On this date in 1932, Carl F. Hirte attempts to claim homestead on a 4.96 acre parcel of land in the middle of St. Paul’s Union Depot rail yard. Hirte discovered that the tract had never been claimed, and in accordance with the Homestead Act, he built a small shack on the land as his […]
General
1900-07-05
On this date in 1900, a tornado tore across White Bear Lake at about 7:15 PM lashing at the surface of the lake creating huge waves. The twister uprooted tress and demolished a number of small buildings. The St. Paul Globe reported that “the yachts and rowboats anchored at Ramalley’s dock were piled up like […]
1849-07-06
On this date in 1849, Bavarian immigrant Anthony Yoerg opens Minnesota’s first brewery located in St. Paul below what is now the River Center parking ramp on the east side of downtown. In 1871, Yoerg moved his brewery to the west side bluffs at Ohio Street, two blocks south of what is now Water Street. […]
1896-07-04
On this date in 1896, the Minneapolis Journal is the first American newspaper to use halftones, black-and-white illustrations in which gradations of light and dark are created by dots photographed through a screen. (MNopedia)
1941-07-03
On this date in 1941, Charles Haralson dies in Excelsior at the age of seventy-eight. The first resident superintendent of the University of Minnesota’s Fruit Breeding Farm (now the Horticultural Research Center) at Excelsior, the Swedish-born Haralson served as superintendent from 1908 to 1925, an especially creative period during which several outstanding hardy trees and […]
