Within a few years, other settlers arrived and turned the prairie land into wheat fields. Moser's family arrived in the area in 1853, followed a year later by the Varners. He said 'it was wheat, acres of it glimmering in a summer sun, that put the word 'golden' in Golden Valley.' An unattributed article in the Suburban Press claimed the name Golden Valley 'came about because of the yellow of the cowslips, goldenrod, and sunflowers which covered the hills in 1852 when the first pioneers settled in the valley.' As soon as he read that article, 75-year-old Robert Moser, lifelong resident and son of early homesteader Carl Moser, called the paper to set the record straight. In the distance, he could see a lake shining in the sunlight and he said, 'This is my valley, my Golden Valley.' ' That hill, now much eroded by nature and humans, is currently home to the Golden Valley Country Club.īacktrack to May 29, 1958. He climbed the hill and looking down he could see the whole valley lush and green dotted with golden daffodils. Upon arriving at St Anthony Falls in 1854, Varner headed west to find a home site and eventually came upon 'a hill so high that he thought it was a mountain.

According to Golden Valley: A History of a Minnesota City, 1886-1986, the city was named by William Varner, one of the area's first settlers. The most recent explanation, published in 1986, cites daffodils as the inspiration. Was it daffodils or wheat? The story of how Golden Valley got its name has several variations however, references to grain outnumber those to wildflowers.

Golden valley farms