SILVER FOX FARM
From the Re-Echo, September 2007

The Fox Farm is an intriguing part of St. Louis Park History, but there are many unanswered questions, so we hope you will contact us if you have any clarifications, corrections, or additions.

St. Louis Park was the site of the United States Silver Fox Farm, " breeders of the Roosevelt Strain of Mormon Fox." The farm was established sometime in the early 1920s, and was removed at the end of the 1930s. We are not sure exactly where the fox farm was. There are two different but adjoining parcels, both facing Wayzata Blvd., on either side of Texas Ave.

WESTWOOD LAKE

A 1926 map shows that the Silver Fox Producer Assn. owned 80 acres, directly north of the Westwood Hills Golf Course, south of Wayzata Blvd, west of Texas. However, most of this site is now Westwood Lake and the northern end of Westwood Hills Environmental Education Center, so we scratch our heads. We do know that at one point the lake was drained by ditch to Bassett Creek. The map may not be 100 percent accurate; while Minnetonka Blvd. is labeled as such, Cedar Lake Road is labeled Cedar Lake Road OR Minnetonka Blvd.

A May 1931 Village planning map reiterated that the Fox Farm was located between Flag and Texas, and Wayzata Blvd. and 15th Street, which would be in the same general area. (There is no 15th Street today.)

WAYZATA AND LOUISIANA

We have eyewitnesses who will testify that there was definitely a Fox Farm at the southwest corner of the intersection of what is now Louisiana and Highway 394.

In August 1927, Dr. George Young moved his radio antenna for station WDGY to the Silver Fox Farm, described as Superior Boulevard and Falvey Crossroad (7401 Wayzata Blvd. at Louisiana.) So far we have no pictures of the tower or building, which was abandoned in 1949.

The 1926 map shows 19 acres at that area belonging to George L. Maddan, a name we don’t know.

The 1933 directory lists United Fur Ranches located at Louisiana and Wayzata Blvd. The farm could be seen from Louisiana, at the top of a hill that sloped up to the south. Later directories list it as 14th Street and Louisiana.

An undated photo captioned "A Birdseye View of U.S. Silver Fox Farm of Minneapolis" shows a large circle of pens (with foxes drawn into them) surrounding a three-story, tower-like building. Village Council minutes show that neighbors on the North Side complained about the fox farm, particularly about the noise from gunshots - not gunshots to kill the foxes, but to kill horses used to feed the foxes. [A reliable source says that this is unlikely - there were very few people living up there, and those who were there did a lot of hunting, so gunshots would have been prevalent.] The Village Council found that the company was committing a nuisance by their slaughtering of animals, and the recorder wrote a letter saying as much. The subsequent ordinance, passed in 1931, provides other hints at the goings-on, by requiring that the animals be properly fed and otherwise cared for. More complaints ensued in 1933, and a Mr. Harvey of the farm was brought before the Council and promised to move the farm as soon as he could afford to, it being the Depression and all. Based on the directories, it was apparently gone by 1939. See more at www.slphistory.org/history/foxfarm.asp



 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.