MN90: Mr. Cool

In this segment of MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds, Britt Aamodt looks at Frederick McKinley Jones, the inventor of the refrigerated truck.

MN90: Opening the Era of Open Heart Surgery

For most of history, the human heart was off limits to medicine. The first closed heart surgery began in the 1940’s. In the 1950’s, a pair of physicians who worked in mobile surgical units of World War II discovered that open heart surgery could be an option.

MN90: Parasites, Not Pesticides

Britt Aamodt describes Pu Zhelong's contributions to the history of pest management in Minnesota.

MN90: Pilgrim Baptist Church

Tugged along by a steamboat headed North from Missouri, a group of formerly enslaved African American men, women, and children arrived at Fort Snelling in 1863. They were taking their chances for a better life. Calling themselves Pilgrims as they headed up the Mississippi River, they arrived in St. Paul and formed one of the oldest African American churches in Minnesota. Allison Herrera tells us about Pilgrim Baptist Church.

MN90: Prince's Cloud Guitar

1983—Dave Rusan had never built a guitar. He only repaired them. But now he’d been given the job of a lifetime: to create the iconic cloud guitar used in Prince’s film Purple Rain. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Prince: The "Hipster Paul Bunyan" From Minneapolis

Minneapolis native Prince Rogers Nelson became mega-musical-star Prince. Along the way, he created the Minneapolis Sound and won Grammys and an Oscar for his semi-autobiographical album and film Purple Rain. He also wrote, performed, and produced numerous hit records. In 2010, he received BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award. MN90 producer Marisa Helms tells us that despite his success, Prince remained rooted in Minneapolis, and became one of the state’s cultural icons.

MN90: R 'N R for Gangsters

In the 1930s, St. Paul became a safe haven for every bank robber, stickup artist, and kidnapper in America. MN90 producer Marisa Helms explains.

MN90: Remembering Paul Wellstone

When Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, their daughter Marcia, and five others died in a plane crash on the Iron Range on October 25, 2002, then-Senator Wellstone was in a difficult race for re-election to a third term in the US Senate. MN90 producer Marisa Helms takes a look at Wellstone before he was a famous politician and what has become of his legacy. Includes an interview with Bill Hillsman.

MN90: Send it by Sled Dog

In the 1850s, mail service on Minnesota's North Shore was notoriously unreliable. That is, until John Beargrease and his team of sled dogs began running mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais. MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel learns about the man who inspired the annual John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.

MN90: Sister Kenny's Polio Solution

In the 1930s and 1940s, when polio was rampant in the United States, the predominant treatment method was to immobilize the patient's body in braces and splints. But Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian nurse who resettled in Minnesota in 1940, believed in a controversial alternative method. MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel describes how Kenny revolutionized polio care. Includes an interview with Kate Roberts, author of Minnesota 150, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007.

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