Golden Valley, Minnesota facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Golden Valley
City
Golden Valley Library
Logo
Location of Golden Valley within Hennepin County, Minnesota
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Hennepin
Founded	1886
Incorporated	December 17, 1886
Government
• Type	Council / Manager
Area
• City	10.54 sq mi (27.30 km2)
• Land	10.20 sq mi (26.41 km2)
• Water	0.34 sq mi (0.88 km2)
Elevation	856 ft (261 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	22,552
• Estimate  (2022)	21,545
• Density	2,211.63/sq mi (853.87/km2)
• Metro	3,693,729
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
ZIP Codes	55416, 55422, 55426, 55427
Area code(s)	763
FIPS code	27-24308
GNIS feature ID	0644201

Golden Valley is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It's a "first-ring suburb" of Minneapolis, meaning it's one of the first cities you reach when leaving Minneapolis. In 2020, about 22,552 people lived there.

Golden Valley is mostly a place where people live, with many homes and neighborhoods. It's near U.S. Highway 12 (Interstate 394). More than 15% of the city is made up of parks and nature areas. A main road, The Floyd B. Olson Memorial Highway, goes through the city. This road helps people get to the industrial parts of Minneapolis easily.

Many big companies have their main offices in Golden Valley. For example, General Mills, a famous food company, has its headquarters here. Pentair also has its U.S. headquarters in the city. You'll also find the local NBC TV station, KARE, in Golden Valley. The city was once home to the main offices of Minneapolis-Honeywell, which are now the corporate offices for Resideo Technologies.

History of Golden Valley

Long ago, Ojibwe and Sioux Native American tribes had camps near Medicine Lake, which is close to Golden Valley. The first European settlers arrived in the early 1850s.

Golden Valley officially became a city on December 17, 1886. In the early 1900s, it was mostly a farming community.

Geography and Location

Golden Valley covers about 10.55 square miles (27.30 square kilometers). Most of this area is land, with a small part being water.

An important imaginary line called the 45th parallel north crosses through Golden Valley. This line is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole! It runs roughly along Duluth Street in the city.

Several major roads pass through Golden Valley. These include Interstate 394, U.S. Highway 169, and Minnesota State Highways 55 and 100. These roads help people travel in and out of the city.

Education in Golden Valley

The chapel at Breck School, a private Episcopal school in Golden Valley

Most children in Golden Valley attend public schools in either the Robbinsdale School District or the Hopkins School District. This is because the city's area is divided between these two districts. Some students can also choose to attend public schools in other districts through a program called "open enrollment."

Golden Valley once had its own high school, which opened in 1957, and a middle school, which opened in 1964. These schools closed in the early 1980s when the Golden Valley School District joined the Hopkins School District.

In 1981, the Breck School, which is a private Episcopal school, bought the old Golden Valley High School and Middle School buildings. They moved their campus from Minneapolis to this new location.

Other schools in Golden Valley include:

• King of Grace Lutheran School: This is a Christian preschool, elementary, and middle school.
• Good Shepherd Catholic School: This is a private elementary Catholic school. Its name was changed from Parkvalley Catholic in 2006.

The place where the Perpich Center for Arts Education is now located used to be Golden Valley Lutheran College. That college closed in 1985.

Economy and Major Employers

General Mills' corporate campus in Golden Valley.

Even though Golden Valley has about 22,000 residents, more than 30,000 people work there every day. This is because many large companies have offices and facilities in the city.

Here are some of the biggest employers in Golden Valley:

• General Mills: A very large food company.
• UnitedHealth Group: A major healthcare company.
• Honeywell: A company that makes many different products, from aerospace systems to building technologies.
• Tennant: A company that makes cleaning equipment.
• Pentair: A company focused on water solutions.
• KARE: The local NBC television station for the Twin Cities area.
• Minnesota United FC: The main office for this professional soccer team.
• Bluestone Garden
• Room & Board: A furniture company.
• USFamily.net: An internet service provider.

Largest Companies by Employees

According to a 2021 report, these are the companies with the most employees in Golden Valley:

Population and People

A deer in a Golden Valley neighborhood

In 2010, there were 20,371 people living in Golden Valley. There were 8,816 households, which are groups of people living together in one home.

About 85.4% of the people were White, 7.1% were African American, and 3.5% were Asian. About 2.6% of the population identified as Hispanic or Latino.

The average age of people in the city was 45.7 years old. About 19.9% of residents were under 18, and 20.3% were 65 or older. The population was almost evenly split between males (48.6%) and females (51.4%).

Notable People from Golden Valley

See also

In Spanish: Golden Valley (Minnesota) para niños