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.
MNopedia
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.
Publishing giant Swan Turnblad made his mark on Minneapolis
Once publisher of the largest Swedish-language newspaper in the U.S., Turnblad’s former mansion now houses Minneapolis’ American Swedish Institute.
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.
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.
