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This Day in Minnesota History

February 12, 1939

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More than 3,000 people (two-thirds of them children) escape death or serious injury when they rush out of the Amphitheatre in Duluth seconds before the steel-and-wood roof of the expansive sports arena collapses under the weight of snow during an intermission in the annual Duluth police department and Virginia (Minn.) fire department hockey game. The swift evacuation is credited to the fact that many spectators are in the front lobby at the time, as well as to the presence of most of the city's police officers and the calmness of organist Leland McEwen, who remains at his post playing soothing music until the last moment.

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