The Battle of Birch Coulee, fought between September 2 and 3, 1862, was the worst defeat the United States suffered and the Dakotas' most successful engagement during the US–Dakota War of 1862. Over thirty hours, approximately 200 Dakota warriors pinned down a Union force of 150 newly recruited US volunteers, militia, and civilians from the area, holding them until Henry Sibley's main army arrived.

The Headwaters Dams were built between 1881 and 1912 in the Mississippi headwaters. The dams served to regulate river flow and assist navigation until 1938, when they were relegated to a flood control role.

Winnibigoshish, Leech Lake, and Pokegama Falls Dams were built in the Mississippi Headwaters during the late nineteenth century. These structures preceded the construction of the Headwaters reservoir system and played key roles in flood prevention and river control during the 20th century.

Liang May Seen was the first woman of Chinese descent to live in Minnesota. After escaping from a brothel in San Francisco, she learned English, married, and moved to Minneapolis, where she was a leader in the Chinese immigrant community until her death in 1946.

A devastating cyclone hit Rochester on August 21, 1883. It killed dozens of people and injured many more, but emergency health services in the tornado's aftermath also led to the eventual creation of the Mayo Clinic.

A trustbuster, senator, secretary of state, Nobel laureate, and World Court judge, Frank Kellogg rose from a small farm in Olmsted County to being the highest-ranking diplomat in the United States. He is remembered as one of the authors of the 1928 Pact of Paris, a multi-lateral treaty that renounced aggressive war as a matter of national policy.

Marvel Cooke was a pioneering journalist and political activist who spent her groundbreaking career in a world where she was often the only female African American. Talking about her work environment for the white-owned newspaper the Compass, she told biographer Kay Mills in 1988, ''there were no black workers there and no women."

John Vachon traveled the world as a professional photographer, but the St. Paul native's work was always shaped by his Midwestern upbringing. He is most remembered for his photographs for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Look magazine.

Jane Grey Swisshelm lived in Minnesota for only six years, but during that time she left a lasting mark on the state. While in St. Cloud, she founded a newspaper that she used to advocate for women's rights, argue for the abolition of slavery, build up the Republican Party, challenge the authority of the Democratic machine there, and promote violence against Dakota people.