Mortal/History

1600 Dakota peoples live near the site of burial Mounds constructed by the Hopewell culture approximately 2000 years ago.

1805 Unratified treaty by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike for possession of land in the region.

1825 Fort Snelling military fortification completed on the land possessed by Pike.

1838 French fur trader Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant set up a tavern named the Pig’s Eye. The community that sprung up around the tavern had become important as a trading center and a destination for settlers heading west. Locals called the area Pig’s Eye or Pig’s Eye Landing after Parrant’s popular tavern.

1841 Father Lucien Galtier was sent to minister to the Catholic French Canadians and established a chapel on the bluffs above Pig's Eye Landing named for his favorite saint, Paul the Apostle. The settlement's name was changed to Saint Paul in honor of the chapel.

1849 St. Paul: Capital of Minnesota Territory. Squatters occupied military-reservation land on the west side of river (Minneapolis side) near St. Anthony Falls. James Madison Goodhue begins publishing Minnesota's first newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer.

1850 Squatters given land and Minneapolis founded.

1851 Minneapolis: University of Minnesota founded.

1858 St. Paul: State Capitol when Minnesota admitted to Union.
St. Paul: Henry Sibley instated as first governor of Minnesota.

1862 Dakota War - Conflict broke out between the United States and several bands of Dakota peoples. By the end of the war, 358 settlers, 77 soldiers, 29 volunteers and an unknown number of Dakota were killed, including 303 Dakota sentenced to death.
St. Paul: Northern Pacific Railway train departed on first trek.

1863 In May, 1863, the Dakota survivors from a prison camp at Fort Snelling were crowded aboard steamboats and taken to Crow Creek in southeastern South Dakota.

1870 Minneapolis: Flour Milling Capital of World.

1878 Minneapolis: A massive explosion in a Minneapolis flour mill kills 18.

1886 St Paul: St. Paul Union Stockyard established.

1893 The Minnesota state flag, designed by Amelia Hyde Center of Minneapolis, is accepted by the Minnesota Legislature.

1902 Minneapolis: Approximately twelve automobiles appear in Minneapolis.

1904 St. Paul: On August 20, 1904, Saint Paul and much of the Twin Cities area was struck by damaging thunderstorms and tornadoes causing over $1.78 million in damages. The A section of the 180-foot High Bridge over the Mississippi River was destroyed, killing three people were killed and injuring more than 50 in the downtown area.

1906 St. Paul: William Williams is hanged in the county jail on February 13, ending capital punishment in Minnesota.

1914 Minneapolis: World War I begins. Minneapolis becomes the home of the Federal Reserve Bank.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport opens on Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory.

1920 St. Paul: St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald receives much acclaim for his book This Side of Paradise.

1927 Charles Lindbergh, a native of Minnesota, flies solo across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris.

1934 St. Paul: "Public Enemy Number 1" John Dillinger has a gun battle with FBI agents in St. Paul on March 11 and escapes.

1948 St. Paul: Minnesota's first television station, KSTP, goes on the air.

1950 St. Paul: Charles M. Schulz published 1st Charlie Brown strip.

1958 Minneapolis: Prince Rogers Nelson (the artist formerly known as Prince) born in Minneapolis.

1965 St. Paul: Beatlemania came to Metropolitan Stadium with over 25,000 excited fans in the stadium.

1985 St. Paul The Metropolitan Stadium was demolished and six years later construction of Mall of America began.

1987 The Minnesota Twins win the World Series.

1994 Minneapolis: Mall of America opened on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium.

1999 Jesse Ventura, original name James George Janos, a native of Minneapolis and WWE wrestler becomes governor of Minnesota.

2004 Minnesota produced 75% of country's usable iron ore.

2007 Minneapolis: On Wednesday, August 1, 2007, with rush hour bridge traffic moving slowly through the limited number of lanes, the central span of the bridge suddenly gave way, followed by the adjoining spans. A total of 111 vehicles, their occupants and 18 construction workers plummeted 115 feet into the river or its banks with 13 fatalities.

2011 Minneapolis: Omer Abdi Mohamed of Minneapolis, 26 years old, admitted helping with Somalia terror plot.