150 Minnesota moments MinnPost would just as soon forget
In case you hadn’t heard, Minnesota is turning 150. This is mostly a happy time (seriously–why do you read this blog if you hate Minnesota so much, huh?), but MinnPost doesn’t like to see a parade go un-rained on. So, they have given us a three-part feature:
150 Minnesota moments we’d just as soon forget.
It’s a lot of tornadoes, cold temperatures, and murders, but there are some other things as well. I’ve selected some of the sillier, less-depressing items for your perusal. I hesitate to call them my favorites, but whatever. You get the idea.
1859: The temperature falls below freezing on July 4.
1918: The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, created by war hysteria, unleashes a broad campaign against labor groups and German-Americans — in one case arresting the entire city government of New Ulm and replacing it.
1934: On April 1, a St. Paul newspaper reports two major stories: First, John Dillinger evades arrest by shooting his way out of an apartment on Lexington Parkway. Second, a St. Paul grand jury concludes a lengthy investigation by declaring that the city, contrary to rumors, did not have a gangster problem.
1936: St. Paul is named the best place in America to hire a hit man by Fortune Magazine.
1953: The dismantling begins of one of the world’s largest urban trolley systems with more than 500 miles of track connecting Stillwater with ferry boats on Lake Minnetonka and linking to trains traveling all the way to Northfield. Light rail, anyone?
1964: Oct. 25 — Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall picks up a fumble but runs the wrong way into the opponent’s end zone. He throws the ball out of bounds, scoring a safety for the San Francisco 49ers.
2007: Aug. 27 — Roll Call breaks the story that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was arrested in June for indecent exposure in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
