Farmington suffers a major fire.

Gas light arrives in Minneapolis.

Samuel W. Pond marries Cordelia Eggleston within the present-day boundaries of Minneapolis.

The steamer Merton E. Farr strikes and heavily damages the Duluth-Superior Bridge.

The steamer Bannockburn and its twenty-member crew are seen for the last time as they set forth from Duluth, later disappearing somewhere on Lake Superior.

The St. Anthony Library Association is formed. A subscription library, it allows dues-paying members to borrow books and is a precursor to the free public library, which would be authorized by an 1879 law permitting tax levies to support libraries.

Artificial blood is used in the United States for the first time when Dr. Robert Anderson of the University Hospital injects Fluosol, a blood substitute developed in Japan, into a Jehovah's Witness individual who had refused a regular blood transfusion on religious grounds.

Indians of All Tribes (IAT), a group of activists including Adam Nordwall (Red Lake Ojibwe) occupies Alcatraz Island in San Francisco. IAT intends to force negotiation with the federal government and to assert the need for Native self-determination. Members of the group remained on the island until they were forcibly removed in 1971, bringing national attention to Native issues.

Nicollet Mall, a pedestrian walkway closed to traffic except buses, opens in downtown Minneapolis.

The Mississippi River freezes over for the season, concluding a busy year during which 553 boats and 30,000 people traveled to St. Paul.