[2] Officially formed in 1997, the MMDTC has sought to be a federally recognized tribe by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as offering community activities such as pow wows, Dakota language and culture classes, and partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society.

[5] The first official contact between the Dakota and the United States Government was the 1805 Pike's Treaty, in which the U.S. was able to establish a military fortress, Fort Snelling, and the land that became the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.

[8][9] The Dakota were ultimately defeated by the white Minnesotans, and noncombatants were then placed in a concentration camp near Fort Snelling, on Wita Tanka.

After the U.S.-Dakota War, these families assisted in trying to drive out the Dakota combatants along with other Minnesotans, and so were able to maintain residence near Minneapolis and St. Paul in the towns of Mendota and Lilydale.

Shortly after the formation of the MMDTC, the community was a prominent body in the protest of the rerouting of Highway 55, whose proposed route threatened important Dakota sites such as Coldwater Springs.

The Mendota community, along with the American Indian Movement and Earth First!, fought for the Minnesota Department of Transportation to adjust its plans to preserve these spaces.