By Mark W. Olson

In the late 1950s, Chanhassen Township farmers were being approached with the “unbelievable” offer of $400 an acre for land that typically went for half that price, recalled the late Fred Molnau, in a 2001 interview.

The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis was actually the interested party. Prompted by the expansion of Excelsior Boulevard, which bisects the Minikahda course, the club was considering building a second course where majors could be held, explained Tom Brakke, Hazeltine member and chairperson of its Heritage Committee.

Minikahda members ultimately voted down the site. However, Minikahda member Totton P. “Tot” Heffelfinger, president of the U.S. Golf Association in 1952 and 1953, later said, “I felt that this was just too good a thing to let drop.”

Tom Brakke“Heffelfinger was a force – not just in Minnesota golf, but on the national level as president of the U.S.G.A,” said Brakke. So the land was purchased through a subsidiary of grain company P.H. Peavey, Co., of which Heffelfinger was president.

Plans for a golf course and housing development became public in 1959. A couple years later, Heffelfinger officially announced plans for the “Executive Golf Club of Minnesota.” Renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones, who designed the course, called the site’s natural terrain “perfect for a golf course.”

The course, later named Hazeltine National Golf Club, would ultimately host several majors, including the upcoming 91st annual PGA tournament

However, while the course has brought the area international name recognition, it also shaped the future of Chaska and Chanhassen.

Chan fights back

When plans began for Hazeltine, the site was located in the middle of farm country, almost four miles north of Chaska.

Chaska was confined to the Minnesota River Valley. Farms dominated the area above the bluffs. But city officials were already considering ways to get “up the hill.” (The school district banked on it, and in 1958 took an option on 77-1/2 acres of farmland for future schools along Highway 41.)

Jules SmithBut Hazeltine was the starter pistol. “It was really what kind of set it off,” said then-city attorney Julius “Jules” Smith, a Chaska resident. “Hazeltine was the big impetus for annexation.”

The city had considered annexing land north of town, but only about a mile to Engler Boulevard or the ravine along Highway 41, next to the current Chaska Elementary School, Smith recalled.

However, then Peavey purchased about 1,400 acres of land for the future golf course. And the course needed sewer and water – necessitating annexation.

So in late 1961, the city petitioned the Minnesota Municipal Commission to annex almost 5,000 acres of land. On Feb. 6, 1963, the commission approved a 3,500-acre annexation, tripling the size of the Chaska.

The Chanhassen Township annexation (challenged unsuccessfully all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court) caught many of its residents unaware. The move prompted the remainder of Chanhassen Township to merge with the existing village of Chanhassen. “They merged as a defensive incorporation, so Chaska couldn’t take anymore of their property,” Smith noted.

The annexation prompted Al Klingelhutz to action. He ran successfully for the Chanhassen Township board to “try to incorporate the township with another municipality, or on their own, so that those things couldn’t happen again.”

At the time, the towns of Excelsior and Victoria were seeking land to expand, Klingelhutz said. “I was pushing for Chanhassen because Chanhassen had a pretty good center already,” he said. The township of Chanhassen was incorporated into the village of Chanhassen, and the rest is history. Klingelhutz went on to become one of the city’s first councilors.

Hazeltine

and Jonathan

The annexation was a success, but the small town of Chaska had no way of paying for the water and sewer north to Hazeltine.

So Hazeltine agreed to finance the project, reimbursing the city for its bond payments. Then, when land between old Chaska and Hazeltine was developed and hooked to the lines, Hazeltine would be reimbursed.

So the city completed an extension of 22,700 feet of sewer line and 17,000 feet of water line to the Hazeltine development in 1966, essentially opening the way for future northerly development.

The project included a 300,000-gallon water tank. “The sky blue sphere lettered ‘Chaska’ is physical evidence of the city’s outstanding development area,” reported the Herald.

The infrastructure began setting the groundwork for Henry McKnight’s “New Town” of Jonathan, which was made public in August 1967.

McKnight owned 1,700 acres of land near Victoria. The McKnight property to the west and Hazeltine property to the east formed “two big anchors,” noted Smith, who would later become a lead official with the Jonathan Development Corporation. “All we had to do was connect the two.” So, ultimately, some of the Hazeltine land became part of the Jonathan master plan.

The large developments of Hazeltine and Jonathan ended up being a one-two punch, ultimately filling out most of northern Chaska.

“Hazeltine was a great thing for Chaska,” Smith said.

Early Hazeltine History

1959: Early plans for two 18-hole golf courses and a development of 300 homes announced

1961: Executive Golf Club of Minnesota, designed by Robert Trent Jones announced; Chaska petitions for annexation of Chanhassen Township

1962: Hazeltine National Golf Club opens

1966: Hazeltine hosts the U.S. Women’s Open, the first of several majors; city completes expansion of sewer and water to Hazeltine.

1967: Chanhassen Township, in response to Chaska annexation, merges with the village of Chanhassen.

Source: Chaska Herald archives