Houston County is created, honoring Sam Houston of Texas, a popular presidential candidate.

Sauk Centre's Sinclair Lewis receives the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first American so honored. His popular titles include Main Street, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Babbitt.

The Northwestern Telephone Exchange Company of Minneapolis is organized, with fifty-three subscribers. The exchange begins operating in February 1879, and a line is strung to St. Paul in April 1879.

Thirty-eight Dakota men, convicted of crimes committed during the US-Dakota War, are hanged by the federal government in Mankato. Their trials were brief and carried out with little legal authority. It was the largest mass execution in American history.

Spain transfers Louisiana Territory, part of which would eventually become western Minnesota, to France. France sold the territory to the United States three years later.

After 126 years of service to the nation, Fort Snelling is closed as a military post and placed under the Veterans' Administration's control.

St. Paul workers begin the slow process of numbering the city's buildings. They begin with 20 Robert Street, which was home to Cathcart, Kern & Co.'s Crystal Palace, a dry-goods store.

Southdale Shopping Center, the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall, opens in Edina. Austrian war refugee and architect Victor Gruen designed the mall, which he hoped would become "the town square that has been lost since the coming of the automobile.

Gus Hall, chairman of the Communist Party, USA, is born in Virginia, Minnesota. His given name is Arvo Kusta Halberg. Hall joined the Communist Party at age sixteen and, despite his stated political views, served in the navy in World War II. He ran for president four times and spent over eight years in prison for his activities. At its peak in the 1930s, the Communist Party had about 100,000 members. Hall died on October 13, 2000.

Center City, the county seat of Chisago County, is established, and a number of Swedes immigrate to the area. To reflect the ethnic makeup of the county, residents later attempted to change the name of Chisago Lake to Swede Lake.