In a ceremony at Sault Ste. Marie, the Sieur de St. Lusson formally claims the territory that would become northeastern Minnesota for France.

A picnic held by the Nonpartisan League in Wegdahl draws 14,000. The league was a farmers' association organized in North Dakota in 1916. It advocated several ideas considered radical, including public ownership of the nation's food distribution system and a draft of capital to finance World War I. The organizers of the league sought to avoid charges of antipatriotism by selling war bonds at their rallies, but Governor Joseph A. A.

A tornado travels from Edina to Minneapolis to Roseville, killing one, injuring eighty-three, and causing $47 million in losses.

The US Senate ratifies treaties with the Ojibwe and Dakota that formally transfer ownership of the land between the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers to the federal government. Squatters quickly claim land in St. Paul and Marine on St. Croix.

A windstorm traverses Jackson and Martin Counties, then splits into two parts near Winnebago City in Faribault County. One part travels northeast into Freeborn County, the other southeast, passing near Albert Lea. About fifty are killed in the eighty-five-mile path of the storm.

One of the ugliest days in Minnesota history: three African American workers for the John Robinson circus are lynched in Duluth. The men were accused of raping a white woman. Ignoring the pleas of a priest and a judge, a mob of 5,000 white people breaks into the city jail and hangs the men from a lamppost.

Crown Prince Olav of Norway dedicates Duluth's Enger Tower, which offers spectacular views of Duluth Harbor and Lake Superior. Bert Enger (1864-1931) was a Norwegian-born businessman who ran a successful furniture store in Duluth. He donated much of his estate to the city after his death.

General Henry H. Sibley and his troops leave Camp Pope, near present-day Redwood Falls, on a campaign against the Dakota.

The last navy tanker built at the Savage Shipyard is launched. The Wacissa is one of eighteen ships manufactured there for the war effort.

Kathleen Soliah, a fugitive since 1974, is arrested in St. Paul. Having lived under the name Sarah Jane Olson, Soliah was a presumed member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnapped Patty Hearst, and was wanted for the attempted bombing of two police cars. She had been featured on the television show America's Most Wanted a few months before her arrest.

Frederick L. McGhee becomes the first African American admitted to practice at the bar of the state supreme court. Born enslaved in Mississippi in 1861, as an adult McGhee took on civil rights cases and served as an emissary to Catholic prelates in Minnesota. In 1905 he helped develop the organizational precursor to the NAACP, the Niagara Conference. He died on September 19, 1912, in St. Paul.

Elmer L. Andersen is born in Chicago. During his term as governor, from 1961 to 1963, he pioneered progressive legislation in civil rights, special education, mental health care, and metropolitan governance and establish numerous state parks.