Location
Minneopa is in Blue Earth County MINNEOPA, a village in South Bend Township, section 20, was settled in 1876 and named from the falls nearby in the Minneopa River. The name is a contraction of a Dakota word meaning "follows the water, two waterfalls." A station of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway was in section 21.The state legislature in 1905 provided for the purchase of land containing the Minneopa Falls on the creek of this name in South Bend Township, about four miles west of Mankato, for public use as a state park. Its area is about 60 acres, comprising the falls, two near together, of 60 feet descent, with the gorge below. The railway station and townsite, named Minneopa, close to the falls, were platted in September 1870. This name is contracted from Dakota words, minne-hinhe-nonpa, which mean "water falling twice" or "two waterfalls." An early name of this stream was Lyons Creek, for a pioneer. It flows from Strom, Lily, and Crystal Lakes. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
