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    MNopedia

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

    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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    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.

    Virginia and Rainy Lake Company

    The Minnesota firm that became the world's largest white pine lumber company overnight

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    A four-story sawmill with a green roof, red walls, and pairs of windows across the horizontal access. People are in the foreground.

    Fort Ridgely

    A US military base in Nicollet County that operated between 1853 and 1867

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    View of Fort Ridgey with stone foundation ruins in the foreground, a one-story building with two doors and six windows in the middleground next to a stone pillar, and a grey sky in the background.

    Ȟaȟá Wakpádaŋ (Bassett Creek)

    A waterway that flows through nine Minnesota cities

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    Creek with bright green foliage on either side and a blue sky with clouds above.

    Stewart, Jacob Henry (1829–1884)

    A doctor, mayor, congressman, and Civil War veteran

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    Peterson Bluebird Nest Box

    A conservation success story that started in Brooklyn Center

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    A field showing grass and trees in different shades of green. Three orange butterflies alight on stalks of flowers in the foreground.

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    Workers in yellow protective gear handle a pink pipeline in front of construction vehicles, with a frozen stretch of water in the foreground.

    Line 3 Oil Spill, Grand Rapids

    Creator: Abigail Venuso
    First Published: April 10, 2026
    On March 3, 1991, Line 3 of the Lakehead Pipeline Company burst near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. An estimated 1.7 million gallons of oil spilled into the nearby Prairie River and surrounding ...
    Event
    1980–Present (US in a New Global Age)
    Environment
    A sign with text and a color image stands on two wooden supports in front of a grassy background. A historical marker set into the earth is visible at left.

    21-MO-20 (archaeological site)

    Creator: Kristen Zschomler
    First Published: April 02, 2026
    The confluence of rivers is an ideal place for human settlement, offering strategic, spiritual, and practical reasons for occupation. One such location is two miles north of the modern-day ...
    Place
    1754–1800 (Revolution and a New Nation)
    Business and Industry
    Native Americans
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    This Day in Minnesota History (April 15)

    1892

    The Lake Traverse Reservation of Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota—600,000 acres in North and South Dakota, across the western Minnesota border from Browns Valley—is opened to settler-colonists. In a scene reminiscent of the Oklahoma land rush, a gunman shoots a pistol at noon, and the stampede of prospective settlers begins.

    1912

    The schoolchildren of St. Paul select the city's official flower, the sweet pea, in an election sponsored by the city's women's clubs. Other choices included the coreopsis, marigold, petunia, and aster. News of their choice is overshadowed by reports of the Titanic's sinking.

    1916

    The first regulated trout season opens.

    1944

    The Farmer-Labor Party and Minnesota's Democratic Party agree to merge at their joint convention, and a slate of candidates is quickly chosen to meet the filing deadline two days later. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party is unique to Minnesota.

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    History Near You

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