Minnesota History

The Minnesota State Capitol building is turning 100 years old. A year-long centennial celebration kicked off Sunday, to recall the controversy which surrounded the construction of the building, and the history which has been made in it.
Artist Charles Biederman, who died Sunday at his Red Wing home, leaves behind a legacy unknown to many people in Minnesota. Biederman is best known for his three-dimensional painted aluminum sculptures, which attempted to capture the "structural processes" of nature.
The photos are graphic and captivating. Former St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Larry Millet has unearthed more than 200 images of car accidents, murders and suicides for his book, "Strange Days, Dangerous Nights," which chronicles the sensational press photography of the 1930s, '40s and '50s.
Ralph Krafnick of St. Cloud was getting ready to play a morning baseball game 63 years ago Tuesday. His team was made up of crew members from the USS New Orleans, docked at Pearl Harbor. The morning attack stopped their weekly baseball game, sunk 18 ships, killed 2,400 soldiers and cast the U.S. into World War II. For Krafnick, 87, the memory of that day is clear.
In the early 1930s, Soviet recruiters persuaded thousands of Finnish-Americans from northern Minnesota to move to Stalin's Russia. They thought they were going to build a utopia, but many ended up as Stalin's victims. A Minnesota author, William Durbin, has written a new book for young people which describes the painful episode.
Today is the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 63 years ago, December 7th, 1941. A little over a week after that tragic event, President Franklin Roosevelt took the time to look past the immediate crisis, and wrote a letter to the future, with every faith there would be a recognizable future. Classical Music host Bill Morelock reads that letter.
A new picture book documents the landmarks on the drive between the Twin Cities and Minnesota's lake country. MPR's Cathy Wurzer talked to the author recently. Listen to the interview and browse through the pictures.
The man known as, "Minnesota's leading citizen" has died. Former Republican Gov. Elmer L. Andersen died Monday evening at the age of 95. Although Andersen served as the state's governor from 1961 to 1963, he's probably better known more for what he accomplished outside of that office. And for Andersen, that's a long list: President and CEO of a billion dollar company, newspaper publisher, environmental leader, civil rights leader and philanthropist.
Henry Johnson lay in an unmarked grave for 76 years. Now, thanks to help from a great granddaughter, the Civil War veteran is properly memorialized.
A southern Minnesota landmark returned to its lofty pedestal Tuesday in New Ulm. A crane lifted Hermann the German, all 32 feet of him, into place. The copper statue was taken down about a year and a half ago to repair more than 100 years of wear.