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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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    A golden-colored fish with black stripes on its back floats against a pure white background.

    Walleye

    Creator: Marjorie Savage
    First Published: April 22, 2026
    On the opening day of Minnesota’s fishing season in 1965, the Minnesota Legislature selected walleye as the state’s official fish. While walleyes are neither the state’s biggest fish nor ...
    Thing
    Environment
    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
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    This Day in Minnesota History (May 10)

    1823

    The Virginia is the first steamboat to reach Fort St. Anthony (later Fort Snelling), having made the 729-mile-trip from St. Louis in twenty days. Among the Virginia's passengers is Italian adventurer Giacomo C. Beltrami.

    1827

    William Windom is born in Belmont City, Ohio. After settling in Winona in 1855, Windom represented Minnesota in the US Congress as both a congressman and a senator. He later served as secretary of the treasury under Presidents James A. Garfield and Benjamin Harrison. His likeness appears on the 1891 two-dollar bill, and Windom in Cottonwood County is named for him. He died in 1891.

    1902

    The St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team beats a team from Indianapolis 4-0 in the first American Association game at Lexington Park.

    1941

    Charles A. Lindbergh is the featured speaker at a large America First rally in Minneapolis. The America First Committee promoted US isolationism during the years leading up to World War II. Lindbergh's anti-war activity reduced his stature in many people's eyes, but after war was declared he would dedicate himself to the battle for victory, flying fifty missions in the Pacific.

    1993

    Kiowa elder Ralph Ware, Jr., who played an instrumental role in creating the Heart of the Earth Survival School, dies in Oklahoma. Founded in 1972, the school at the Center for American Indian Education in Minneapolis was one of the nation's first alternative schools for Native Americans.

    2000

    St. Augusta Township in rural Stearns County becomes the city of Ventura as five new city officials take the oath of office to serve this community, which was named for Governor Jesse Ventura as part of a political strategy to prevent annexation attempts by St. Cloud, the county seat. The former township clerk comments, "We are about to form the newest city in the state of Minnesota." In November voters overwhelmingly choose to change the city's name from Ventura to St. Augusta.

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