Eagan has a long and proud history stretching back much further than many people know. Established in 1860, with a population of 567, Eagan Township took its name from Patrick Eagan, the first Town Board Supervisor. Long before the Township though, this area was home to the Black Dog Native American village. The encampment, named for its Chief, sat on the shores of the Minnesota River. Eagan was a fertile agricultural area. Farming was the main occupation for most of its early inhabitants. Between about 1840 and 1930, so many onions were grown and shipped from here that Eagan was known as the Onion Capital of the U.S.