Burnsville (/ˈbɜːrnzvɪl/ BURNZ-vil) is a city 15 miles (24 km) south of downtown Minneapolis in Dakota County, Minnesota.

Burnsville and nearby suburbs form the southern portion of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.7 million residents.

Now the ninth-largest suburb in the metro area and a bedroom community of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul, it was fully built by the late 2000s.

The Mdewakanton Dakota were the earliest inhabitants, arriving by the Minnesota River, following water fowl and game animals.

At the south end of Burnsville, Crystal Lake, recorded as "Minne Elk", was used for fishing, leisure and burial.

[9][10] The Dakota nation ceded land in 1851 and many relocated to Chief Shakopee's village—the Shakopee-Mdewakanton Indian Reservation in nearby Prior Lake.

There is some ambiguity about whether the name actually derived from Byrne, since there were people with the surname "Burns" (a Scottish variant) living in the area.

Burnsville originally comprised the present-day downtown of Savage (then known as Hamilton) until county border revisions by the legislature.

Irish and Scottish settlers left their names on many area roads and parks and their religion in Presbyterian, Protestant, and Catholic churches.

By 1920, the Lyndale Avenue Drawbridge opened next to Black Dog Lake, extending Minneapolis's first north-south highway to the rural communities of southern Minnesota.

In 1950, just before the World War II postwar housing boom, Burnsville was still a quiet township with a population of 583.

[15] After the arrival of Interstate 35W in 1960, the next two decades saw the largest boom in population when postwar pressures forced the community to develop at rapid pace.

[16] Mass housing development followed and former mayor Connie Morrison has said city managers had foresight in producing shopping nodes in walking distance of most homes.

[9] The city became a regional pull when Burnsville Center opened in 1977 and produced the heavily traveled retail strip on County Road 42.

The city approached build-out in the late 1990s and changed focus from new development to redevelopment and rehabilitation of existing structures.

A relative who dedicated William Byrne Elementary in the 1960s considered petitioning to correct the spelling but most of the family had moved away for several decades.

On Burnsville's northern border, the Minnesota River winds through marshland and flood plains toward its confluence with the Mississippi.

[7] Starting in the 1850s, Old stock Americans from the east coast and French Canadians moved into eastern Dakota County near Saint Paul.

Those from Germany and Eastern Europe gradually joined the minority from the packing jobs in nearby South St. Paul.

Irish descendants maintained the majority through the early 1950s owing to the town's origin, overall land ownership, and the practice of marrying within ethnic clans.

In 1960, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded the population of Byrnesville Township at 2,716 and soon after, the postwar growth was dramatic, filling the city with second- to third-generation European descendants from Minneapolis.

Burnsville's biggest employer is its school district, Independent School District 191, followed by Fairview Ridges Hospital, UTAS Sensor Systems, Northern Tool + Equipment, Pepsi-Cola Bottling, YRC, Mackin Educational Resources, Cub Foods, Frontier Communications, and AMS Holding.

Many employers, including Abdallah Candies and UTC Aerospace Systems, are in the industrial areas in the southwest and the north, with corporate headquarters and modern warehouses in services and manufacturing.

Burnsville is a 15- to 30-minute drive from many regional attractions and services, such as the Mall of America, Valleyfair Amusement Park, Buck Hill Ski Area, the Minneapolis–St.

Adjacent cities of Apple Valley, Bloomington, Eagan, Lakeville, and Savage provide even more shopping hubs, lakes and parks.

Burnsville's "Heart of the City" project is a downtown development policy driven by smart growth and new urbanism.

[29] Grande Market Square at Nicollet Avenue and Burnsville Parkway is the cornerstone of the Heart of the City project, and features a Doron Jensen-signature restaurant.

Taking on the New England fire muster[32] tradition, the event now includes a large parade, music concerts, and fireworks.

Large pockets of ramblers and split-level houses were due to Interstate 35W's completion in the 1960s which came earlier than most of the metro highways.

Burnsville Public Works draws water from wells and not the Minnesota River, supplying all homes and businesses.