Minnesota's early woman suffragists endured many setbacks in their fight for the vote. Perhaps none was as disappointing as Governor Horace Austin's veto of the 1870 female suffrage bill—the first to pass both the House and Senate. His controversial decision appeared to defy the state constitution.

Charles G. Maybury dominated architectural practice in Winona from 1865 to 1905, designing churches, schools, courthouses, commercial buildings, and residences in the city and throughout southeast Minnesota. He moved comfortably between styles, including Italianate, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Gothic Revival. Many of his buildings have survived and are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lynching is widely believed to be something that happened only in the South. But on June 15, 1920, three African Americans, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie, were lynched in Duluth, Minnesota.