David Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, developed the game in Minnesota
Arneson introduced extensive roleplaying into Ernest Gary Gygax’s game of medieval combat, and D&D was born.
MNopedia
St. Paul native John Vachon made a mark with his photographs of the Depression-era Midwest
After getting kicked out of college due to drinking, Vachon found work with the Farm Security Administration.
For a few years in the late sixties, Jonathan, Minnesota was the city of the future
Jonathan was one of the first “new towns” to be built in the United States.
The Tilt-A-Whirl, a fair staple, was invented in Minnesota
Herbert Sellner founded the Sellner Woodcraft Company in 1912 to manufacture mission furniture, lamps, and other wood articles. By 1923, Sellner’s creativity evolved.
Influenza epidemic of 1918 killed 72 in Cottonwood County alone
An estimated 50 million people died of the flu around the world in 1918 and 1919.
Painter Francis Lee Jaques found his inspiration depicting Minnesota’s natural world
Birds, especially ducks, were a favorite subject.
Cloquet’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed service station represents a milestone in American gas-station design
The station was the only building concept ever constructed from Wright’s utopian vision of a model American community called Broadacre City.
Opened in 1908, the Ranier Railroad Bridge in northern Minnesota is still one of America’s busiest ports of entry
In 2019, traffic over the Ranier Bridge has grown to more than twenty trains a day with most pulling between 100 and 200 cars.
Could Minneapolis elect a Socialist mayor? It did in 1916
During the 1916 campaign, Thomas Van Lear successfully used controversies surrounding Twin Cities Rapid Transit streetcar fares and corporate control of the city’s utilities to his advantage.
Founded in 1973, The DFL Feminist Caucus gave women a stronger voice in the party
The caucus started with a focus on advocating for feminist positions on issues like poverty among women, abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Minnesota’s recorded history begins at the Jeffers Petroglyphs
Situated in Dakota homeland, the Jeffers site is sacred to multiple Native American nations, including the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Iowa, and Ojibwe.
Duluth activist Irene Levine Paull advocated for timber workers, the labor movement
For her troubles, she was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1962.
Workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division helped build infrastructure on and off of reservations
Beginning in 1933, Ojibwe and Dakota work crews in Minnesota signed on with the CCC-ID to provide income for themselves and their families.
One of oar own: Duluth’s Walter Hoover was an early-twentieth-century rowing powerhouse
At the 1921 National Championships in Buffalo, Hoover won the intermediate single, the senior single, and the quarter-mile dash, which caught the attention of the rowing world.
Last week’s cold may have been rough, but the winter of 1936 in Cottonwood County sounds a lot worse
Temperatures dropped to 30 degrees below zero in late January and did not rise above zero for thirty-six days.
For the birds: Minnesota’s Carlos Avery Game Refuge played a role in reviving several game species
The Minnesota Department of Conservation (MDC, later the Department of Natural Resources) bought 8478.73 acres of land from the Crex Carpet Company in 1933 for a wildlife refuge.
The 1918 influenza pandemic killed thousands of Minnesotans
The flu, also known as the grip or grippe, occurred in three waves in 1918: March to early summer; the fall; and winter extending into early 1919.
Barn Bluff has stood over thousands of years of history in the Red Wing area
A public park since 1910, the ancient bluff serves as an impressive landmark.
Minnesota’s America First Association was formed to support a foreign war, not oppose it
The leaders of the AFA sought to counter what they perceived to be apathy or hostility toward the American war effort against Germany and Austria during World War I.
Mille Lacs Indian Trading Post became a lot more than just a trading post
Mille Lacs Indian Trading Post opened in 1918 when new businessman Harry D. Ayer acquired a trader’s license from the White Earth Indian Agency allowing him to trade with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.