The ore boat Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior, and twenty-nine crewmembers drown.

Workers at the Hormel meat packing plant in Austin stage the first sit-down strike in American labor history, occupying the factory to prevent non-strikers from operating the equipment. The strike is settled on December 8 after hearings by the Industrial Commission of Minnesota.

Captain R. H. L. Jewett receives from the government a shipment of young carp with which to stock Rice County's lakes. A government commission had been formed in response to European immigrants' demands for the fish.

Cretin High School opens in St. Paul. Named for Joseph Cretin, the first bishop of the diocese of St. Paul, the school would merge with Derham Hall high school in 1987.

Henry W. Longfellow publishes The Song of Hiawatha. Although the poet never visited Minnesota, his poem depicts locations such as Minnehaha Falls (Mni Haha in the Dakota language) and inspired some of the state's Ojibwe place names, including Bena, Nushka, Osseo (Waaseyaa), Ponemah (Baanimaa), and Wabasso (Waabooz).

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet open a school for girls in St. Paul, enrolling fourteen pupils and holding classes in the former Chapel of St. Paul. Originally named St. Mary's, their school would eventually be known as St. Joseph's Academy.

DeWitt Wallace is born in St. Paul. Wallace founded Reader's Digest in 1922, and his family's fortune benefited educational and performing arts associations.

Steve Carter's Eden is the first documented performance at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. Founded in 1976 by Lou Bellamy, the nationally acclaimed theater won a Jujamcyn Award in 1999 and is known for producing all of the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson.

Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger becomes the first professional football player in history. The Minneapolis-born Heffelfinger signs to play with the Allegheny Athletic Association and is paid $500 for his role in the 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Athletic Club.

Five craft unions and two Knights of Labor Assemblies form the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly, the first centralized labor organization in the state.