‘The Paradise of Minnesota’: The history of Whitewater State Park
The park’s official creation dates from 1919, though no land was purchased until 1921. By 1926, despite few roads and minimal park facilities, 40,000 visitors came.
MNopedia
Opioids trial, 1952: The downfall of Hennepin County Coroner Russell Heim
Federal drug agents had become curious about the unusual number of prescriptions for morphine and other narcotics that Heim issued from his 12 West Lake Street office.
When Gov. Orville Freeman declared martial law in Albert Lea during a packing plant strike, he didn’t just target strikers
Freeman also ordered the plant closed.
Minnesotan Albert Henry Woolson was the last surviving Civil War veteran
When Woolson enlisted in the Union Army as a private at Okaman on October 10, 1864, he was fourteen years old.
How snowmobiles launched Polaris into a nationally known company
Minnesota’s snowmobile industry was born in January 1956, when a mechanic named David Johnson assembled a prototype of a snow-going vehicle in the garage of Polaris Industries, a small machine shop in Roseau.
For almost a century, Malt-O-Meal has been made in Northfield
John S. Campbell grew up in a milling family and often ate bland hot wheat cereal. He decided to make a new breakfast food with more flavor that was easier to prepare.
Before Martha Dorsett could become Minnesota’s first female attorney, she had to get the law changed
Martha Angle Dorsett pushed bills at the Legislature that opened up legal practice to all women.
In the midst of a national rowing craze, the Minnesota Boat Club brought the sport to St. Paul
By the late 1860s, rowing had become a national craze, with professional rowers in the spotlight as the country’s first sports celebrities.
The Minneapolis-founded American Indian Movement responded to the needs of urban American Indians
It grew into an international movement whose goals included the full restoration of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights.
The 1985 Hormel strike was one of Minnesota’s most contentious labor disputes
The strikers, members of United Food and Commercial Workers’ Local P-9, cited a wage freeze, dangerous working conditions, and a wage cut as the reasons for the strike.
A bill for woman suffrage was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 1870. It was vetoed
Senator William Lochren of Rochester protested that the governor could not legally veto a constitutional amendment bill. But an amendment vote never happened.
On June 15, 1920, a Duluth mob lynched three black men
A grand jury indicted thirty-seven white men for rioting and/or murder. Only eight, however, were tried.
Remember the game ‘Cootie’? It was made in Minnesota
Herbert W. Schaper was a mailman in Minneapolis and a fisherman who made his own lures. One day, he added six legs to a lure that he had whittled and called it a “Cootie.”
Minnesota’s Anna Dickie Olesen was the first female major-party nominee for the U.S. Senate
Olesen’s oratorical skills and political acumen on the Chautauqua circuit soon caught the attention of national Democrats.
In 1885, Minneapolis was host to the American Woman Suffrage Association Convention
At the convention, AWSA President William Dudley Foulke delivered a powerful speech in which he reminded the assembly that “the just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed,” a principle violated with the vote denied to female citizens.
The rise and fall of Minneapolis’ Gateway District
The Gateway District was Minneapolis’ original downtown.
Six workers died during the construction of the Minnesota Capitol
Five of the deaths were due to falls.
The Minnesota Timberwolves were almost called the ‘Polars’
The NBA’s four-team expansion in 1987 included the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Orlando Magic, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Miami Heat.
During the 1939 WPA strike in Minneapolis, things got violent
Minnesota was the only state in which strikers faced criminal charges for preventing people from working.
During the 1980s farm crisis, Minnesota lost more than 10,000 farms
By 1982, 49 percent of the 11,000 farmers in Minnesota with Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) loans were in delinquency, and more than 300 farms faced foreclosure.
