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    MNopedia

    MNopedia — A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events and things in Minnesota history.

    Butler, Pierce (1866–1939)

    The first Minnesotan to serve as a justice of the US Supreme Court

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    A man wearing a suit jacket and tie sits in a study with a book open on the desk in front of him.

    Forest Fires

    Some of the state's deadliest natural (and not-so-natural) disasters 

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    A destroyed structure sits in the foreground next to a standing wooden pole, with charred buildings and fire survivors in the background.

    Commercial Logging, 1838–1949

    An industry that reshaped Minnesota's land, water, and people

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    A railroad car sits on a track next to a stack of logs that extends into an obscured vanishing point at the lower left.

    DesJarlait, Patrick (1921–1972)

    A modernist painter who depicted his Red Lake Ojibwe kin in a contemporary style

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    Five figures act out the steps of making maple sugar

    Deformed Frogs in Le Sueur County, 1995

    An environmental mystery discovered by Minnesota middle-school students

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    Three people carrying fishing nets walk through ankle-deep water (waist-deep in the middleground). There is shoreline at the front-right corner and in the background.

    Minneapolis-Moline Company

    The "whole line" farm-equipment firm that dominated its industry in the mid-twentieth century

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    Three-wheeled tractor with a yellow body sitting on green grass in front of a blue sky in the background.

    Walleye

    The state fish of Minnesota and a perennial fan favorite

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    Vietnamese Community of Minnesota

    A nonprofit organization active since 1981

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    Vietnamese Community of Minnesota

    Recently Added Articles

    Orange salt-and-pepper shakers, a yellow pitcher, and a taupe oil pourer in fluid, round shapes sit against an indigo background.

    Red Wing Pottery

    Creator: Alex Magnolia
    First Published: September 18, 2026
    The pottery produced in Red Wing is a tangible, material record of Minnesota’s history. In the late nineteenth century, Red Wing stoneware supported agriculture. In the early twentieth ...
    Thing
    1870–1920 (Development of Industrial US)
    1920–1945 (Great Depression and World War II)
    1945–1989 (Post-World War II United States)
    Arts
    Business and Industry
    A wrecked steamship sits partially submerged in water, with its bow facing the shore of a lake, with buildings behind it.

    Mataafa Storm, 1905

    Creator: Abigail Venuso
    First Published: August 19, 2026
    On November 27, 1905, sailors on Lake Superior faced heavy snowfall, sustained winds up to seventy miles per hour, massive waves, and subzero wind chill temperatures. The Mataafa storm, ...
    Event
    1870–1920 (Development of Industrial US)
    Environment
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    This Day in Minnesota History (September 24)

    1848

    Photographer Edward A. Bromley is born in New Haven, Connecticut. Considered the first regular newspaper staff photographer in the United States, Bromley would be connected with the Minneapolis Journal and the Minneapolis Times and would emphasize the importance of photographs in illustrating news stories and chronicling historic events. He died in 1925.

    1867

    In the first State Baseball Championship, the St. Paul North Stars beat the Hastings Vermillion 43-35.

    1886

    Dr. Justus Ohage performs the nation's first successful gall bladder surgery, at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul.

    1924

    Louis Warren Hill, second son of James J. Hill, is sued by seven of his nine siblings over his inheritance of the family's North Oaks farm and Burlington Northern railroad bonds totaling $750,000, all a gift from his mother, Mary T. Hill, shortly before her death. The "Allied Siblings" allege that their mother was not of sound mind and that Louis had intimidated her into bequeathing the legacy. The suit is eventually dropped because it could be proved that Mrs. Hill was competent when she made the gift.

    1934

    Arne Carlson is born in New York City. He served as the state's thirty-seventh governor. Among his achievements was an innovative solution to the school voucher issue: a $1,000-per-child tax credit for families earning less than $35,000 per year.

    1963

    President John F. Kennedy speaks at the University of Minnesota at Duluth on the subject of high unemployment in the northern Great Lakes area, where joblessness was about twice the national average.

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