The Richest Minnesota Town is Hidden From Google Street View

These days, most people want their business to show up on Google, but the wealthiest residents in Minnesota are fighting to stay invisible. This small town consistently ranks among the richest communities in the state; however, if you try to look it up on Google Street View, you'll hit a brick wall.

It's around 12 miles north of St. Paul, right in the heart of the Twin Cities Metro, yet many have never even heard of its existence. And those who live there would like to keep it that way.

The town itself is just about 8 square miles and has a population of approximately 5,000. It's also one of the most private zip codes in the U.S., and they have a very legal (and very expensive) reason for keeping the rest of us on the outside looking in.

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Welcome to the Richest (And Most Hidden) Town in All of Minnesota

If you take a look at the wealthiest cities and towns in the 'Land of Ten Thousand Lakes', more often than not, the small community of North Oaks will be at the top of the list. Just minutes from the Twin Cities, North Oaks got its start as a private and planned community. It originated as a 3,300-acre farm of railroad tycoon James J. Hill and was later developed in the 1950s as an upscale and private planned residential community.

In the decades since, it's become one of the wealthiest zip codes in the entire country, and with that kind of wealth comes immense power.

So much power that in 2008, North Oaks threatened to sue tech giant Google after finding its city streets had been published on "Google Street View".

What sets the city apart is its strict privacy: "Because residents' properties extend to halfway across the road, all residential roads in the city are private and for the use of North Oaks residents and their invited guests only.

-Patch Website

So, in a sense, the tiny town of North Oaks found a loophole in Google Maps. But just because the public can't see what this private community looks like from ground-level, doesn't mean we can't see it from the sky, right?

That's what one YouTuber recently set out to find out. Take a look at his results in the two videos below.

Story Sources: Patch Website