Lakeville is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a suburb of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, approximately 20mi south of both downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. On the Twin Cities metropolitan area's southern fringe, Lakeville is one of the fastest-growing cities in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded its population at 55,954 in 2010.Lakeville lies along Interstate Highway 35. Lakeville first became notable in 1910 when Marion Savage built the Dan Patch Railroad Line to service his Antlers Amusement Park. It later became a flourishing milling center; its agriculture industry is still in operation. While many of Lakeville's workers commute northward to Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and more central suburbs like Bloomington, Lakeville has had major industry since the 1960s—including the Airlake Industrial Park, which is served by Airlake Airport, a regional reliever airport.HistoryThe Sioux people ceded most of southern Minnesota in the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851. A military road was constructed between Fort Snelling and the southern forts. In 1855, J.J. Brackett, a Saint Paul lumber baron and mail carrier using the road, decided to plat a site halfway between Saint Paul and Saint Peter on a lake he named Prairie Lake. The village was established as Lakeville Township in 1858. Notoriety came when Colonel Marion Savage expanded his entertainment business into constructing Antlers Amusement Park in 1910. Riding on fame from his success with the Dan Patch racing horse and the popularity of the park, the lake was renamed Lake Marion, and the rail line servicing the park named the Dan Patch Railroad Line.
