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    MNopedia

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

    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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    Newly_Refurbished_Garrison_Walleye_-_panoramio_resized-1

    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

    Recently Added Articles

    A wrecked steamship sits partially submerged in water, with its bow facing the shore of a lake, with buildings behind it.

    Mataafa Storm, 1905

    Creator: Abigail Venuso
    First Published: August 19, 2026
    On November 27, 1905, sailors on Lake Superior faced heavy snowfall, sustained winds up to seventy miles per hour, massive waves, and subzero wind chill temperatures. The Mataafa storm, ...
    Event
    1870–1920 (Development of Industrial US)
    Environment
    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
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    This Day in Minnesota History (August 28)

    1857

    The one-day "Cornstalk War" occurs between a group of six Ojibwe and the St. Paul Light Cavalry Company, which had been summoned after reports of thefts. Each side loses one man after exchanging shots in a cornfield near Sunrise.

    1883

    Jacob A. O. Preus is born in Wisconsin. Founder of the Lutheran Brotherhood fraternal society, he would serve as state governor from 1921 to 1925. He died on May 24, 1961.

    1977

    Lake City's Ralph Samuelson, the "father of water-skiing," dies. In 1922 Samuelson had successfully tested water skis on Lake Pepin, having fashioned the skis by boiling and curving the tips of boards purchased at a local lumberyard.

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    History Near You

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