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A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
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July 15
| 1856 |
The celebrated Norwegian violinist Ole Bull performs in the capitol building in St. Paul, a heady concert for a territorial capital. |
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| 1872 |
The Twin Cities' first streetcar, a horse-drawn affair, begins operation. |
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| 1881 |
A tornado kills six in New Ulm. It also blows through Palmyra, Wellington, and Cairo in Renville County, killing eleven more. |
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| 1929 |
African American lawyer William T. Francis, appointed US minister to Liberia by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, dies of yellow fever in Monrovia, Liberia. Born in Indianapolis in 1869, Francis moved to Minnesota in 1888 and later took over Frederick McGhee's law practice. As a well-known St. Paul attorney, Francis participated in many racially charged trials, including the 1920 appeal of the Duluth lynchings trial, in which he represented the defendants. |
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| 1951 |
Jesse Ventura is born in Minneapolis. His given name is James Janos, but he would adopt the Ventura moniker at the start of his professional wrestling career. Running as an anti-establishment candidate with the Reform Party, Ventura's defeat of St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman (Republican) and State Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) in the 1998 gubernatorial race was national news. |
 When the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) opened in 1915 it exhibited 450 pieces of art, most of them on loan. In the twenty-first century it is an encyclopedic art museum, boasting a collection of more than 89,000 objects that span 20,000 years and six continents; special exhibitions on topics that have ranged from Star Wars to Martin Luther; and a presence in the community that reflects more than a century of local support for the arts. |
 One of the first four women elected to the Minnesota legislature in 1922, Sue Metzger Dickey Hough campaigned for gun control, strict capital punishment, and mandatory automobile insurance, among other issues. After four unsuccessful bids for re-election, Hough turned her attention to club work and other causes, including animal welfare and civic engagement. |
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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