Seventeenth Minnesota governor Adolph Olson (A. O.) Eberhart lived the classic American story of an immigrant who achieved success through hard work and ability. He graduated at the top of his class at Gustavus Adolphus College and was the youngest state senator in the 33rd legislative session.

John Albert Johnson was Minnesota's first governor born in the state, its first governor to serve a full term in the third state capitol, and its first governor to die in office, making him one of the state's most notable leaders.

"Reform!" was the rallying cry of late nineteenth-century America, and John Lind was in the vanguard. His election as the fourteenth governor of Minnesota and the first non-Republican governor of the state in decades heralded a new progressive era.