Locust egg map of Minnesota, 1877. Showing the areas where eggs were deposited by the Rocky Mountain locust in 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1876. Author: Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota.

During the 1870s, grasshopper plagues made life miserable for Minnesota's farmers. The insects traveled in swarms so large they darkened the sky, destroying crops and farmers’ livelihoods along the way. Learn more about the government response to the crisis and the lasting damage that was left behind.

Aerial view of Clarks Grove, 1972. Photograph by Vincent H. Mart. Clarks Grove became a village because of the business that the creamery attracted.

Dairy Hall, University of Minnesota farm campus, St. Paul, c.1910.

Theophilus L. Haecker in his study, c.1900.

Theophilus L. Haecker, c.1866, a dairy science professor at the University of Minnesota who made the Clarks Grove Cooperative Creamery famous.

Clarks Grove Cooperative Creamery, 1937. Photographer: Everett E. Edwards.

Frederick Spangenberg House, 1929.