Draining of Glacial Lake Agassiz

About 13,000 years ago the melting glaciers that covered Minnesota and Canada created a vast lake, bigger than all the Great Lakes of today combined. Geologists later named this Lake Agassiz (AH-ga-see), for the Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz. The lake drained twice: first to the south, to form the channel of the Minnesota River and the Upper Mississippi in the Twin Cities, and then, 1,600 years later, to form the course of the Red River of the North.

Honeycrisp apple

In 1982, apple variety MN 1711 at the University of Minnesota’s apple breeding program was saved from the reject pile by horticulturist David Bedford and given another year to prove itself worthy of a patent. The apple, renamed Honeycrisp™, became Minnesota’s official state fruit and one of the most popular apple varieties in the nation.

Dimitri Mitropoulos in a recording studio

Dimitri Mitropoulos in a recording studio

Dimitri Mitropoulos (seated) during a recording of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, ca. 1945.

Jaspilite (banded iron) formation, Sudan Underground State Park

Jaspilite (banded iron) formation, Sudan Underground State Park

Glacially eroded outcrop of jaspilite (banded iron) formation, Sudan Underground State Park. Photograph by James St. John, June 10, 2015. CC BY-SA 2.0

MN90: The Automatic Pop-Up Toaster

Charles Perkins Strite was tired of burnt toast. So the Minnesota inventor set out to do something about it. Britt Aamodt offers up a tale of a new kind of toaster.

Toastmaster advertisement, 1959

Toastmaster advertisement, 1959

Toastmaster advertisement printed in Ladies’ Home Journal, 1959. Object ID 2008.122.26 from the collections of The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan.

Interior of Herman's Lunch Counter

Interior of Herman's Lunch Counter

The interior of Herman's Lunch Counter (16 South Ninth Street, Minneapolis). The cook at center (possibly Willmer L. Lee) operates a Toastmaster toaster. Photograph by Norton and Peel, July 19, 1955.

Toastmaster advertisement, 1955

Toastmaster advertisement, 1955

Magazine advertisement for the Toastmaster toaster, 1955. Object ID 2008.122.7 from the collections of The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan.

Toastmaster advertisement, 1953

Toastmaster advertisement, 1953

Flier advertising "The Most Distinctly Different Toaster in the World, The Sensational New Toastmaster," 1953. Object ID 94.62.106.2 from the collections of The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan.

Toastmaster advertisement, 1953

Toastmaster advertisement, 1953

Part of a flier (cropped from the original) advertising the "New DeLuxe Toastmaster Toast & Jam Set," 1953. Object ID 94.62.106.4 from the collections of The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan.

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