number of warehouses and distribution centers, including Minnesota’s largest UPS hub (1,400 employees).
Regional Elite Airline Services, Universal Cooperatives and Buffets, Inc. are also headquartered in Eagan.
Northwest Airlines had its headquarters in Eagan. After Northwest merged with Delta, the Northwest headquarters was disestablished. Todd Klingel, president of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, said that losing Northwest, a Fortune 500 company, would be “certainly a blow.” He added, “But it’s been expected for so long. Let’s get on with it. The key is what can we do to minimize the loss to Minnesota.” Mesaba Airlines employed around 1,830 people when it closed in 2011.
The Minnesota Vikings relocated their headquarters from Eden Prairie to Eagan, at the site of the former Northwest Airlines headquarters. The complex can be seen from Interstate 494. and is also home to the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, which serves as the Minnesota Vikings Training Facility. The facility is 277,000 square feet and includes an outdoor field that seats 6,500 fans. Fans can tour the facility or watch the daily activities on one of the six live action cameras around the stadium.
Notable People
Patricia Anderson- 17th Minnesota State Auditor and former mayor of Eagan
Angie Craig- Representative for Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district
Natalie Darwitz- Three time Olympic hockey player
Nicholas David- American Soul singer and 3rd place finalist on NBC‘s The Voice
Doron Jensen- founder of Timber Lodge Steakhouse
Sona Mehring- businesswoman and the founder and CEO of the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization CaringBridge
Laura Osnes- singer and actress
Mary Anderson Pawlenty- First Lady of Minnesota and Judge of the District Court of Minnesota
Tim Pawlenty- 39th Governor of Minnesota
Lori Swanson- Attorney General of Minnesota
Mike Schneider- professional poker player
Doug Wardlow- candidate for Attorney General of Minnesota
Tim Vakoc- former associate pastor of St. John Neumann Catholic Church and first U.S. military chaplain to die from wounds received in the Iraq War
Zach Zenner- NFL running back for the Detroit Lions