Maple Grove residents

At age 17, Jakob Fjeldsted has seen more of the world than most of us have at 30 or 40. The globetrotting Maple Grove High School junior spent last year’s summer vacation traveling solo in Asia—where he focused on giving back instead of on leisure. Fjeldsted joined a volunteer program, where he taught English in a Thai village, and ventured into new cultures in Taiwan and Indonesia. Pretty impressive, huh? We talked with him about his trip and about why he decided to devote his summer to service.  Read more about Maple Grove High School junior Jakob Fjeldsted talks about his summer traveling solo—and teaching English—in Asia.

One of the earliest settlers of Maple Grove was the Koehler family. Gottlieb and Gottlieben Koehler came to the area from Germany by way of Missouri. “This was right around the Civil War time and it was too violent with all the fighting going on in Missouri,” says great-granddaughter Emily (Koehler) Amann. The Koehlers built a log cabin in 1855 just south of where Hwy. 30 crosses Dunkirk Ln. N. In 1887, their son Jacob built a barn on the land northeast of Rush Creek that still stands next to the house the Koehlers built in 1889, lovingly kept in its original period style by Emily Amann. Read more about Maple Grove's Earliest Settlers Made the Most of Winter.