About Inver Grove History
This website, begun in May 2022 by US History students at Simley High School in Inver Grove Heights, MN, is designed to tell the history of a place over time. Two elements that contribute to making a place interesting and worthy of learning are its unique features, as well as how relatable it is to a larger narrative. The mosaic of history that Simley students have begun to create about the town in which they live and learn is captured here through primary documents, which help people discover, verify, revise, or remind them of the layers of the past that shape a place. Inver Grove History serves as a new archive that offers people a way to understand the people, events, and developments that have distinguished Inver Grove Heights from other places. At the same time, it gives people a lens through which to understand the larger patterns of US History.
Following their Advanced Placement exam in US History, taken in early May 2022, 23 Simley students launched themselves into the past–both distant and recent– to research topics that carried a personal connection to their lives and/or interests. Students worked individually and in groups to produce a collection of history that begins to capture the identity of a site on the Mississippi River southeast of St. Paul that would ultimately be known as Inver Grove Heights in the post-World War II period. Each of their exhibits either tells the story of IGH as a unique place, as a place that reflects the larger history of the United States, or a little of both. The stories are told through older primary texts, or through newer primary documents in the form of recently-made interviews that have now become oral histories. All of the history done here represents a foundation of a living and breathing archive of Inver Grove Heights history.
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This website is an ever-evolving window into the history of Inver Grove Heights and Simley High School. Its contents are by no means exhaustive, do not tell the story of the entirety of Inver Grove Heights, and reflect the work of Simley sophomores. Our thanks to ISD 199 staff, particularly superintendent Dave Berhardson, Simley principal Jerry Sakala, and ISD 199 administrative assistant Tracy Lautt for all their help in making district records accessible to the students working on this project.
In the future, Inver Grove History plans to invite community input and offer opportunities to get involved in the project by sharing oral histories, artifacts, and other information related to the history of Inver Grove and Simley High School. You can reach the leaders of this project at invergrovehistory at gmail dot com.
In the meantime, we invite you to explore the history of our community, appreciate the interest of the next generation in the stories of the past, and join this never-finished, always-ongoing project to better preserve the history of Inver Grove Heights.
Tom Goetz and Cory Haala
June 28, 2022