The early history of Crystal is linked to a meeting of 55 pioneers who voted to organize the township of Crystal Lake in March 1860, which was only eight years after the Third Territorial Legislative Assembly created Hennepin County and the first claim was staked in the area.
Land west of the Mississippi was being surveyed at the time and the county was formed and what was to become Crystal Lake Township was recorded as part of Township 118 North, Range 21 West, west of the fifth principal meridian. The area was north and west of the town of Minneapolis, bounded by the west by the town of Plymouth and to the north by the town of Brooklyn. The Mississippi River was the eastern boundary.
The southern boundary included what now is part of north Minneapolis along the river to aproximately 26th Avenue North and west to what was then the western boundary of the town of Minneapolis (Lyndale Avenue). The boundary to the south extended to Lake Street.
In July 1858, two months after Minnesota was admitted to statehood in the union, the Hennepin County Board granted three tiers of section of land adjacent to north of Minneapolis to form the town of "Farmersville". This township never was incorporated however.
Crystal Lake Township was organized by taking two tiers of sections of land from the township of Brooklyn on the north and two tiers of Minneapolis on the south, 24 sections in all.
Minneapolis, organized as a town in 1856 and incorporated as a city ten years later, expanded rapidly until 1887, taking large portions of the Crystal Lake Township rural area. The Camden area next to the river in north Minneapolis was once part of the old township.
A western portion of Crystal Lake Township was cut off when the village of Golden Valley was organized in 1886.
John Ware Dowe was the first settler of Crystal Lake Township, arriving on March 26, 1852. The next day, John C. Bohanon arrived. More settlers arrived that year, including Mrs. Rhoda Bean and her family, Joel and Eben Howe, John M. Snow, Hiram Armstrong, David Smith, John Wesley Dow, George Camp and L. P. Warren.
The first adult death in CLT was recorded in 1853 when Lucretia McDenzie Bohanon died . She was the first wife of John Bohanon.
A caucus for the nomination of officers for the new town was held in 1860 ath the home of J. D. Malbon. The first election was on April 3 and elected town supervisors Henry S. Plummer, J. B. Johnson and Lorenzo P. Warren.
Crystal, with a population of 587, was incorporated as a village in 1887. The first election was in March and Arthur Sanborn was named president, Thomas Gearty, J. H. White and Philip Kuch were elected trustees. Other town officers chosen were Thomas Kirwood (assesor), N. R. Russ (recorder), J. B. Johnson (treasurer), D. C. Cradall and H.R. Stillman were lected justices of the peace and Charles Hommes the constable.
In 1887. A. B. Robbins settled in the area and purchased land to form Robbinsdale Park. Robbinsdale was incorporated as a village in 1893, taking about three sections of land from the village of Crystal.. The land included Crystal Lake, the lower portion of Twin Lake and most of the business area and populated area of Crystal.
Futher expansion by Minneapolis in 1887 also reduced the size of Crystal village. A post office in Crystal in 1885 was operated out of the home of Fred P. Stinchfield until the rural route delivery was established shortly after the turn of the century.
The first Crystal City Hall was built in 1891 on a site near 54th & West Broadway. The building served as a city hall until 1951 and was raised in 1962.
As a village, Crystal did not prosper until a reorganization in 1911 was undertaken to prevent annexation by Minneapolis. Like many other communities the village had become disorganized through the annexations to other towns and cities in the late 1800's. The last major boundary change took place in 1936 when the Township of New Hope was formed, taking the western portion of the Village of Crystal.
Finally, the village became a city of the second class in 1960. Today the city takes in an area of 5.8 square miles (circa 1976) and has a population of 30, 925 according to the 1970 census.
