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A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
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October 27
| 1829 |
Christopher C. Andrews is born in New Hampshire. A pioneer advocate of the application of European forestry principles to American conditions and a persistent sponsor of the preservation of forests for posterity, he would serve as the state's first chief fire warden and as the commissioner of forestry from 1905 to 1911. |
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| 1849 |
The territorial legislature creates the original nine counties of Minnesota. Benton County is named for Thomas Hart Benton, a senator from Missouri who promoted settler colonialism; Dakota is for the Dakota people; Itasca for the headwaters of the Mississippi River; Ramsey for the new territory's governor; Wabasha for multiple Dakota leaders; and Washington for our nation's first president. Three of the original counties no longer appear on a Minnesota map: Wahnahta County, near Lake Traverse, was named for Wanotan, a leader of the Yankton Dakota; Pembina County included much of what would become North and South Dakota; and Mahkahta County was north of present-day Crow Wing County. |
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| 1937 |
The Morris Fruit Company building in Minneapolis collapses, killing two employees. On November 1, a jury of experts learns that the building had shown signs of rotting and overloading on its third floor and had not been rebuilt after a 1933 fire. Finding no criminal negligence, however, the jury simply calls for stricter enforcement of the building code. |
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| 1991 |
Jack Morris pitches a ten-inning shutout as the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves 1-0 in the seventh game of an exciting World Series. |
 One of the most credible UFO (unidentified flying object) encounters in American history unfolded in Minnesota in 1979. Marshall County Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson never claimed that he saw aliens or spaceships—merely that a force he could not identify collided with his car, cracking its windshield and leaving him unconscious. Johnson’s reasonable testimony and the evidence left behind on his vehicle made the event a popular case among those who study unidentified aerial phenomena. |
 More than 1,000 left-wing protesters gathered at the Minnesota Capitol on April 4, 1937, to support Governor Elmer Benson as he tried to persuade the legislature to pass a $17 million aid package for the unemployed. About 200 of the protesters stayed overnight in the senate chamber after someone jimmied open the doors with a knife, and two organizers were later convicted of the gross misdemeanor of preventing senators from assembling. |
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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