A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
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April 26
| 1840 |
Father Lucien Galtier arrives in St. Peter's (Mendota) to organize a Catholic church. He soon builds a chapel down the river at the settlement that becomes known as St. Paul. |
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| 1877 |
Governor John S. Pillsbury appoints this day for prayer to relieve the state from the swarms of Rocky Mountain locusts that had plagued farmers for four years. The locusts linger until August, when they disappear. |
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| 1896 |
Edward J. Thye is born near Frederick, South Dakota. Thye would succeed Harold E. Stassen to become the twenty-sixth governor of the state and, notably, the first farmer to hold the office. During his term, he would reduce the state debt, increase old-age assistance, expand state institutions, establish a human rights commission, and approve a health-care plan for state employees. As a Republican senator from 1947 to 1958, he would be one of seven to sign Margaret Chase Smith's "declaration of conscience" against Joseph McCarthy. He died at his farm near Northfield on August 28, 1969. |
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| 1924 |
In a prohibition scandal, two agents are arrested for stealing $100,000 in confiscated liquor that had been stored in a Minneapolis warehouse. Eventually, four agents are suspended and warrants are issued for seven others. |
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| 1972 |
Vietnam War protestors stage a demonstration at Honeywell, Inc., which at the time manufactured fragmentation bombs. |
 The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Feminist Caucus was founded in 1973 to advocate for feminist positions on issues like poverty among women, abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment. Its members lobbied the Minnesota State Legislature, endorsed candidates, and produced a US Senate candidate of their own in 1984. |
 The Church of St. Columba in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood is the only Minnesota work by the Chicago architect Francis Barry Byrne. Architectural historian and critic Larry Millett calls it “a high point of modern church architecture in the Twin Cities.” |
Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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