Minnesota History

Preservation group hopes to reignite conversations with DNR about fate of Manfred House
The fate of the Frederick Manfred House in Blue Mounds State Park is still undecided. It’s been closed to the public for years after suffering extensive water damage. A preservation group wants it repaired and reopened, but its current owner, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, is proposing another plan which will only save the famed novelist’s writing room.
Canadian couple approaches the end of oxcart trek across Minnesota
A Canadian couple retracing the 1800s oxcart trail from Winnipeg to St. Paul plan to end their journey this week despite a variety of challenges that slowed their progress.
Troubling stories surface as U probes its history with Native people
A University of Minnesota panel is broadly reviewing the institution’s treatment of Native people since its 1851 founding. While a report is expected later this summer, researchers and journalists have already uncovered some hard facts.
Reliving 150-year-old history a step, and a creak, at a time
A Winnipeg man is fulfilling his quest for adventure by traveling, very slowly, from Winnipeg to St. Paul by oxcart. The journey is about history, adventure and faith.
Exhibit explores early effort to desegregate Minneapolis schools
Currently at the Hennepin History Museum, “Separate Not Equal: The Hale-Field Pairing” tells the story of the 1971 effort to desegregate two elementary schools fewer than 2 miles apart and the lessons still relevant today.
Part of skull found along Minnesota River belongs to man from 8,000 years ago
The bone was spotted by kayakers last year and is being turned over to Upper Sioux Community tribal officials. The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council said neither the council nor the state archaeologist were made aware of the discovery as required by state law.
Split Rock Lighthouse historic site back open after lightning strike knocked out utilities
Split Rock Lighthouse historic site on the North Shore is back open, after a lightning bolt struck the grounds, raced through the historic site’s electrical system and knocked out water, power and a variety of other functions on Monday.
Can a new vision for Interstate 94 repair historic harm in Rondo?
The construction of the interstate highway system in the 1960s cut through many Black urban communities, destroying homes and bisecting neighborhoods. On Thursday, MPR News host Angela Davis talked about a proposal to use new transportation construction to repair some of that historic harm.
In Faribault, one last stand for a battered pre-Civil War house
Gutted on the inside and pressed by encroaching development, time is running out for a southern Minnesota home that may date back to 1855. Rice County officials are making one more attempt to find someone willing to move it.