Dakota County History 101: Olivia Irvine Dodge (Oct. 7, 1918-Jan. 4, 2009) Philanthropist, Environmentalist

“The whole country is finally awakening to the desperate need for conservation, control of water and air pollution, and the need to teach tomorrow’s voters who will determine the fate of our natural environment.” It was 1967 and Olivia Irvine Dodge was taking action to address what she felt was a core need—for young people to understand and get close to nature.

In that year Dodge established the (named after her son), donating land and funds to start the nascent center. She founded another nature center, the Irvine Nature Center, in Maryland in 1975.

Olivia was born in 1918 and was raised and married at 1006 Summit Avenue in St. Paul in a home built by her father in 1911 for the sum of $50,000. 

As a young woman, Olivia had a chance to meet one of her heroes, Eleanor Roosevelt, when her family hosted the first lady on a visit to St. Paul. She would go on to develop a large collection of Roosevelt memorabilia, donating it to the University of Minnesota in 1975.

Olivia and her husband Arthur moved to West St. Paul in 1964 following 14 years in New York. At that time, truck farms still dominated the local landscape, but development was quickly changing the community into a suburban enclave.

Understanding that the need for environmental education would only grow as the lifestyles of Minnesotans changed from rural to urban and suburban; she purchased four farms over the next three years totaling about 120 acres in West St. Paul and Mendota Heights.   

This property would serve as the nucleus of the current nature center that includes 320 acres and serves as many as 40,000 visitors, mostly school children, every year. 

Olivia was a member of the Audubon Society, Save the Redwoods League, Minnesota Historical Society, Dakota County Historical Society, the Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, and a score more environmental and civic organizations.

While she was active in serving the causes she believed in, she largely stayed out of the public eye. That changed for a few months in 2002 during Governor Jesse Ventura’s term as governor. 

Remember the house she was born and raised in? She and her sister Clotilde Emily Irvine donated that home to the people of Minnesota in 1965. It has been better known to the public as the Governor’s Mansion ever since. Over the public protests of Dodge and other citizens, Ventura closed the mansion in 2002 as a cost-saving measure. The mansion did, of course, reopen and is still the governor’s residence. 

Dodge passed away in January of 2009.

 Learn more about the Dakota County Historical Society and the Minnesota Historical Society online and check out the Society on Facebook.