The U.S.-Dakota war of 1862 lasted just six weeks, but its effects are still felt today
The war devastated people throughout south-central Minnesota.
Peter J. DeCarlo
Why a new statue of Ojibwe leader Shaynowishkung was created to stand on the shores of Lake Bemidji
The statue replaced a 1952 wooden sculpture that some saw as an offensive caricature of a Native American man.
The complicated history of St. Paul’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial
Crowning the monument is a statue of Josias R. King, who is widely regarded as the first US volunteer in the Civil War. King also participated in violent campaigns to punish Dakota people after the US-Dakota War of 1862, known as the Punitive Expeditions.
War in cars: the brief history of the Minnesota Motor Corps
Made up of volunteers and their vehicles, the corps existed for the duration of World War I.
Joseph Rolette’s first trip to serve in the Minnesota legislature took 18 days — by dogsled
He also once caused lawmakers to endure a 123-hour session while he laid low in (possibly) a brothel.
Chippewa National Forest’s Marcell Ranger Station exemplifies 1930s National Parks Service architecture
The Service sought to achieve harmony with nature, to use materials native to the landscape, and to build the minimal number of structures needed.
Defenders of order and infringers of rights: the mixed record of the Minnesota Home Guard
When the Minnesota National Guard was federalized in the spring of 1917, the state created the Minnesota Home Guard.
An architectural hybrid, the Fournier House was one of the first built in North Minneapolis
The house was designed by architect Lawrence A. Fournier and built in 1910.
Since 1915, the Northeast Neighborhood House has welcomed new immigrants to Minneapolis
The Northeast Minneapolis institution served as a portal into American society for newly arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe and an advocate for the neighborhood’s underprivileged.
Art Deco comes to Minnesota: St. Paul’s Minnesota building
Built in 1929, the building represents a turning point in the economic history of downtown St. Paul and the architectural history of the entire Twin Cities area.
Preserving Czech culture in Northern Minnesota: Lodge Boleslav Jablonsky No. 219
The Jablonsky lodge was organized in 1914 to obtain life insurance at a reasonable cost and provide a gathering place where Czechs could speak their own language.
The Minnesota wheat fungus that helped win World War II
As war threatened to cut off imported supplies of crude ergot, Universal Laboratories developed an effective collecting and processing operation in Dassel, MN.
A towering symbol of business success: St. Paul’s Commerce Building
St. Paul’s Commerce Building reflects the economic strength and civic influence of St. Paul’s business organizations at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Asylum alternative: the Minnesota State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children
By the late 1870s civic leaders were questioning the role of asylums and orphanages in the care of neglected children. States began establishing public schools with cottages on the grounds.
Nearly 150 years of wool manufacturing in Faribault
Faribault Woolen Mills started as a small family-owned business in the nineteenth century and grew to become the largest and longest-surviving woolen mill in the state.
The Merritt family helped put the ‘iron’ in Iron Range
On the cusp of controlling a mining empire in northern Minnesota, they lost everything to business titan John D. Rockefeller.
When the Dakota moved to reservations: The Treaty of Mendota
By signing the Treaty of Mendota and the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, the Dakota transferred ownership of their lands to the United States.
