Visitors to Mahtomedi will find a community that appreciates its past. Mahtomedi has been a summer retreat for a variety of users. The City was founded as a Chautauqua community around 1900 when visitors would come to the east shore of White Bear Lake for recreation, lectures, music, and a time of reflection. Later Wildwood Amusement Park was built by the streetcar company to give Twin Cities residents a reason to ride to the end of the line. At about the same time, summer homes and cottages began to be built as Mahtomedi became a resort and vacation destination. The area was so popular that even Ma Barker and her gang spent time here when they were in town.

Today, Mahtomedi is a community still focused on its single greatest recreational amenity, White Bear Lake.