Tonka Bay was incorporated as a village on September 11, 1901 and has an interesting history. The city, which has an area of about one square mile, is located between the upper and lower bodies of Lake Minnetonka. It has more Minnetonka shoreline than any other city of its size.
Tonka Bay made history long before 1901. In 1853 Peter Gideon staked out a claim of 160 acres in what is now Tonka Bay and where Gideon's Bay still bears his name. Gideon successfully propagated his first apples, "The Wealthy," named for his wife, before he died in 1899.
In 1879 on Echo Bay, the first of Minnetonka's great hotels was built. The Lake Park Hotel, later named the Tonka Bay Hotel, contained 200 rooms. A railroad from Minneapolis brought visitors to the hotel for summer visits.
The village was, and still is, an assortment of neighborhoods widely varied in aspect and marketable real estate value, and contained several large estates at the turn of the century. Clay Cliffe, located across from City Hall, was built in 1890 and consisted of 28 acres. "Old Orchard," another historic home, was built about 1887 by John F. Wilcox, the first mayor of Tonka Bay.
Many acres of land along what is now County Road 19 had once been filled with orchards. The wielder of the first ax in the forests was probably a man named Stephen Hull, who came to the area in 1853. Hull left his name on the first cut through the two lakes, then called "Hull's Narrows" and located about eighty feet north of West Point Road near County Road 19. Later, a shorter and deeper connection between the upper and lower lakes was dredged about a mile further west on the northern boundary of Tonka Bay. The first bridge was built in 1911.
Once the heyday of steam boating died and the tourists left, a more stable population of residents began to fill the village. In 1909, the school building was constructed. Attendance was heavy in the spring and fall. As families moved back to the big city during the winter, attendance dropped to a handful. In the period between 1923 and 1931, 31 families lived in the village throughout the year. In 1920, the city's worst fire occurred. Six homes burned to the ground. In 1984, resident Al Holde was commissioned to paint a mural of the city. It has been located in the City's Council Chambers since that time, and visitors are urged to come see the artwork.
The current population of Tonka Bay is 1547 (2000 census). The school building now serves as the Tonka Bay City Hall. There are approximately 651 homes in the City (310 off the lake, 317 on the lake).
