MNHS openings and announcements. More details.
A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 12
| 1838 |
Iowa Territory is formed, including in its claim present-day Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, which was called Clayton County. Henry H. Sibley serves as justice of the peace for the county, but this part of Minnesota would be left without a government when Iowa became a state in 1846. |
|
| 1873 |
Rocky Mountain locusts cross into Minnesota and begin destroying crops in the southwestern part of the state. Relief efforts are organized to keep the settlers from starving. The locusts return for the next four years, finally leaving in August 1877. |
|
| 1905 |
Visiting the Twin Cities for the dedication of the new capitol, William Colvill dies in his sleep at the Old Soldiers' Home in Minneapolis the night before the ceremony, at which he was to carry the battle flag of his regiment. Born in New York in 1830, Colonel Colvill had led the First Minnesota's famous charge at Gettysburg (see July 2). After the war, the Red Wing resident served as state attorney general. |
|
| 1914 |
The last commercially cut logs pass through Stillwater's boom on the St. Croix, marking the end of large-scale logging in the St. Croix valley. The boom was a chain of logs stretching across the river. Logs floated from upstream, each carrying their owner's brand, were sorted and measured so that each logging company got credit for what it had cut. |
|
| 1946 |
The Minnesota Historical Society accepts a grant from the Weyerhaeuser family to establish the Forest Products History Foundation. Initially located in St. Paul, the foundation evolves into the international organization known as the Forest History Society. Now located in Durham, North Carolina, the society's mission remains the same: to preserve and interpret the documents of forest and conservation history. |
|
| 2012 |
A massive storm, which continues into June 20, drops over seven inches of rain on Duluth and surrounding areas. 3,100 homes and businesses are damaged. Total damage estimates are set at $100 million. Floodwaters overwhelm the Duluth Zoo, killing several animals and leading several others to escape. The Swinging Bridge in Jay Cooke State Park is destroyed. |
 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. |
 In October of 1949, the Leif Erikson Memorial was unveiled on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol. The memorial was part of the Scandinavian American community’s efforts to credit their ancestors—not Christopher Columbus—with the “discovery” of the Americas. |
Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.
Minnesota Historical Society • 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906 (Map) • 651-259-3000 © MNHS.
Send questions or comments to mnopedia![[at]](/sites/all/modules/spamspan/image.gif){kind=small}
mnhs [dot] org. View our Privacy Policy.