This Day in Minnesota History

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  June 17
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1673

Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, Frenchmen traveling down the Wisconsin River, enter the main stream of the "Mechassipi." They are the first Europeans to travel on the upper river.

1889

Frederick L. McGhee becomes the first African American admitted to practice at the bar of the state supreme court. Born enslaved in Mississippi in 1861, as an adult McGhee took on civil rights cases and served as an emissary to Catholic prelates in Minnesota. In 1905 he helped develop the organizational precursor to the NAACP, the Niagara Conference. He died on September 19, 1912, in St. Paul.

1890

The US marshal from St. Paul arrests seven census takers in Minneapolis, the opening salvo of the "Twin Cities Census War." St. Paul's leaders accused Minneapolis of cooking the books in order to claim the title "most populous city." The accusation is proven true; St. Paul, however, is also found to be padding its numbers. A new count completed in August gives Minneapolis 164,581 and St. Paul 133,156.

1909

Elmer L. Andersen is born in Chicago. During his term as governor, from 1961 to 1963, he pioneered progressive legislation in civil rights, special education, mental health care, and metropolitan governance and establish numerous state parks.

1913

The first "Minnesota Good Roads Day" is declared. The national Good Roads Movement was spurred by two forces: bicyclists who wanted to ride on better surfaces than muddy country lanes, and Rural Free Delivery, the post office's promise to deliver mail to and from farms that were easily accessible by road.