1865 table of Minnesota Stage Company destinations and travel distances.

Minnesota Stage Company document

1865 table of Minnesota Stage Company destinations and travel distances.

Photograph of a stagecoach bound from Alexandria to Melrose, 1876.

Minnesota stagecoach

Photograph of a stagecoach traveling from Alexandria to Melrose, 1876.

Minnesota Stage Company

When James C. Burbank began his transportation business in 1851, it was a one-man operation. By 1859, Burbank's Minnesota Stage Company controlled all the major stagecoach lines in the state. In the years before railroads linked Minnesota communities, the Minnesota Stage Company played a crucial role in shaping the commercial and social life of the young state.

Photograph of Chester A. Congdon in 1909.

Chester A. Congdon

Chester A. Congdon, 1909.

Congdon, Chester A. (1853–1916)

Chester Adgate Congdon accrued a fortune working as a lawyer for the Oliver Iron Mining Company and through investments in the Mesabi Iron Range. He also served as a Minnesota State Representative from 1909 to 1913.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Founded in the late 1960s, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT) is the United States' largest professional dinner theatre company. It is also the main tourist attraction for Carver County and a gem for musical theater enthusiasts. Home to many national and world premiere performances, CDT focuses on musical theatre and comedy shows as its mainstays.

Photograph of a small congregation of lumberjacks assembled inside a bunkhouse to hear sky pilot Frank Higgins preach c.1910.

Lumberjack assembly

Photograph of a small congregation of lumberjacks assembled inside a bunkhouse to hear sky pilot Frank Higgins preach, c.1910.

Photograph of men waving to Frank Higgins, the lumberjack sky pilot, outside a lumber camp c.1910.

Frank Higgins

Photograph of men waving to Frank Higgins, the lumberjack sky pilot, outside a lumber camp, c.1910.

Photograph of Frank Higgins and a dog with a sled outside a lumber camp c.1900.

Frank Higgins

Photograph of Frank Higgins and a dog with a sled outside a lumber camp, c.1900.

Lumberjack Sky Pilots

Working as a lumberjack in northern Minnesota was a difficult job with poor living conditions. Many loggers blew off steam by drinking, gambling, or visiting brothels. "Sky pilots," or visiting ministers, tried to save the men's souls and put them on the road to holiness rather than vice.

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