Apple Valley is located in northwestern Dakota County, Minnesota, and a suburb of the Twin Cities.  It was incorporated in 1969, and was known before then as Lebanon Township.  As of the 2000 census, the city population was 45,527, making it the 15th most populous city in Minnesota.

     Sgt. Gregg Spandl of the Apple Valley Police Department designed the police force's patch, which depicts a Bengal tiger, symbol of the Minnesota Zoo located in Apple Valley.
     According to local developer Henry Broback, Lebanon Township was renamed Apple Valley because "...when you drive east on (County Road) 42 and turn to enter Lebanon, it reminded them of Apple Valley, California, which was a nice community."
     Developer Orrin Thompson helped to give the town its name, by promising everyone in his developments an apple tree in their backyard. Because the developments in the southwest corner of the city were a majority of the development when the town was incorporated, and because they all had apple trees, the town was named Apple Valley. Many of the homes in the southwestern Thompson developments still have their apple trees. So the city's name comes from Thompson's development rather than its prior history as farmland.