Minneapolis's first public Christmas tree is lit in Gateway Park.

West St. Paul sociology teacher Glen Holmquist, accused of slapping a student at a high school dance, is cleared of an assault charge by a municipal court. Holmquist's attorney says that his client's action was justified as an attempt to maintain order, and that there should be more discipline "instead of the wishy-washy policy parents are advocating today."

Maria Louise Sanford is born in Saybrook, Connecticut. An extraordinary and popular teacher, Sanford was be appointed to the Department of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota in 1880. After her retirement in 1909, she remained active, speaking on educational and patriotic topics. She died in 1920. A statue of her, sculpted by Evelyn Raymond, represents the state in Statuary Hall in Washington, DC.

The first issue of the Northfield Independent appears. The newspaper's editor declares that "It comes in its own independent way, without first having asked leave to be, but intends to justify its being by filling a vacant journalistic place in this city and surrounding country...It will labor that the homes it is permitted to enter may be brighter and purer for its coming, their burdens lightened, if possible, their industries enobled [sic]."

Lincoln County, named for the Civil War president, is created, having been established by the legislature on March 6 and approved by vote of the people in November. Three previous attempts to rename or carve out a county in honor of Lincoln had failed to garner the requisite popular vote.

A car bomb kills "Dapper Dan" Hogan, owner of St. Paul's notorious Green Lantern speakeasy and longtime boss of the city's underworld.

The local telegraph office opens in St. Anthony (now northeast Minneapolis), following the St. Paul and Minneapolis offices in linking Minnesota cities to the rest of the world by means of electric wire strung on poles.

The Chicago Electric Vehicle Company test-drives its first car, in Faribault.

The Little Sisters of the Poor establish their convent in St. Paul. The Sisters began as a Hospitallers Order in Saint Servan, Brittany, France, dedicated to serving the elderly poor and infirm, and they maintain convents and hospitality houses all over the world.

The balloon Great Northwest, piloted by Samuel A. King and carrying eight passengers, ascends from Minneapolis. The team's plan to travel to the Atlantic Coast garners national attention, but the flight is a failure, with a forced landing before the balloon reaches St. Paul.