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    MNopedia

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

    Mataafa Storm, 1905

    One of the costliest disasters in the history of Lake Superior

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    In a sepia-tinted photograph, a steamship with a central smoke funnel sits in water beside a harbor broken in half.

    Butler, Pierce (1866–1939)

    The first Minnesotan to serve as a justice of the US Supreme Court

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    A man wearing a suit jacket and tie sits in a study with a book open on the desk in front of him.

    Forest Fires

    Some of the state's deadliest natural (and not-so-natural) disasters 

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    A destroyed structure sits in the foreground next to a standing wooden pole, with charred buildings and fire survivors in the background.

    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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    Recently Added Articles

    A man wearing a red-and-white-striped tie, a blue suit jacket, and a white dress shirt stands in front of a microphone with his hands lifted. An American flag is behind him.

    Samatar, Hussein (1964–2013)

    Creator: Ibrahim Hirsi
    First Published: September 25, 2026
    Hussein Samatar was an entrepreneur, banker, and public servant who advocated for greater access to education for immigrant families. He founded and led the African Development Center, a ...
    Person
    1980–Present (US in a New Global Age)
    Business and Industry
    Immigration
    Orange salt-and-pepper shakers, a yellow pitcher, and a taupe oil pourer in fluid, round shapes sit against an indigo background.

    Red Wing Pottery

    Creator: Alex Magnolia
    First Published: September 18, 2026
    The pottery produced in Red Wing is a tangible, material record of Minnesota’s history. In the late nineteenth century, Red Wing stoneware supported agriculture. In the early twentieth ...
    Thing
    1870–1920 (Development of Industrial US)
    1920–1945 (Great Depression and World War II)
    1945–1989 (Post-World War II United States)
    Arts
    Business and Industry
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    This Day in Minnesota History (October 07)

    1794

    Construction begins on Ash House, a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the mouth of Rainy River. The two-story log house, with oiled parchment windows and a clay and stone chimney, is completed a month later.

    1910

    Forest fires destroy Baudette and Spooner, killing twenty-nine people and burning over 220,000 acres of land. During this dry year, over 900 fires had burned in twenty-nine counties, causing forty-two deaths. Graceton, Pitt, Cedar Spur, and Williams also burned.

    1935

    Amelia Earhart speaks to the Women's City Club in St. Paul. Formed in 1921, the club valued social, cultural, political, and intellectual pursuits and also hosted speakers Gertrude Stein and T. S. Eliot.

    1998

    A group of protestors criticizes the Hopkins company Alliant TechSystems for deciding to manufacture land mines for the United States military. Police arrest fifty-three people.

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    History Near You

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