Timeline | Hibbing

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1883: Iron ore discovered First ore reported in the Hibbing area For years people had thought that the rocky terrain in northern Minnesota might be rich with minerals. As early as 1852, a study done by a geologist for the federal government suggested that iron deposits lay beneath the northeastern part of the state. But no one tapped into these lodes. Around the time of the Civil War, an Englishman named Henry Bessemer invented a process by which iron could be turned into steel. Steel was a flexible and durable metal. People soon began using it to build everything from train tracks to skyscrapers to automobiles. Factories needed to produce more and more steel to fill the demand for this building material. The popularity of steel helped spark the Industrial Revolution. In northeastern Minnesota, the hunt was on to find iron to make steel. By the 1880s a number of would-be miners were exploring the northwoods, looking for iron ore. As it turned out, three areas in the state had large quantities of the mineral. The first one to be mined, in 1883, was named the Vermilion Range. It was located northeast of Hibbing. To the southwest, the smallest of the three ranges is called the Cuyuna Range. Mining didn't start there until 1911. The largest of the three ranges is the Mesabi, which runs for almost 100 miles, from the northeast corner of Minnesota near Babbitt to beyond Grand Rapids. Located in the heart of this area is Hibbing.

1893: Hibbing town site Town site of Hibbing laid out The town of Hibbing was not born until 1893. It was named for Frank Hibbing, who was one of many entrepreneurs looking for iron ore in northern Minnesota. The town of Hibbing was built in the middle of one of the richest lodes of iron ore in the world, the Mesabi Range. The iron there was so easy to find that it was overlooked at first, while prospectors focused on discovering deposits on the Vermilion Range. The red earth covering the Mesabi Range suggested there was iron in the soil, but most of the people looking for ore thought that they would have to dig to find the big deposits. Then one day a man who was working for a group of brothers named Merritt got his wagon stuck in some of that red soil. The Merritt brothers took a shovel-full of that earth and had it tested. They discovered that more than 60 percent of the soil was made of iron ore. The Merritt brothers determined that the best way to uncover the ore on the Mesabi was simply to strip away the soil and mine the ore beneath it. The Mesabi Range was soon out-producing the Vermilion Range. In time, it would out- produce every source of iron in the United States. Hibbing would quickly become a boom town, full of miners and would-be entrepreneurs, trying to strike it rich in the iron fields. 1895: Ore shipments First ore shipped from Hibbing The iron found in northeastern Minnesota was a source of great wealth for a number of companies and individuals. It attracted investors from all over the country, including some of the richest people in the world, like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. P. Morgan. There was money to be made in mining the ore and selling it. There was also a lot of money to be made in sending it on railroads to Lake Superior. And there was money to be made shipping it across Lake Superior to foundries in the east, where it would be turned into steel. The first companies to ship ore from the Mesabi Range were small local companies, like the one founded by the Merritt brothers. But it took a lot of money to run a mining company. You needed to pay for people to work the mines, for building railroad tracks, and for shipping the ore across the Great Lakes. The Merritt brothers didn't have a lot of money. People like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie did—both of them had made fortunes in other businesses. Rockefeller's company loaned the Merritt brothers so much money that Rockefeller claimed he ought to control their operation. After a long legal dispute, the courts decided he was right. By the turn of the twentieth century, almost all of the iron mined in Minnesota was done so by companies controlled outside the state.

1902: Leader in ore Minnesota lads the nation in producing iron ore In the first decade of iron mining in Minnesota, more than 43 million tons of ore were pulled from the earth. In the decade that followed, from 1901 to 1910, almost five times that amount was mined—208 million tons. In a little more than 20 years, Minnesota iron mining had moved from a small-scale operation to a world-renowned resource. By 1902 Minnesota was producing more iron ore than any state in the Union. Towns like Hibbing and Virginia saw their populations rise from 0 to 10 and 15 thousand. Immigrants from around the world, including large numbers of Finns, Swedes, Italians, and Yugoslavians came to Hibbing and the Iron Range to work in the mines. In 1910 about half the population of Hibbing had been born in a foreign country. On Lake Superior, docks for shipping ore sprung up in Silver Bay and Two Harbors. A steel mill was constructed in Duluth, which was quickly growing into the third largest city in Minnesota. The iron ore in northern Minnesota— and the riches to be had from it—seemed to be inexhaustible.

1914: Greyhound Carl Wickman starts a bus service that eventually becomes Greyhound In 1914 an immigrant from a small town in Sweden started a bus service between the towns of Hibbing and Alice. Carl Wickman hauled miners from their homes to their jobs and back again—15 cents for a one-way ticket or 25 cents round-trip. Two years later, his company had grown into five buses, but Wickman was still one of the drivers. Three years after that, the business was so successful that Wickman and a man named Orville Caesar bought several more area bus lines and formed a company called the Motor Transit Corporation. The Motor Transit Corporation kept on growing. In 1930 it changed its name to the Greyhound Corporation and adopted the greyhound dog as its company trademark. In just a few years Greyhound became the most famous bus company in the country and everyone recognized the dog as the company symbol. Today Greyhound has more than 2,000 buses and serves every state in the Union, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. 1919: Moving Hibbing First phase of moving the town of Hibbing Hibbing was one of the most unique towns in the country in its early years. It was built on iron-rich land in the middle of the Mesabi Range. For years the great open-pit mines in the region had moved closer and closer to the town, gobbling up iron ore. By the middle of the 1910s, Hibbing sat surrounded by deep mines. Because the land that it was built upon was so rich with ore, city property itself had a phenomenal value. In 1915 the assessed value of the land beneath Hibbing was $85 million. In the whole state of Minnesota, only the city of Minneapolis, which was many times larger, had a greater land value. The Oliver Company, which was the major mining company in Hibbing, wanted the town moved so that the land beneath the town could be mined. The Oliver Company felt the iron ore beneath the city was more valuable than all the buildings in the town. Eventually, they got people in Hibbing to agree with them. The Oliver Company laid out a new town about one mile south of the old town. The company paid for the transport of all homes and public buildings that were in good shape. They were moved by log haulers and giant tractors. Many buildings were left behind, however, and a kind of ghost town was created just north of where the new town of Hibbing was built.

1929: Rudy Perpich Rudy Perpich born in Carson Lake One of the most colorful governors ever to hold office in Minnesota was born near Hibbing in 1928. His name was Rudy Perpich, and he was the son of an immigrant from Yugoslavia named Anton Perpich. Rudy Perpich had a tough early life. He started working as a 14-year-old boy. At the same time, he continued his studies and eventually got a medical degree and became a dentist. His family had long been interested in politics, and as a young man Rudy decided to run for the state senate. He was elected and served the Hibbing area for a number of years. Then he ran for governor in 1976 and became the first Iron Ranger ever to hold that office in 1976. He lost his re-election bid in 1978 but ran once again for governor in 1982. He won and was re-elected once more in 1986. Rudy Perpich, like the majority of the voters in northeastern Minnesota, was a Democrat. He had a unique political and personal style that seemed unpolished and unsophisticated to many observers. But he was an effective advocate for Hibbing and his fellow Iron Rangers throughout his political career.

1935: Demolition Demolition of old north Hibbing begins One of the great men of Hibbing served as mayor through much of the 1910s. His name was Victor Power. Victor Power understood the value of the land upon which the town of Hibbing rested. For years, mining companies had owned much of that land, but they hadn't paid a fair share of its worth in taxes. As a consequence the old town of Hibbing didn't have much money to build public works such as paved roads and nice buildings. It was a pretty grim place. Power led the fight to change that. Soon, the mining companies were being taxed at a rate more appropriate to the value of their property. The additional money from taxes started coming just as the town was in the midst of moving. Suddenly, Hibbing was able to build impressive public facilities, including a park system, water mains, and sanitary and storm sewers. The centerpiece of this expansion was a beautiful new high school completed in 1921 at a cost of $4 million. Hibbing High became the pride of the town. Its tall turrets, standing five stories above the entrance, inspired some to call it "a castle in the wilderness." All in all, most people thought that the new town of Hibbing was a sturdier, cleaner place than the old. Few tears were shed when the demolition of what was left of old north Hibbing began in 1935.

1941: Ad valorem tax Law passes stating that taconite companies don't pay ad valorem tax For years, iron ore mined on the northern Minnesota ranges had been blasted and dug from the ground in vast quantities. What was taken from the open-pit mines was a high-grade iron ore that could be easily converted into steel. After 50 years of mining on the range, people could see limits to the amount of high-grade ore. But iron is found in different forms in the earth. There remained a vast sheet of iron on the Mesabi Range. It came in the form of a black rock called taconite. Taconite is a very hard, magnetic rock whose content is less than one- third iron. To extract the iron from the taconite involved an expensive process that required blasting the rock from the ground, crushing it into a fine powder, and then reconstituting it into pellets to be shipped to steel-making facilities. Since mining companies would have to foot the bill for this process, they asked the state for help. In 1941 the state passed a bill that excused taconite companies from having to pay a tax called an ad valorem tax. Ad valorem means "according to the value of." In other words, though the iron being mined was still very valuable, the state wouldn't require mining companies to pay a huge tax on it. This meant that mining companies had more money to put into the process of pulling iron from the taconite. 1944: Paper drive Paper carriers for the Hibbing Daily collect 53,000 pounds of paper Like countless small cities across the country, Hibbing helped support U.S. efforts in World War II in a number of ways. It sent many of its young men into the armed services to fight the war. It provided millions of tons of iron ore, which was converted into steel for ships, tanks, and other war machinery. And it also helped at the local level through efforts such as paper drives. To wage a worldwide war, the United States had to devote huge portions of its natural and industrial resources to the war effort. This meant that there were shortages of essential items—including gasoline, rubber, and paper—for personal or home use. As a result, many items were rationed, or distributed with limits. Anything that could be reused, was reused. To be wasteful was considered unpatriotic. Many local organizations led campaigns to see to it that citizens followed government guidelines regarding use of essential items. They also led efforts at reusing materials.The local paper in Hibbing, the Hibbing Daily, led one such effort. Its paper carriers collected 53,000 pounds of used paper in a paper drive that would ultimately benefit the war effort.

1952: President Truman President Harry Truman visits The population of Hibbing, and of the Iron Range in general, was dominated by working-class men and women. They were miners, lumberers, and housewives. Many were immigrants or the sons and daughters of immigrants. They were also, typically, people who favored labor unions. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, the voters who supported him most strongly were people like those who worked on the Iron Range. They saw in Roosevelt and the Democratic Party a group that would champion their interests. These included fair wages, good working conditions, and financial help during hard economic times. Ever since the days of Roosevelt's election, the Iron Range has been considered a stronghold for the Democratic Party. The area has played an important role in state politics because of its consistent support for Democratic candidates. The Iron Range is an important stop for Democratic candidates on campaign tours. It has even drawn attention from national party figures, including President Harry Truman, who visited Hibbing in 1952. 1957: Demolition complete Last structure in old north Hibbing (the courthouse) is demolished In 1921 a historian of St. Louis County, where Hibbing is located, wrote: "The magnificent District Court House at Hibbing is one of the finest buildings, probably the finest, in old Hibbing; and it is far enough away from the point of mining to be sure of its present site for many years." Just 36 years later, the courthouse was demolished. It was the last structure in old Hibbing to be destroyed. By the time it was knocked down, the new town of Hibbing was experiencing troubles of its own. While the dig for ore continued, the portion of the nation's iron supplied by Minnesota dropped significantly after the Korean War in the 1950s. Foreign competitors began selling more and more iron at a cheaper price thaniron from Minnesota. U.S. steel mills began importing—buying and bringing into this country—large quantities of iron, primarily from South America. Many people in Hibbing pinned their hopes for a prosperous future on the reserves of taconite in the Mesabi Range. In the years to come, squeezing iron from this hard rock would become the chief focus of mining efforts in northeastern Minnesota. 1959: Bob Dylan Robert Zimmerman heads for the University of Minnesota Probably the most famous person ever to come from Hibbing was a young man named Robert Zimmerman. In time, Robert Zimmerman would change his name to Bob Dylan and become one of the best-known singers and songwriters in the world. But for the first 18 years of his life, he lived quietly in Hibbing. Robert played the guitar, and somewhere in his early years he picked up a deep love of American music as well as a rebellious spirit. But he gave little indication that he would one day be so special. His father owned a furniture store in Hibbing. His grandparents, who were Jewish, had escaped persecution in Russia to come to this country. When Zimmerman graduated from high school, he went off to the University of Minnesota but stayed there only briefly. He changed his name to Bob Dylan and moved to New York. He began playing folk music in coffeehouses in a part of the city called Greenwich Village. Soon his music became popular all over the country. By the mid-1960s—when he was only half-a-dozen years away from Hibbing— Bob Dylan was one of the most well-known musicians anywhere. He has continued to write and perform rock music for more than 30 years. 1963:

1964: Constitutional amendment Minnesota constitution is amended to give mining companies tax considerations Taconite mining brought some good years on the Iron Range from 1960 to the 1980s. As before, the state of Minnesota encouraged a growth in mining by rewriting the state constitution to provide tax breaks to taconite mining companies. But the iron mining industry in northern Minnesota was in a general decline. Steelmakers around the country were closing their doors. Demand for steel was down and foreign countries— paying workers much less than in the United States—could produce steel at a cheaper price. While mining and the production of taconite still provide jobs on the Iron Range, people have had to look for other means of income. Tourism is one growing industry. The area serves as a gateway to the beauties of northern Minnesota. Just outside of Hibbing, a large park and history center called Ironworld offers visitors a peak at the history of the region. It sits on the rim of one of the vast pits where iron ore was blasted from the landscape. While mining in the Hibbing area may never reach its former heights, the industry that made the city has left a lasting mark in the area.

Events

1849: Minnesota Territory Minnesota becomes a territory Minnesota had a long history before it became a part of the United States. Its first inhabitants probably came to the region at least 10,000 years ago. These Native Americans lived on the land and enjoyed its bounties for thousands of years. From the 1600s onward, they were joined by European fur traders, missionaries, and adventurers. At different times after that, the land of Minnesota was claimed separately by England, France, and Spain. After the American Revolution, in the late 1700s, Minnesota became a part of the United States. Still, it took a long time for Americans to settle in the region. In 1819 Fort Snelling—a U.S. army post—was built where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers meet. It took almost 20 years after that for other communities to emerge at Taylors Falls and Stillwater on the St. Croix River; and at St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls, near Fort Snelling. When Minnesota became a territory in 1849, fewer than 5,000 white people inhabited the land.

1851: Treaties Traverse des Sioux and Mendota Treaties signed In its early days, the Minnesota Territory was only a fraction of the size of the current state of Minnesota. In 1851 the governor of the territory, Alexander Ramsey, and other representatives of the settlers, approached members of several bands of Dakota Indians. They asked the Native Americans to cede, or give up, a large part of their land in exchange for money and the right to live permanently on other lands in the territory. Ramsey and other whites felt the rich natural resources of Minnesota could support thousands of new settlers. They wanted land to help bring more people to the territory and help grow the economy of the region. While the Dakota were suspicious of the intentions of the white settlers, they felt that even if they didn't sign the treaties, white people would move onto the land anyway, and the Dakota people would get nothing in return. As a consequence, the treaties were signed, and more and more people came to the Minnesota Territory to farm the rich prairie land. Soon, there were enough to qualify the region for statehood, which was achieved in 1858. 1858: Minnesota becomes a state Minnesota becomes a state in 1858

1862: Dakota Conflict Dakota Conflict Among the Dakota Indians, there had been bad feelings toward white settlers at least since the signing of the Taverse des Sioux and Mendota Treaties in 1851. These treaties had left the Dakota with just a narrow strip of land on the Minnesota River. Their hunting grounds were almost all gone, and the Indian people had grown more and more dependent on their annual treaty payments for food and necessities. In August 1862 those payments were late, and the Dakota were hungry and angry. After a group of young Dakota Indians attacked and killed a family of white farmers, violence erupted up and down the Minnesota River Valley. Hundreds of settlers were killed. Then an army of volunteers was organized, headed by Henry Sibley, one the leading citizens of Minnesota. The army marched down the river valley to quell the fighting. Although many Dakota did not take part in the uprising, Indians were punished as if they had all played a part. Thirty-eight Dakota men were hanged and hundreds more men, women, and children were forced to move to a camp in South Dakota. After the conflict, white settlers felt more than ever like they had a right to take Dakota land. The few Dakota who remained had no power to stem the flow of newcomers to the land. 1869: University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota opens. In 1851 the territorial legislature of Minnesota decided to create a university. Land in St. Anthony Falls was donated by Franklin Steele, who had helped create the town. About $50,000 was set aside for the construction of a new building that would be the heart of the campus. Unfortunately a financial crises struck the territory and money became scarce. Then the Civil War began and state resources for a university were further limited. It took 18 years for The University of Minnesota to finally open its doors in 1869. About 300 students enrolled, ranging in age from the mid-20s down to 13. Minnesota had very few high schools at the time. The university had to serve the dual function of first preparing, or "prepping," students for a college education, and then giving them one. The only building on campus was one constructed with the original $50,000. It was called Old Main. All dormitory rooms and lecture halls, as well as the library and chapel, were housed in this one hall. The University of Minnesota was co-educational—both men and women attended. The first graduating class, in 1873, had two members.

1873: Grasshopper plague Grasshopper plagues haunt farmers After the Civil War, more and more people came to Minnesota. There were vast areas of untouched prairie land in the south and west parts of the state that people were sure would make rich farmland for anyone willing to break the sod. To encourage settlers, the United States Congress passed the Homestead Act, which granted free land to anyone willing to make new farms in the west. Railroads companies, too, were helping to inch the frontier westward by building miles and miles of roads that gave remote farms access to markets. But building a farm in western Minnesota was no easy task. It was backbreaking work with few comforts. Much of the land didn't even have trees, which meant a lot of people had to make their homes out of sod. The summers were hot and the winters were freezing cold. Then in the summer of 1873, voracious grasshoppers descended on the crops and ate everything in sight. They were so many grasshoppers, that on occasion they blocked out the sun. They would eat whole fields in a matter of minutes. Millions of dollars worth of crops were destroyed, and hundreds of farmers were ruined. Farmers had no crops to sell and couldn't buy seed for the next year's crop. Many farm families went hungry and had no money for food. The grasshoppers would often eat the small vegetable gardens farmers grew to feed their families. The grasshoppers came for five summers in a row— and then, just as suddenly they came, they quit coming. No one knows for sure why.

1882: Electric waterpower Electric waterpower lights up Minneapolis The Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi River were the source of a great deal of wealth and power for many people in the state of Minnesota. As the river tumbled over the Falls, its force was converted into different forms of energy as the fast-moving water set giant wheels spinning. At lumber mills, saws that were connected to the wheels cut timber. Millers used the energy from the waterwheels to grind wheat into flour. The growing number of farmers in western Minnesota and the Dakotas shipped their crops to Minneapolis in ever-increasing amounts. So much flour was produced in Minneapolis that the town became known around the country as the Mill City. In September 1882 the waterpower of the Falls was put to a totally new use. A power station had been built near the Falls to capture the energy of the water in hydroelectric cells. Wires strung from the station were connected to a few businesses along Washington Avenue in Minneapolis. With the flick of switch, electricity was sent along the wires. For the first time ever in the United States, electricity illuminated an American city.

1894: Hinckley Fire Hinckley Fire In 1894 northern Minnesota suffered a drought, with little or no rain from May until September. The northern woods were extremely dry. Throughout the summer residents had managed to extinguish a series of small fires. People worried that a bigger fire might happen. At this time the lumber industry in Minnesota was at its peak. The northern forests were being cut down at an awesome rate. Lumber companies moved from one part of the woods to the next in search of virgin, or uncut, forests. When they moved from an area that had been cut, the loggers left behind dead trees, wood chips, and underbrush—all of which were extremely flammable. On September 1, it happened. A huge fire began in the area around Hinckley, about 80 miles south of Duluth. It spread so quickly that people couldn't escape its path. The fire got so hot that it melted coins and twisted railroad tracks. In all, more than 500 square miles around Hinckley burned and at least 400 people were killed. One of the worst fires in the nation's history, the Hinckley Fire spurred the state legislature to enact laws to control logging practices and help prevent forest fires in Minnesota.

1905: New capitol New state capitol completed in St. Paul The state capitol building in St. Paul was completed in 1905. It cost almost $4 million to build—an enormous sum of money at the time. The building was designed by a famous architect named Cass Gilbert. Gilbert designed many other buildings in Minnesota as well, and he went on to create some of the nation's first skyscrapers—including the Woolworth Building in New York, which, for a time, was the tallest building in the world. Still in use, the capitol building designed by Gilbert was the third capitol used in Minnesota. All were in St. Paul. Fire destroyed the first building in 1881. The second building was not big enough to house the growing needs of the state government, so in the 1890s the state legislature held a contest to see who could draw the best plans for a new capitol. Gilbert's design won. In constructing the building, he used a kind of architecture called Italian Renaissance, which is modeled after architecture found in Italy. The capitol building contains the offices and chambers (meeting rooms) of the two houses of the state legislature, as well as the governor's offices. The dome at the very center of the building is 220 feet high.

1916: Winter Carnival St. Paul Winter Carnival starts being held yearly Minnesotans have traditionally been sensitive about how the rest of the country views the state, particularly when it comes to the subject of its weather. Some of this sensitivity stems from its early days, when Minnesota was trying to attract newcomers to the area. In the 1880s a visiting journalist described St. Paul as "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation in winter." To counter this impression, St. Paul decided to throw a big party in the coldest month of the year. In 1886, St. Paul staged its first Winter Carnival. The city built an enormous and beautiful ice palace. It was 189 feet long and 106 feet high and contained more than 20,000 blocks of ice pulled from the Mississippi River. In addition, there were skating rinks, toboggan runs, and a mock Dakota Indian village—all contained within the palace. Grand ice palaces were built for the next two years as well. But the cost of creating such spectacles was high. For 20 years after it began, the Winter Carnival was staged only periodically. Than in 1916, it resumed on a regular basis, and has been going strong ever since.

1922: WLAG radio First Minnesota radio station starts broadcasting An Italian man named Guglielmo Marconi is credited with inventing radio in the late 1890s. Without using wires, he was able to transmit a signal—a series of dots and dashes in code—from a ship in the ocean to a receiver on shore. It took several more years before people were able to successfully transmit sounds through the air. But by the early 1920s, improvements in radio transmissions and receiving techniques made possible the first radio stations in the country. In Minnesota, The first radio station on the air was WLB, the University of Minnesota station, which started broadcasting experimentally in the spring of 1921. It received its call letters and license on January 13, 1922, making it the first radio station in Minnesota. Another station, WLAG started on September 4, 1922. It was known as "The Call of the NorthWLAG was purchased in 1924 by the Washburn-Crosby Company, which had a long history in the state. Washburn-Crosby was a giant flour-milling company in Minneapolis. In time, it would become the General Mills company. When Washburn-Crosby bought WLAG, it renamed the station WCCO. WCCO would become one of the largest and most successful radio stations in the country—one that still broadcasts today (along with a "sister" television station, also called WCCO). 1923: Metropolitan Airport Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airport opens The Wright brothers flew the first airplane in 1903. For a number of years afterward, air travel was a novelty. People wondered what sort of practical uses it might have. In World War I, airplanes played a big role in the fighting, and ace pilots captured the imagination of the public. After the war, cities all over the United States decided they ought to build airports. The Twin Cities were no exception. In 1920 a group of citizens from the Aero Club rented some property that had once held an auto racetrack. It was located about halfway between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Runways and airplane hangars were built, and three years later an airport named Wold-Chamberlain Field was opened. Wold and Chamberlain were two pilots from Minneapolis who had been killed in World War I. One of the first and most important roles of the airport was to serve as a major stop on a national airmail route established by the U.S. Post Office. In 1926 Northwest Airways was started and was awarded the contract for this route—the Chicago-Twin Cities mail line. In 1944 Wold-Chamberlain Field was renamed the Minneapolis-St.Paul Metropolitan Airport. Northwest Airways would eventually become Northwest Airlines, which is now one of the largest airline companies in the world.

1940: Aquatennial Minneapolis Aquatennial starts The city of Minneapolis owes its beginnings to waterpower. In the nineteenth century, the Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi River provided the power for sawmills and flour mills. Those mills created enough jobs and industry for the city of Minneapolis to grow from a tiny frontier town to one of the major cities in the United States. With this history in mind, the citizens of Minneapolis decided, in 1940, to have a party to celebrate water. In that year, and every summer since, Minneapolitans have celebrated the Aquatennial. Highlighted by an evening Torchlight Parade, the Aquatennial also features a milk carton boat race, outdoor concerts, and about 30 other events. For the first Aquatennial, Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy," was special guest and grand marshal of the parade. Other famous people who have served as grand marshal over the years include Richard Nixon, who at the time (1958) was the nation's vice president. The Aquatennial is held each year during the third week of July, which—curiously, for a celebration of water—is usually the driest week of the year in Minnesota.

1954: Streetcars discontinued Last electric streetcar is retired The streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul were once lined with rails. Electric streetcars, which ran on railroad tracks, were the quickest way for commuters to move around the cities. Electrical lines hung above the streets. Each car—which looked like a railroad car and was sometimes called a trolley—was connected to the line by a rod that sent electricity to the streetcar's motor. The electricity powered the machine. From the late 1880s until around the time of World War II in the 1940s, electric streetcars were the most popular way to get around the cities. But as the Twin Cities expanded after the war, and more people started to use automobiles, electric streetcars seemed less practical. People wanted the convenience of traveling directly from one destination, like their home, to another, like their place of business or a store. In 1954, the last streetcar was retired, leaving buses as the only means of mass transit within the Twin Cities. 1956: Southdale opens Southdale becomes the first enclosed mall in the United States American cities underwent a huge change in the last half of the twentieth century. In the 1950s the populations of both Minneapolis and St. Paul stopped growing, but the cities that surrounded them got bigger every day. More and better roads were constructed and thousands of affordable homes were built outside the center of the cities. Retail department store owners, such as the Dayton family, knew that this population shift meant a shift in shopping habits as well. Suburban shoppers would want to visit stores located more conveniently, close to where they lived. Customers would also want plenty of space to park their cars. In 1952 Dayton's Department Store hired an architectural firm to create a giant shopping center in Edina, to cater to suburban shopping needs. Four years later, Southdale opened, boasting 72 stores and more than 5,000 parking spaces. Regardless of the weather outside, the temperature inside was always comfortable. The first enclosed shopping mall in the nation, Southdale set a trend both around the country and in the Twin Cities, where a series of "Dales" (Rosedale, Ridgedale, Brookdale) were subsequently opened in other suburbs. The inner cities would continue to decline for many years as suburbs grew.

1968: American Indian Movement American Indian Movement begins Founded in Minneapolis in 1968, the American Indian Movement (AIM) is a national organization that promotes the culture and political rights of Native Americans. One reason the organization was started was to help change the ongoing mistreatment of Native Americans by the dominant white culture. By the late 1960s, that mistreatment had led many Native Americans into a life of poverty and hopelessness. AIM wanted to help these people build their own schools, get better job training, and regain a sense of their native heritage. The group also wanted to gain some political power. In the early years after its founding, AIM led a series of protests that brought national attention to its causes. Off the coast of California, AIM members occupied Alcatraz Island for more than a year to protest treatment of Native Americans on reservations in the United States. They also led a protest in South Dakota at Wounded Knee—the site of a nineteenth century massacre of Dakota Indians by U.S. soldiers. These activities awakened many people in the country to the plight of American Indians. AIM remains one of the most important voices in Indian affairs in the country.

1982: HHH Metrodome First baseball game played in Metrodome Until the early 1960s, Minnesota had no professional Major League sports teams. In quick succession, the state acquired two: the Minnesota Twins baseball team and the Minnesota Vikings football team. A new stadium was built in Bloomington, and for the next 20 years, fans enjoyed outdoor sports in Met Stadium. By the late 1970s, however, owners of the two teams, and some fans, argued that the Twins and the Vikings needed a new stadium. They said that harsh weather— cold springs and freezing winters—kept fans from the games. A new stadium, with a dome protecting the games from rain and snow, was built in downtown Minneapolis. The Twins played their first baseball game in the new Metrodome in 1982. Just fifteen years later, the same two teams were suggesting that they needed another stadium. This time, the Twins and the Vikings wanted a retractable roof—one that could be kept open in good weather and closed in bad. But the cost of building a new structure seemed too high to many people in Minnesota in the late 1990s.

1992: Mall of America Mall of America opens Thirty-six years after Minnesota became the home of the first enclosed shopping mall ever built in the United States, the state became home to the largest mall ever built in the United States. In 1992 the Mall of America opened in Bloomington. Critics of shopping malls have claimed that malls create an artificial environment and steal business from stores in inner cities and small towns, weakening those communities. Still, the popularity of malls remains strong, and the success of the Mall of America might even suggest that the "unreal" atmosphere actually adds to the mall's appeal. Since its opening, the Mall of America has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in the state. It has more than 520 stores, restaurants, and other attractions, including Knott's Camp Snoopy, a seven-acre indoor family theme park.

Events

1839: Baseball Baseball and Cooperstown Baseball has been played in the United States for a long time. A game called rounders was very popular in the early 1800s. In rounders a bat, ball, and bases were used, just like in modern baseball. But unlike today's game, in rounders batters were put "out" when they were hit by a thrown ball—called "plugging"—as they raced around the base path. Just when and where present-day baseball was created is hard to pinpoint. Around the turn of the twentieth century, a committee named by Major League baseball owners decided that the game began in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. To honor its greatest players, the Major League built the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. It seems likely now, however, that the first modern game of baseball was actually played in New Jersey in 1846 by a team called the New York Knickerbockers. The manager of the Knickerbockers, Alexander Cartwright, is credited with writing a set of rules for the game that still stand. They include the creation of foul lines, nine-member teams, and a standard of three bases and a home plate—and no more plugging.

1848: Seneca Falls Seneca Falls Convention is held The first large, organized Women's Rights gathering in the United States took place in the little town of Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. More than a hundred women, along with a few men, met there to discuss society's unequal treatment of the sexes. Most of those attending were women from northern states. Many were veterans of the Abolitionist movement, including two of the most notable leaders of the convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The Convention drafted a statement styled after the 1776 Declaration of Independence. The Seneca Falls Declaration asserted that "all men and women are created equal." It also listed examples of male dominance in government and the law, and demanded that women should be allowed the right to vote. It would be many years before that right was granted to women by passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. But the seeds of a nationwide women's movement, dedicated to furthering the cause of women's rights, were planted in Seneca Falls.

1857: Elevators invented E. G. Otis installs the first safety elevator The invention of the elevator in 1857 helped introduce the age of the skyscraper. For the first time in history, people could safely rise above a few stories in any given building without climbing seemingly endless stairs. Freight could be hauled upward. Businesses and homes could be located high above the ground. Crowded cities began to expand toward the sky rather than squeezing into ever-diminishing space on the ground. Primitive elevators had existed for many years prior to 1857. Most were operated by pulleys and ropes and had no safety features. Then a man named Elisha Otis created an elevator that would "catch," or break its fall, if the rope pulling an elevator car snapped. After Otis exhibited his creation, safety elevators became widely used. The increased use of electricity after the 1880s helped further the construction of elevators. Innovations in design allowed elevators to go higher with more safety, and architects began designing ever-taller buildings. The physical shape of cities across the country began to change as skylines created by tall buildings began to emerge.

1861: Civil War begins The Civil War The U.S. Civil War was the most brutal conflict ever fought on American soil. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed or wounded, and the war dragged on for four long years. The Civil War was fought between a group of Northern states, called the Union, and a group of Southern states, called the Confederacy. The Confederacy had seceded, or left, the United States because they felt the rights of its people— including the right to hold slaves—were being challenged by the Union. The Northern states, led by President Abraham Lincoln, fought to maintain the United States as one nation. As the war dragged on, it became apparent that the deepest division between the two regions was caused by the institution of slavery. The Confederate states felt that slavery was necessary to maintain the economic stability and social traditions of the South. African Americans—and many others—felt that slavery was an evil practice that needed to end immediately. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln issued a document called the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves to be free. In 1865 the North won the war when Confederate forces, under the command of Robert E. Lee, surrendered at a courthouse in Appamattox, Virginia. Though it would take many decades to heal the scars left from the conflict, the Civil War brought an end to slavery.

1876: Telephone invented Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone Until the nineteenth century, the only way for people to communicate over long distances was by messenger or by the written word. A revolution in communications began in the mid-1800s with the invention of the telegraph by Samuel Morse. Morse discovered that it was possible to send electrical impulses through wires in a series of dots and dashes that could be decoded into words. An even more dramatic discovery was made by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Bell found out that these same wires could transmit a human voice. By converting sound waves into electrical impulses, and then converting them back into sound waves through a receiver, the telephone allowed people to talk with one another as if they were in the same room. In a matter of years, telephones could be found in thousands of homes across the country. By the late twentieth century, the basic element of these inventions— the transmission of electronic communciation impulses through wires— was still being used in new developments such as the Internet and cable television.

1888: Box Camera invented George Eastman perfects the Kodak box camera Photography was a very specialized profession before George Eastman created "rolls" of film. Since it began in the 1820s and 30s, photography had required quick access to dark rooms for immediate developing. The cumbersome glass plates used to capture images in cameras needed to stay wet with a chemical coating. Otherwise, they would be "exposed" before they were developed. Mathew Brady, famed for his powerful photographs of the Civil War, had to build a traveling darkroom to accompany him in the field. Not everyone had the means or the knowledge to create photographs. Then Eastman invented a process by which images could be captured and safely stored on a roll of celluloid—one of the earliest kinds of plastic. These rolls fit neatly in a portable box camera, which Eastman called the "Kodak". Suddenly photography became possible for millions of Americans. Anyone who could afford a camera became an amateur photographer. Pictures of family, friends and special events could be recorded— something that had never before been possible for the average person. Eastman and his film also helped lead the way to the creation of motion pictures by Thomas Edison, just a few years later.

1892: Iron and steel workers strike Iron and steel workers strike in the United States During the nineteenth century, many Americans saw changes in the way they earned a living. New inventions and new forms of power, such as steam and electricity, allowed work to be done faster than it had ever been done before. New machinery allowed farmers to tend their fields with fewer farmhands, and factories were springing up throughout the land to produce goods that used to be made by hand. People began leaving farmwork to find employment at large companies. Many new immigrants also found work in factories. Factory owners often set very long hours and very low wages. To help protect their interests, workers began to form labor unions to demand better pay and working conditions. One of the chief means they used to get what they wanted was the strike. A whole group of workers would simply refuse toperform their jobs. The managers of the factories, and those who invested in them, called capitalists, countered strikes by hiring new workers. As a consequence, angry and violent fights erupted between workers and owners. One of the most violent occurred in 1892 when Andrew Carnegie, the owner of a giant steel manufactory, hired replacement workers at his plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Though Carnegie ultimately won this battle, unions and their tactics—including strikes—became more and more accepted by the people of the United States.

1903: Self-propelled flight Wright brothers make their first flight For centuries humans had dreamed of flying. As early as the 1500s, the famous artist and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci drew sketches of a machine that looked much like a modern-day helicopter. In 1783, two French brothers named Montgolfier filled a large balloon with hot air and sent a friend aloft in the world's first balloon ride. Throughout the nineteenth century, inventors tinkered with ideas for self-propelled flight. None succeeded. Then around the turn of the twentieth century, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio—Wilbur and Orville Wright— decided they would try to build an airplane. The Wright brothers were bicycle mechanics. They had no special training in aerodynamics (the science of flight). But through careful observation and repeated tests, they devised a machine that combined just the right ingredients for flight. At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903, Orville Wright became the first person ever to fly an airplane. It would take a while before self-propelled flight would have a wide impact on the way people travel, but in time planes, jets, and rockets—all means by which humans defy gravity—would change the modern world. 1909: NAACP Creation of the NAACP Although the Civil War had ended slavery in the United States, African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century still were viewed by most other people in the United States as second-class citizens. The separation of white and black people from one another—called segregation—was enforced by law in many parts of the country. This meant, among many other restrictions, that African Americans couldn't eat at the same restaurants as white people, or stay in the same hotels, or ride on the same trolley cars. In 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded to help change this state of affairs. Led by leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois, the NAACP demanded an end to biased treatment of African Americans. They insisted upon equal voting rights, the abolishment of racial discrimination, better educational opportunities for black people, and full acceptance of the constitutional rights of African Americans. The NAACP would be a powerful voice throughout the twentieth century. It would play a major role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which finally put an end to segregation.

1917: World War I (U.S. enters) World War I World War I began in Europe in July 1914, as a results of events which caused Germany and Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia, Russia, and France. The countries of Europe had agreements with each other so that if one was attacked, others would assist. Within days Great Britain and other European nations had joined the fight. Because so many countries were involved, it was called a world war. At the start, most Americans felt it had little to do with them. Not only were the battles being fought overseas, they involved issues of European power that didn't seem connected to the United States. But as the war raged on and millions died, it became apparent that the United States couldn't stay neutral. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany and its allies. The United States joined the fighting on the side of France and Great Britain. The added resources brought by American soldiers helped defeat Germany and peace was declared on November 11, 1918. The horrible carnage of the war (the death and destruction) shocked everyone. Woodrow Wilson, and others, hoped to create a peace between the warring powers which would make World War I "the war to end all wars." Unfortunately the resulting Treaty of Versailles failed to bring this lasting peace. Just 20 years later, Europe would once again be at war.

1920: Nineteenth Ammendment Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to vote When the United States Constitution was written in 1787, it did not grant women the right to vote. The men who wrote it believed that women's opinions didn't belong in what they called "the public sphere." They felt that women didn't know enough about law and government to have a voice in politics. By the mid-nineteenth century, many women (and men) thought this view of women no longer made sense, and it made them angry. They began to lobby for an amendment to the Constitution that would grant women the right to vote. Those involved in this movement were called suffragists. “Suffrage” was simply the right to vote. To be passed, an amendment to the Constitution requires a favorable vote from two-thirds of the members in Congress, and ratification (or acceptance) by three-fourths of the states. For almost 75 years, suffragists led by women like Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul lobbied at both the state and federal level for passage of the amendment. The first state to grant women the right to vote was Wyoming, in 1869. Over the next 50 years, a number of other states would accept women's suffrage. But it wasn't until 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment was passed by Congress and three-fourths of the states. Women finally had the right to vote throughout the country.

1933: New Deal Roosevelt introduces the New Deal In October 1929 the stock market crashed. People across the country, who had invested millions of dollars in companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, saw their investments lost. The United States, and countries all around the world, went into an economic depression. Banks and businesses closed everywhere. Millions of people lost their jobs. Low prices on the world market for farm products made it hard for farmers to stay in business. In 1932 Americans decided that the government needed to do something to help those who had lost jobs and money. They elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt president of the United States because he promised to give Americans a "New Deal." What Roosevelt meant was that government would take a more active role than it ever had before in helping people who needed economic assistance. Roosevelt and his supporters created relief funds for the unemployed. They passed the Social Security Act, which made funds available for the elderly and for people with disabilities. They helped rural people receive electrical power through the Rural Electrification Administration. They created jobs through the Work Projects Administration. These and many other programs collectively became known as the New Deal. While the Great Depression would continue to plague the country until World War II, Roosevelt's reforms had a lasting impact on the nature of government. 1936: Jesse Owens Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Olympic Games In 1932 the German people elected Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party as the leaders of their nation. One of the central beliefs of Hitler and the Nazis was that Aryans—white people of non-Jewish descent—were physically superior to all other races. The Olympic Games were scheduled to be held in Berlin, Germany's capital city, in 1936. Hitler and the Nazis planned to use the games to showcase for all the world the superiority of Aryan, especially German, athletes. Instead, a black man from Ohio State University named Jesse Owens stole the show. Owens won four gold medals, an Olympic record at the time. He won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and the long jump competition. He was also a member of a world record-breaking relay team, which won the 400-meter relay. While Hitler was a constant presence at the games, he refused to present Owens with any gold medals or even to acknowledge Owens's victories. Many other observers around the world, however, understood that black athletes were equal to white.

1941: World War II (U.S. enters) The United States fights in World War II American involvement in World War II began with the bombing of the Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. But there had been tensions for years prior to that act. In Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party had established a totalitarian government— one which controlled every aspect of German life, and even tried to eliminate one whole group of people, European Jews. Germany attacked a number of nations in Europe, including Poland, France and the Soviet Union. In Japan, a government dominated by military men had subjugated several countries in Asia, including China. The United States would have to fight two powerful enemies in different parts of the world. In the Pacific, they fought Japan through a series of invasions which removed Japanese forces from islands they had invaded, but also to set the stage for the inevitable invasion of Japan. In Europe, the North African and Italian campaigns and the Russian Front were all part of a strategy to defeat Hitler, the ultimate move coming with D-Day, the invasion of France. Along with the courage of its fighting forces, it was the great industrial and natural resources of the nation that helped the United States and its allies win the war. The cost to everyone involved was enormous. More than 6 million Jews were killed by Hitler and the Germans. And to more quickly end the war in the Pacific, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world would never be the same. 1945: Atom bomb First test explosion of an atomic bomb is performed in New Mexico Atoms are the tiniest particles of elements like hydrogen. An atom contains an enormous amount of energy. For many years before World War II, scientists theorized about what would happen if an atom were split and that energy was released. They guessed that a nuclear reaction would occur—that there would be a tremendous explosion followed by an emission of dangerous gases, particles, and incredible amounts of energy. But no one had ever made an atomic bomb, so no one could be certain exactly what would happen. Then in 1942, the United States and its allies heard that Germany was planning to create an A-bomb. They decided that they had to build one first. President Franklin Roosevelt sent a team of scientists to a remote location in New Mexico to create the world's first nuclear weapon. This very secret operation was called The Manhattan Project. For three years, the scientists worked on the bomb, until finally, it was ready. The first atom bomb was exploded in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Dust and heat swept the desert for miles around. A huge mushroom-shaped cloud darkened the sky. Even the scientists working on the project were awed by the bomb's power. A month later, the United States dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed. The incredible power of nuclear explosions has terrified the world ever since.

1951: Color TV invented Color TV is introduced in the United States Television in the 1950s was a brand new medium. It was a revolutionary way to bring information and entertainment into homes across the country. Radio had been extremely popular since the 1920s, but now an audience could actually see performers, newscasters and personalities in their own homes. That added enormously to the impact and power of television and it quickly changed the world of politics. 1954: McCarthyism The McCarthy hearings are televised In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy held the first Congressional hearings ever to be televised. For several years, McCarthy had been leading an effort to rid various branches of government of people he thought were disloyal to the United States. In the process, he had wrongly accused a great number of people, ruining careers and damaging personal lives. McCarthy maintained a lot of popular support until people saw him on television. The hearings concerned the Army, another reason they were so widely watched, aside from people wanting to see McCarthy in action. There, for the first time, viewers could see his bullying tactics and smirking manner. McCarthy's popularity plummeted and his efforts at ridding the government of "communists" lost support. McCarthy drifted from power, and politicians throughout the country understood that a new age had begun.

1963: Freedom March Freedom March in Washington, D. C. The 1960s were a time of great social upheaval and drama throughout the nation. Efforts by African Americans and others to change discriminatory practices and segregationist laws culminated in a great "Freedom March" on Washington, D. C. in 1963. There hundreds of thousands of people listened to Martin Luther King, Jr., make a famous speech in which he declared "I have a dream"—that some day the nation would be free of prejudice and hate. 1963: J.F.K. assassinated President John F. Kennedy assassinated On November 22, an assassin took the life of President John F. Kennedy. His death had a profound affect on the nation. People who had seen in Kennedy the spirit of a coming age of hope and optimism felt a great sense of despair. 1969: Apollo 11 Humans walk on the moon On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the moon.

1971: Cigarette ad ban Cigarette advertisements are banned from U.S. television Tobacco was introduced to Europeans by American Indians. It quickly became very popular and was grown by farmers in colonial America for shipment to Europe. Tobacco became an important part of the economy in a number of states, primarily in the south. The health hazards of smoking cigarettes and other forms of tobacco were not well- understood or acknowledged. But in the last half of the twentieth century, doctors and medical researchers began to make a connection between smoking and illnesses such as lung cancer and heart disease. They also began to see that smoking had an addictive quality. People who began smoking would continue to smoke, regardless of what it did to their health, simply because their bodies craved the nicotine found in tobacco. Health officials tried to curb smoking across the country, but the large tobacco companies made it difficult to do so. They didn't want smokers to quit using their products. Change came slowly, but in 1964 the U.S. surgeon general issued a warning about the health hazards of smoking that was printed on cigarette packs. Seven years later, in an attempt to prevent young people from ever starting to smoke, cigarette advertisements were banned from television. 1974: Nixon resigns President Nixon resigns During the 1972 presidential election campaign, burglars broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D. C. They were caught, but what they were doing at the Watergate seemed at first a mystery. From this small beginning grew the biggest political scandal of the century. In time, the five thieves would be linked to officials in the re-election campaign for President Richard Nixon, a member of the rival Republican Party. Then they would be linked to members of Nixon's presidential administration. And finally, they would be linked to President Nixon himself. The burglars were looking for documents that would give them inside, or secret, information about the Democratic Party and its upcoming presidential campaign. As the Watergate scandal unfolded, it turned out that the burglary was only one of numerous illegal efforts to undercut the Democratic Party's plans. For more than two years, President Nixon not only denied his involvement in these efforts, but also he tried to cover up evidence that would link him to the crimes. As more evidence came forward, however, it became increasingly clear that Nixon was involved. Impeachment proceedings against President Nixon were started to remove him from office. Before they were finished, however, Richard Nixon became the first and only president ever to resign from office.

1985: Internet The Internet is formed Almost from the time computers were invented, scientists and engineers looked for ways to link the information found on one computer with the information found on others. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, an agency of the U. S. government developed a way for a number of different computers to share information through a "host" computer. But the modern Internet was still a long way off. In the mid-1980s, the National Science Foundation created a computer network which allowed universities and research centers around the country to share electronic information through a number of "super-computing" centers. It was also at this time that the idea of using phone lines to connect computers was developed. In the late 1980s, group of scientists in Europe devised a system called the World Wide Web, which created a standard "language" which computers around the world could understand. With these various tools in place, Internet use and development exploded in the 1990s.