The Mounds' picturesque hills gave Mounds View Township and later the school district, high school and village their names. For many years a play area for youth, hikers, picnickers, and skiers, the Mounds were taken out of the public and private domain by the Army for the Twin Cities Arsenal in 1941 and has since been carved by the mining of its extremely high grade of sand and gravel. Pictured here is the excavation of the Arsenal Sand and Gravel Company which had produced 750,000 tons of sand and gravel per year. The buildings in the upper right perimeter of the photo are ammunition sheds from the Arsenal. Many area residents found employment at the Arsenal or gravel company.
William Perry, with his wife, Ida (DeMars), and their children, was the son of early Mounds View Township resident, Charles Perry, who settled the land around Lake Johanna in 1849. Charles, the son of Abraham and Mary Ann Perry, emigrated to America from Switzerland with his parents in 1817 to the Selkirk Colony in Canada and then to Fort Snelling in Saint Paul. Abraham and his family were some of the first settlers in Saint Paul. William operated the Lake Johanna beach in Arden Hills for many years.
William Perry and his family ran Lake Johanna beach facilities in present-day Arden Hills, consisting of concessions, boat and swimsuit rental, dance pavilion, and picnic area. Perry was the son of Mounds View Township founder Charles Perry.