Here are a few other Burnsville facts:
• The city has the 10th-largest population in the state.
• Despite the different spelling, it was named after early landowner William Byrne. When it was a township, its name was commonly spelled Byrnesville.
• Burnsville today has a 1.2 million-square-foot mall, 3,300 acres of parks and refuges, and more than 2,200 businesses.
• Some Indian artifacts once were found in the River Hills area, but they mysteriously disappeared.
• Its lakeshores used to be home to a number of resorts that catered to Twin Cities residents.
• About 100 languages and dialects are spoken in Burnsville today.
• Burnsville settlers used a ferry over the Minnesota River until 1920, when the Lyndale Avenue drawbridge was built. That was replaced in 1960 by the Interstate 35W Bridge.
• The Black Dog power plant is named after a Dakota Sioux chief.
CHRISTOPHER J. HAMILTON
