Eugene J. McCarthy is born in Watkins. He served in Congress for over two decades, as a representative from 1949 to 1959, and as a senator from 1959 to 1971. In 1968, McCarthy challenged incumbent president Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination. Running on an anti-Vietnam War platform and making a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, he helped convince Johnson to drop out of the race.

William R. Merriam, the state's eleventh governor, dies in Washington, D.C. Born on July 26, 1849, in New York, he served as governor from 1889 to 1893. He was also director of the U.S. Census of 1900.

Swift County is created, named in honor of Minnesota's third governor, Henry A. Swift.

An act signed by Congress sets aside 48,080 acres to support a state university, and the University of Minnesota is first incorporated six days later.

Andrew R. McGill is born in Saegerstown, Pennsylvania. He served as the state's tenth governor from 1887 to 1889 and, later, as state senator and St. Paul's postmaster. He died in St. Paul on October 31, 1905.

The Waseca County Horse Thief Detectives are organized in Wilton. One of several such settler-colonist groups, it continued to hold social meetings after 1880 and, when horse-thieving became a thing of the past, it focused its energies on tracing stolen cars.

The Minnesota State Agricultural Society is incorporated, replacing the territorial society that had previously existed.

Henry B. Whipple is born in Adams, New York. As Minnesota's first Episcopalian bishop, Whipple worked tirelessly to promote his church in the state. After moving to Faribault in 1852, he built the first Episcopal cathedral in the country, as well as the Shattuck School, Seabury Divinity School, and St. Mary's Hall.

William Watts Folwell is born in Romulus, New York. An educator and historian, Folwell served as the University of Minnesota's first president, helped found the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and authored a four-volume history of Minnesota. He died in 1929.

Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz dies in California. That summer, in St. Paul, his childhood home, 101 individually decorated, five-foot-tall statues of Snoopy are displayed in a celebration of Schulz's life. Later in the year, two auctions of Snoopy statues (including some from the celebration and some made specially for auction) are held with the announcement that the money raised will be used as memorial funds to create a bronze sculpture of Schulz characters for downtown St. Paul, as well as to benefit the College of Visual Arts in St.