Traditional Native American Lacrosse in Minnesota

Known as one of the continent’s oldest team sports, lacrosse was invented by Native American nations that played the game for social, political, and ceremonial purposes. Today, in Minnesota, Native Americans continue to play lacrosse in the same manner and on the same fields as they have for over 400 years.

Transsexual Research Project

The University of Minnesota performed sex-reassignment surgeries (as they were called at the time) on twenty-five trans women from 1966 to the mid 1970s as part of a program called the Transsexual Research Project. Helmed by psychiatrist Donald W. Hastings and surgeon Colin Markland, the project sought to alleviate the gender dysphoria of its patients through hormone treatment, psychotherapy, and surgery. At the same time, it tried to reform them into middle-class, heterosexual, conventionally respectable members of American society. Fueled by a complex mix of empathy, sensationalized concern, and pity, the project established Minnesota as the center of trans life it remains today.

Traveling Libraries

Before 1899, few Minnesotans had access to free public libraries. But in that year, the state legislature began funding a system of traveling libraries that were sent to underserved communities in all parts of the state for only the cost of shipping.

Treaty of La Pointe, 1854

The second Treaty of La Pointe (1854) ceded most Ojibwe land on the northern and western shores of Lake Superior to the U.S. government. It also established the Grand Portage and Fond du Lac reservations. In exchange, the Ojibwe received annual payments and a guarantee that they could continue to hunt and fish throughout this territory.

Treaty of Mendota, 1851

The Treaty of Mendota was signed between the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute bands of Dakota and the United States government in 1851. By signing it and the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux the same year, the Dakota transferred ownership of much of their lands to the United States. The treaties of 1851 opened millions of acres to white colonization, but for the Dakota, they were a step towards the loss of their homeland and the US–Dakota War of 1862.

Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 1851

The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (1851) between the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota and the US government transferred ownership of much of southeastern Minnesota Territory to the United States. Along with the Treaty of Mendota, signed that same year, it opened twenty-four million acres of land to settler-colonists. For the Dakota, these treaties marked another step in a process that increasingly marginalized them and dismissed them from the land that had been—and remains—their home.

Treaty of Washington, 1855

The Treaty of Washington (1855) is a milestone in the history of Ojibwe people in Minnesota. The agreement ceded a large portion of Ojibwe land to the U.S. government and created the Leech Lake and Mille Lacs reservations.

Trial of Joseph Israel / Lucy Ann Lobdell

Joseph Israel Lobdell, also known as La-Roi and Lucy Ann Lobdell, spent two years in Minnesota in the late 1850s. In 1858, a Meeker County attorney charged him with "impersonating a man," claiming that such an action was a crime. The judge trying the case disagreed, ruling that Lobdell (who had been assigned a female sex at birth) had committed no offense by dressing in men’s clothes.

Tripp, Alice Raatama (1918‒2014)

A self-proclaimed “jumper-inner,” Alice Tripp made her mark as a grassroots activist and self-taught farmer. She was a key leader of a movement opposing the CU Powerline, which began construction on western Minnesota farmland in the early 1970s. Tripp went on to steer a surprisingly successful gubernatorial campaign, and even briefly tried her luck in the 1980 presidential election.

Turkey Industry in Minnesota

The Minnesota turkey industry began with small backyard flocks raised on family farms. The Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, the National Turkey Improvement Plan, and advances in disease prevention helped Minnesota rise to become the top turkey-producing state in the country.

Turnblad, Swan (1860–1933)

Swan Turnblad was a prominent Swedish Minnesotan and the manager, editor, and publisher of Svenska Amerikanska Posten, a Swedish American newspaper. He donated his family home and the newspaper to the newly founded American Institute of Swedish Arts, Literature and Science (later renamed the American Swedish Institute) near the end of his life.

Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant

Authorized in 1941, the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) contributed to United States military efforts for more than fifty years. Economic and environmental impacts extended beyond the New Brighton/Arden Hills site into the greater Twin Cities area.

Twin Cities Streetcar Strike, 1889

Wage cuts to employees of the Minneapolis and St. Paul streetcar companies in 1889 prompted a fifteen-day strike that disrupted business and escalated into violence before its resolution. In spite of public support for the strikers, the streetcar companies succeeded in breaking the strike with few concessions.

Twin Cities Streetcar Strike, 1917

When the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRTC) refused to recognize the newly formed streetcar men's union, employees took to the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the fall of 1917 to fight for their civil liberties. The labor dispute challenged state jurisdiction and reached the White House before finding settlement the following year.

Twin City Lines Strike, 1969

In 1969, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 called a strike against Twin City Lines (TCL), the metropolitan area’s largest privately owned bus company. Most union members and patrons probably didn’t realize it at the time, but that strike would prove to be a critical turning point for Twin Cities public transit. It would provide the opportunity for public acquisition of the company and dramatic service improvements.

Twin City Rapid Transit Company and Electric Streetcars

Horse car and cable car systems in the Twin Cities spurred urban growth and gave residents more mobility. The coming of the electric streetcar in 1889 had an even greater impact. With cars that could travel faster and farther, the system grew to become one of the nation's finest public transportation networks before the dominance of automobiles and buses in the 1950s.

Twine Industry at Minnesota State Prison, Stillwater

A cornerstone of the prison labor system for almost eighty years, the binder twine factory at the Minnesota State Prison employed thousands of inmates who produced over a billion pounds of cordage for regional farmers. The twine-manufacturing industry began at the original facility and continued at a custom-built factory on a new site after the prison moved in 1914. The factory closed in 1970.

Typhoid Epidemic, 1898

In 1898, four hundred members of the Fifteenth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry were hospitalized with typhoid after camping at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. U.S. Army surgeons decided the epidemic's source was the public water of Minneapolis.

Ueland, Clara (1860–1927)

Clara Ueland was a lifelong women’s rights activist and prominent Minnesotan suffragist. She was president of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association when the nineteenth amendment was passed in 1919. That same year, she also became the first president of the Minnesota League of Women’s Voters.

Uggen, Elmer George (1891–1949)

Elmer George Uggen was a musician, composer, conductor, educator, and music store owner who entertained American troops abroad during World War I with his score for the play “War is Hell.” He left a mark in Northwest Minnesota with the original words and music for “Crookstonian,” a march used as the official anthem of Crookston.

Ukrainian American Community, Northeast Minneapolis

Wards 1 and 3 in Northeast Minneapolis have been the center of the Twin Cities’ Ukrainian community since the late nineteenth century. Vibrant and long-lasting cultural institutions—including churches, Kramarczuk’s Sausage Company, and the Ukrainian American Community Center—have made Ukrainians in Northeast one of the city's most visible groups of European immigrants, in spite of their relatively small population.

United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company

In the mid-twentieth century, scientists struggled to find ways to extract iron ore from the sedimentary rock called taconite, which contains 25 to 30 percent iron. The process that was eventually developed involves crushing the hard rock into a powder-like consistency. The iron ore is then removed with magnets and turned into pellets.

Universal Laboratories, Dassel

The Universal Laboratories building played a key role during World War II by ensuring that the United States had an adequate domestic supply of the essential crude drug ergot. As war threatened to cut off imported supplies of crude ergot, Universal Laboratories developed an effective collecting and processing operation in Dassel.

University Club of St. Paul

Designed to hug the bluff, the University Club of St. Paul has offered one of the best views in the city since 1913. With one story descending below 420 Summit Avenue, the L-shaped clubhouse overlooks the downtown and the Mississippi River gorge from the highest hill in the area.

University District, Minneapolis

For much of the twentieth century, a section of Southeast Minneapolis was called the University District. By the 1980s, parts of the same area were known as Marcy-Holmes and Dinkytown. The emergence and disappearance of the District as a place name occurred as the neighborhood’s relationships with the rest of the city and the nearby university changed.

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