Oregon Trail (computer game)

First imagined in 1971 by Minnesota student teachers, Oregon Trail went on to become the longest-published and most successful educational game of all time. As of 2017, more than 65 million copies have been sold worldwide, and the game that began on a teletype machine remains popular in a version designed for smartphones.

Origins of Hamline University

In 1854, a group of Methodist ministers founded Hamline University in Red Wing. It was the first college established in Minnesota Territory.

Origins of the American Legion in Minnesota, 1919–1922

At the close of World War I, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) was the only centralized veterans’ organization prepared to help returning soldiers re-enter civilian life and to assist the families of the deceased. The American Legion formed soon after the war in order to serve veterans returning from Europe. Minnesota’s department of the Legion answered the call, creating programs that assisted veterans and led the way for the organization.

Origins of the NAACP in Minnesota, 1912–1920

In the years leading up to and immediately following World War I, African Americans in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth established separate chapters of the recently formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Origins of the Northwest School of Agriculture (NWSA), 1905–1940

By the late 1890s, bonanza farming had stopped bringing good incomes to large landowners. Immigrants who arrived in northwestern Minnesota learned quickly that the Red River Valley soil was some of the richest in the state. An experiment station was started in 1895 that led to the founding of a boarding high school to train young people to work on farms as farmers and homemakers.

Origins of the School Safety Patrol, 1921

St. Paul's school safety patrol–one of the earliest in the country–was first implemented in 1921. Parents, principals, and politicians in the city were at the forefront of its development. At that time, walking to and from school was dangerous because there were many cars on the roads and few safety guidelines. Children often took risks when crossing streets, and placing other children at intersections to direct traffic was a key innovation that reduced accidents.

Origins of the University of Minnesota Extension Service

The Agricultural Extension Service of the United States (AES) began as an educational component of land-grant universities. In Minnesota as in other states, the federally funded and organized services of AES provide practical agricultural training to people outside of a university setting.

HOW OROMO PEOPLE HAVE SHAPED THE STATE

Oromos in Minnesota: The Making of Little Oromia

After Kenya, which supports about half a million native Oromos, the state of Minnesota has the largest population of Oromo people outside their homeland in Ethiopia. As a result, Oromo people worldwide know the Twin Cities as Little Oromia. The story of how the area came to earn this name is intertwined with Oromo culture, politics, migration, religious faith, and adaptation to life in the United States in the late twentieth century.

Orville P. and Sarah Chubb House

Built in 1867, the Chubb House is the oldest residence standing in Fairmont, and the only of the town's houses known to have been built with brick from Fairmont's first brickyard. It was the home of prominent homesteader Orville Chubb, who was the community's first physician. The house is an example of a property associated with the early Yankee American development of southern Minnesota town sites.

Osmundson, Osmund O. (1826–1914)

Osmund Osmundson, founder of Nerstrand, Minnesota, played a prominent role in a variety of local affairs, including business, civics, and education. He was one of several men who incorporated St. Olaf College in 1874. Built in 1880, his spacious brick house in Nerstrand was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Minneapolis

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in the St. Anthony Falls area of Minneapolis is the oldest continuously used church building in the city. It was a source of ethnic pride for immigrant families from France after its founding in 1877. In 2017, it is a restored and renovated country-Gothic (Gothic Revival and French Provincial) structure that looks like a medieval temple of faith.

How LGBTQIA History Has Shaped the State

Over the Rainbow: Queer and Trans History in Minnesota

The identities in the LGBTQIA acronym—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual—are relatively recent inventions. This might at first suggest that people representing each of those categories did not exist before the development of the terms themselves. But there have always been people in Minnesota, as in the rest of the world, who have lived outside perceived norms of gender and sexuality; the words used to name them have just changed over time.

Ozaawindib (late 1700s‒?)

Ozaawindib was a prominent figure among the Cass Lake Ojibwe in the early 1800s. As an agokwa (a person deemed male at birth who took on women’s roles), she interacted with white travelers and traders in Minnesota and was active in conflicts with the Dakota. In 1832, she led Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and his expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi. As a result, Schoolcraft gifted her a medal to designate her chief of the local Ojibwe.

Paige, Mabeth Hurd (1870–1961)

In 1922, Mabeth Hurd Paige became one of the first four women to be elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives. Before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, she was a public speaker and an advocate for women’s suffrage and helped found the Minnesota branch of the League of Women Voters. Paige also studied both art and law, and was admitted to the bar. She was involved in charity and volunteer work that she continued until her death in 1961.

Paisley Park

Though Carver County is home to many historically significant people and places, its best-known are probably Prince and Paisley Park, his estate and arts production complex. Located in what was once a cornfield, the site is a key location in Minnesota's music history. In its heyday during the late 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, it drew artists and musicians from around the world to record, perform, and socialize.

Paist, Henrietta Barclay (1870–1930)

Multi-talented artist, designer, teacher, and author Henrietta Barclay Paist is perhaps best known for her china painting, a popular turn-of-the-century pastime. Born in Red Wing in 1870, she studied ceramics in Germany, watercolor painting in Minneapolis, and design in Chicago before settling in the Twin Cities.

Pan Motor Company

In 1918, the first Pan automobile rolled off the assembly line in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was the beginning of the short and controversial existence of the Pan Motor Company.

Pangea World Theater

Pangea World Theater is an international, multidisciplinary theater based in Minneapolis. Founded in 1995, Pangea produces, commissions, and presents the work of artists who address social, economic, cultural, racial, gender, and political inequity. Through its community-centered and relevant programming, Pangea builds bridges of understanding across cultures locally and globally.

Parade Stadium, Minneapolis

Parade Stadium was Minneapolis's first public football stadium. The Minneapolis park board built the 16,560-seat stadium at The Parade, a park just west of downtown, in 1951. It was meant for high school, amateur, and small-college games. The stadium was also used for summertime Aquatennial festivities for nearly forty years.

Parkin, Arthur W. (1872–1963)

Cheese making in Minnesota took a backseat to milk and butter production during the nineteenth century. In the early 1900s, Arthur Parkin of Pine Island changed that picture.

Parks, Gordon (1912–2006)

Gordon Parks was a world-renowned photographer, musician, film director, composer, author, and social justice activist. Best known for his documentary photojournalism that explored the impact of poverty and racial discrimination on communities of color, Parks took photographs that appeared in many news and fashion publications, including Vogue and Life. He was the first African American to write, produce, and direct major motion pictures.

Paul Bunyan (folklore character)

The giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan—bearded, ax in hand, clad in red flannel and work boots—has come to represent Minnesota’s Northwoods. Folklore credits him and his sidekick, Babe the Blue Ox, with creating the Mississippi River and the Grand Canyon. But his legacy is complicated. While Paul Bunyan myths celebrate Minnesota, they also leave out the facts of the state’s logging history, which led to deforestation and the displacement of Native American histories, places, and people.

Paull, Irene Levine (1908–1981)

Writer and activist Irene Levine Paull was born in Duluth to Jewish parents. Faced with discrimination because of her ethnicity, gender, and political views, Paull fought for the rights of people who were oppressed.

Pearson’s Nut Goodie Candy Bar

The Pearson’s Candy Company has produced some of Minnesota’s best-loved candies since its founding in 1909. The milk chocolate-coated Nut Goodie, introduced in 1912, has survived several changes in company ownership and a temporary departure from its original recipe to remain a regional favorite.

Pelican Valley Navigation Company

Flowing out of Detroit Lake to the southwest, short segments of the Pelican River connect a string of five large lakes and two small ones. From 1889 to 1918, steamboats, launches, and a system of locks and channels connected this chain of lakes, which stretches twelve miles southwest from the town of Detroit Lakes.

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