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MNopedia

A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.

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Minnesota Human Rights Act

The state's first major human-rights law

Toastmaster (bread toaster)

The world's first automatic pop-up toaster, designed in Stillwater in 1919

St. Peter State Hospital

Minnesota's first hospital for people with mental illness

Beatles concert in Bloomington, 1965

The Fab Four's one and only performance in Minnesota

AIM Patrol, Minneapolis

A street patrol organized by members of the American Indian Movement

Gomez-Bethke, Irene (1935–2021)

A community leader and Minnesota's Commissioner of Human Rights

Sibley Historic Site, Mendota

A headquarters of the American Fur Company between 1836 and 1842

Jun Fujita Cabin, Rainy Lake

A St. Louis County hideaway built by a famous photographer

Spotlight On Women's History

Intersection of Sixth and Minnesota Streets, St. Paul
Arrest of Cecelia Regina Gonzaga, 1885
Pat Bellanger, ca. 1977
Bellanger, Pat (1943–2015)
Nina Clifford’s brothel at 147 South Washington Avenue in St. Paul, down the street from Ida Dorsey’s brothel at 151 South Washington Avenue. Photograph by A. F. Raymond, 1937.
Clifford, Nina (1851–1929)
Image of Ida Dorsey’s bordello at 212 Eleventh Avenue South, Minneapolis. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, February 19, 2019. CC BY-SA 4.0
Dorsey, Ida (1866–1918)
Black and white photograph of Winslow Hotel, St. Anthony, c.1865.
Eliza Winston Court Case
Edna Larrabee and Beulah Brunelle
Escape from Shakopee State Reformatory for Women, 1949
Washing tubs, boards, and dolly pins at Historic Fort Snelling
European American Women at Fort Snelling, 1819–1858
Dakota cradleboard ornament with quillwork
Faribault, Pelagie (1783–1847)
Irene Gomez-Bethke
Gomez-Bethke, Irene (1935–2021)
Photograph of St. Louis County Courthouse and Duluth City Hall
Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
Maude Kegg at Mille Lacs
Kegg, Maude (1904–1996)
Mi Peru-MN members holding a banner
Mi Perú-Minnesota
All American Girls Professional Baseball League members performing calisthenics in Opalocka, Florida. Black and White photo
Minneapolis Millerettes
Minnesota Correctional Institution for Women, Shakopee
Minnesota State Reformatory for Women, Shakopee
Sacred Earth, Ragamala Dance Company
Ragamala Dance Company
Members of WARM
WARM: A Women’s Collective Art Space
See all spotlights


March 21

1864

George Edgar Vincent is born in Rockford, Illinois. A sociologist and a graduate of Yale University, he would serve from 1911 to 1917 as the third president of the University of Minnesota and an "academic house-cleaner" whose reforms during his energetic term would bring the institution into the modern era of education.

1913

After a wild chase early this morning in the North Minneapolis rail yards, railroad employees and armed police detectives capture Harry Christianson, who is suspected of attempting to rob boxcars. For a time Christianson manages to evade his pursuers by rolling under and jumping over and through coupled cars moving around the yards, but he eventually becomes confused and runs directly into the arms of the detectives.

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From The Minnesota Book of Days (Minnesota Historical Society Press).

Recently Added Articles

Harris Martin
Martin, Harris (1865–1903)

Harris Martin, also known as George Harris, was a middleweight boxer who went by the moniker “the Black Pearl.” In 1887 he became the first Colored Middleweight Champion of the World in a fight staged on the banks of the Mississippi, making him one of the most famous boxers of the period.

Lake in the White Earth Reservation of Ojibwe
White Earth Land Recovery Project

Activist Winona LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) in 1989 in response to environmental destruction and a land-tenure crisis in the White Earth Reservation of Ojibwe. Since then, WELRP has taken steps to recover stolen land, to aid and educate Ojibwe communities, to maintain traditional culture, and to restore sustainable ways of life.

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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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