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

Sabes Jewish Community Center, Minneapolis

A mainstay of Jewish cultural life

Central Park, St. Paul

An exclusive Gilded Age neighborhood

Minnesota Building

Reinventing business architecture in the Twin Cities

Artificial Limb Industry in Minneapolis

A national center for innovation in prosthetics

Gedney Foods Company

Official source of "the Minnesota pickle"

St. Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse

A treasure trove of wood, stone, sculpture, and art-deco style

Minnesota State Boundaries

Tracking the changing shape of the North Star State

The Ho-Chunk and Blue Earth, 1855–1863

Adaptation, exile, and survival

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Sabes Jewish Community Center, Minneapolis

The Sabes Jewish Community Center (JCC) began in 1918 as a community center for immigrant youth on the North Side of Minneapolis. Located in St. Louis Park since the early 1960s, in the twenty-first century the Sabes JCC continues to be a mainstay of Jewish cultural life for the greater Minneapolis community.
Swede Hollow

Nestled into a small valley between the mansions of Dayton's Bluff and St. Paul proper, Swede Hollow was a bustling community tucked away from the prying eyes of the city above. It lacked more than it offered; houses had no plumbing, electricity, or yards, and there were no roads or businesses. In spite of this, it provided a home to the poorest immigrants in St. Paul for nearly a century.
Sibley, Henry H. (1811–1891)

Henry Hastings Sibley occupied the stage of Minnesota history for fifty-six active years. He was the territory's first representative in Congress (1849–1853) and the state's first governor (1858–1860). In 1862 he led a volunteer army against the Dakota under Taoyateduta (Little Crow IV). After his victory at Wood Lake and his rescue of more than two hundred white prisoners, he was made a brigadier general in the Union Army.
Minnesota Building

Built in 1929, the Minnesota Building represents a turning point in the economic history of downtown St. Paul and the architectural history of the entire Twin Cities area.
O'Connor Layover Agreement

The O'Connor layover agreement was instituted by John O'Connor shortly after his promotion from St. Paul Detective to Chief of Police on June 1, 1900. It allowed criminals to stay in the city under three conditions: that they checked-in with police upon their arrival; agreed to pay bribes to city officials; and committed no major crimes in the city of St. Paul. This arrangement lasted for almost forty years, ending when rampant corruption forced crusading local citizens and the federal government to step in.
Artificial Limb Industry in Minneapolis

The milling, logging, farming, and railroad industries that made Minneapolis a prosperous town in the late nineteenth century also cost many men their limbs, if not their lives. Minneapolis entrepreneurs, many of them amputees themselves, built on the local need and made the city one of the leading producers of artificial limbs in the United States.
Central Park, St. Paul

St. Paul's Central Park began in 1885 as an amenity for a new, upscale neighborhood north of the business district. As the city around it changed, so did the park; by the 1930s it had become a playground and meeting place for children and students. In 1975 it became a parking ramp.
American Jewish World Newspaper

Founded in 1912 by Rabbi Samuel Deinard as part of an effort to unify the German and Eastern European Jews of Minnesota, the American Jewish World newspaper celebrated its centennial in 2012.