This Day in Minnesota History

Today's Date: April 26

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1840	Father Lucien Galtier arrives in St. Peters (Mendota) to organize a Catholic church. He soon builds a chapel down the river at the settlement that becomes known as St. Paul.
1877	Governor John S. Pillsbury appoints this day for prayer to relieve the state from the swarms of Rocky Mountain locusts that had plagued farmers for four years. The locusts linger until August, when they disappear.
1896	Edward J. Thye is born near Frederick, South Dakota. Thye succeeded Harold E. Stassen to become the twenty-sixth governor of the state and, notably, the first farmer to hold the office. During his term, he reduce the state debt, increased old-age assistance, expanded state institutions, established a human rights commission, and approved a health-care plan for state employees. As a Republican senator from 1947 to 1958, he was one of seven to sign Margaret Chase Smith's "declaration of conscience" against Joseph McCarthy. He died at his farm near Northfield on August 28, 1969.
1924	In a Prohibition scandal, two agents are arrested for stealing $100,000 in confiscated liquor that had been stored in a Minneapolis warehouse. Eventually, four agents are suspended and warrants are issued for seven others.
1972	Vietnam War protestors stage a demonstration at Honeywell, Inc., which at the time manufactured fragmentation bombs.

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