Before 1899, few Minnesotans had access to free public libraries. But in that year, the state legislature began funding a system of traveling libraries that were sent to underserved communities in all parts of the state for only the cost of shipping.

The Wealthy apple was the first apple to thrive in Minnesota's humid continental climate. Horticulturalist Peter Gideon grew it first in 1868, after years of trial and error with various apple varieties.

The Western Appeal was one of the most successful African American newspapers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the height of its popularity, it was published in six separate editions in cities across the United States, including St. Paul.

What David Marston (D.M.) Clough lacked in education and polish he made up for in common sense and drive, serving as Minnesota's thirteenth governor during his rise from lumberman to lumber baron.

Norwegian immigrant Knute Nelson served state and country throughout his life, first as a soldier and a lawyer, then as a legislator and the twelfth governor of Minnesota. He was the state's first foreign-born governor.

The Soudan Mine, which opened in 1884, is located at the western edge of the Vermilion Range, about two miles northeast of Tower. It was the first iron mine in the state, and its first ore shipment in the summer of 1884 marked the beginning of the state's mining industry.

Jacob Fjelde's sculpture Hiawatha and Minnehaha has stood in Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis since the early twentieth century. A popular fixture of the park in the twenty-first century, its placement there was originally controversial.

Seventeenth Minnesota governor Adolph Olson (A. O.) Eberhart lived the classic American story of an immigrant who achieved success through hard work and ability. He graduated at the top of his class at Gustavus Adolphus College and was the youngest state senator in the 33rd legislative session.

John Albert Johnson was Minnesota's first governor born in the state, its first governor to serve a full term in the third state capitol, and its first governor to die in office, making him one of the state's most notable leaders.

"Reform!" was the rallying cry of late nineteenth-century America, and John Lind was in the vanguard. His election as the fourteenth governor of Minnesota and the first non-Republican governor of the state in decades heralded a new progressive era.