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    MNopedia

    MNopedia — A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events and things in Minnesota history.

    Commercial Logging, 1838–1949

    An industry that reshaped Minnesota's land, water, and people

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    A railroad car sits on a track next to a stack of logs that extends into an obscured vanishing point at the lower left.

    DesJarlait, Patrick (1921–1972)

    A modernist painter who depicted his Red Lake Ojibwe kin in a contemporary style

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    Five figures act out the steps of making maple sugar

    Deformed Frogs in Le Sueur County, 1995

    An environmental mystery discovered by Minnesota middle-school students

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    Three people carrying fishing nets walk through ankle-deep water (waist-deep in the middleground). There is shoreline at the front-right corner and in the background.

    Minneapolis-Moline Company

    The "whole line" farm-equipment firm that dominated its industry in the mid-twentieth century

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    Three-wheeled tractor with a yellow body sitting on green grass in front of a blue sky in the background.

    Walleye

    The state fish of Minnesota and a perennial fan favorite

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    Vietnamese Community of Minnesota

    A nonprofit organization active since 1981

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    Vietnamese Community of Minnesota

    Paul Bunyan Canoe Derby

    A 450-mile race that took place on the Mississippi River between 1940 and 1960

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    17 Benny and Frank Tonce 10724787-1

    Minnesota Lynx

    The women's basketball team that won four WNBA championship titles in six years.

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    Two basketball players stand side by side, clasping two of their hands together.

    Recently Added Articles

    A painting of a man wearing dark judicial robes, a black tie, and a white collared shirt. He sits at a three-quarter angle in a red upholstered chair. The painting is housed within an ornate golden frame.

    Butler, Pierce (1866–1939)

    Creator: Paul Nelson
    First Published: August 05, 2026
    Pierce Butler was the first Minnesotan to serve as a justice of the United States Supreme Court. His nearly seventeen years there (1923–1939) followed three decades as one of the most ...
    Person
    1920–1945 (Great Depression and World War II)
    Crime and Punishment
    Politics
    Flames and smoke rise above a mostly green treeline, with water in the foreground.

    Forest Fires

    Creator: Hayden Nelson
    First Published: July 27, 2026
    Before settlers came to what is now Minnesota, Indigenous people stewarded forests by setting fires. These controlled burns eliminated dead trees and underbrush that could have fueled ...
    Thing
    1870–1920 (Development of Industrial US)
    Environment
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    This Day in Minnesota History (August 09)

    1820

    The Dakota transfer land on Pike Island to Pelagie Faribault, wife of Jean Baptiste Faribault. The Faribaults build a house and live on the island until 1826, when they are evicted because, although the land grant was part of a treaty negotiated by Colonel Henry Leavenworth, Congress had never ratified it.

    1823

    Edward D. Neill is born in Philadelphia. A Presbyterian minister, Neill would arrive in St. Paul in 1849, where he would be a leader in the city's intellectual and religious life until his death in 1893. In addition to founding the First Presbyterian Church, he would help establish public schools in St. Paul, serve as superintendent of instruction in Minnesota Territory, found the Baldwin School and Macalester College, and serve as chancellor of the University of Minnesota. During the Civil War he would fulfill duties as chaplain of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and as private secretary to presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. After the war he would serve as US consul in Ireland and as secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society.

    1842

    The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, which set the boundary between Canada and the United States, is signed by the United States and Great Britain. The boundary had been in dispute since the end of the American Revolution. Minnesota's curious Northwest Angle is a result of this treaty.

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