History of Minnesota

The history of  is the story of a shaped by its original  residents, European exploration and settlement, and the emergence of industries made possible by the state's natural resources. Minnesota achieved prominence through, , and , and later, railroads, flour milling and iron mining. While those industries remain important, the state's economy is now driven by banking, computers and health care.

The first settlers followed s of large game to the region during the, and from them descended the , the , and the other inhabitants. rs from France arrived during the. ans, moving west during the, drove out most of the Native Americans. , built to protect United States territorial interests, brought early settlers to the area. Early settlers used for powering sawmills in the area that became, while others settled downriver in the area that became.

Minnesota became a part of the United States as the in 1849, and became  on,. After the upheaval of the and the, the state's economy started to develop when natural resources were tapped for logging and farming. Railroads attracted immigrants, established the farm economy and brought goods to market. The power provided by Saint Anthony Falls spurred the growth of, and the innovative milling methods gave it the title of the "milling capital of the world."

New industry came from, discovered in the north, mined relatively easily from , and shipped to Great Lakes from the ports at  and. Economic development and social changes led to an expanded role for state government and a population shift from rural areas to cities. The brought layoffs in mining and tension in labor relations but  programs helped the state. After, Minnesota became known for technology, fueled by early computer companies , and. The also became a regional center for the arts with cultural institutions such as the, , and the.

Native American inhabitation
The oldest known human remains in Minnesota, dating back about 9000 years ago, were found in 1933. The individual was named "Browns Valley Man" because of his location near.

Some of the earliest evidence of a sustained presence in the area comes from a site known as near  which was used around 7500 BC. Subsequently, extensive  networks developed in the region. The body of an early resident known as "" was discovered in 1931 in. determined that she had come through the area in approximately 6600 BC. She had a  from a snail species known as , which had previously only been known to exist in.

Several hundred years later, the climate of Minnesota warmed significantly. As large animals such as became extinct, native people changed their diet. They gathered nuts, berries, and vegetables, and they hunted smaller animals such as, , and s. The stone tools found from this era became smaller and more specialized to use these new food sources. They also devised new techniques for catching, such as s, , and s. Around 5000 BC, people on the shores of (in Minnesota and portions of what is now , , and ) were the first on the continent to begin making  tools. Pieces of with high concentrations of  were initially pounded into a rough shape, heated to reduce brittleness, pounded again to refine the shape, and reheated. Edges could be made sharp enough to be useful as or  points.



Archaeological evidence of Native American settlements dates back to 3000 BC. The site in southwest Minnesota contains carvings from the  and from the 1750 BC – 900 BC time period. Pieces of pottery began to appear at short-lived settlements around 1000 BC. Around 700 BC, s were first created, and the practice continued until the arrival of Europeans, when 10,000 such mounds dotted the state.

The is believed to have lived along the banks of the Mississippi River from 200 BC to about AD 400. By AD 800, became a staple  in the region, and  farther to the south. Within a few hundred years, the reached into the southeast portion of the state, and large s were formed. The Indian culture may have descended from some of the peoples of the Mississippian culture.

When ans first started exploring Minnesota, the region was inhabited primarily by tribes of, with the (sometimes called Chippewa, or Anishinaabe) beginning to migrate westward into the state around 1700. The of these tribes was chiefly based on  activities. There was also a small group of (Winnebago) Indians near, who later moved to a reservation in  in 1855.

European exploration
Though highly controversial, an inscribed stone known as the suggests that a group of  explorers may have ventured as far inland as Minnesota as early as 1362. Though many consider it a, recent geological examinations point toward a pre-19th century origin of the inscription.

It was a few more centuries before contact between Europeans and Native Americans of Minnesota could be confirmed. In the late 1650s, and  were probably the first to meet Dakota Indians while following the southern shore of Lake Superior (which would become northern Wisconsin). The north shore was explored in the 1660s. Among the first to do this was, a on. He made an early map of the area in 1671.

Around this time, the Indians reached Minnesota as part of a westward migration. Having come from a region around, they were experienced at dealing with European traders. They dealt in s and possessed s. Tensions rose between the Ojibwa and Dakota in the ensuing years.

In 1671, signed a treaty with a number of tribes to allow trade. Shortly thereafter, French trader arrived in the area and began trading with the local tribes. Du Lhut explored the western area of Lake Superior, near his namesake, the city of, and areas south of there. He helped to arrange a peace agreement between the Dakota and Ojibwa tribes in 1679.

Father with companions  and  (aka Picard Du Gay) headed north from the area of  after coming into that area with an exploration party headed by. They were captured by a Dakota tribe in 1680. While with the tribe, they came across and named the. Soon, du Lhut negotiated to have Hennepin's party released from captivity. Hennepin returned to Europe and wrote a book, Description of Louisiana, published in 1683, about his travels where many portions (including the part about Saint Anthony Falls) were strongly embellished. As an example, he described the falls as being a drop of fifty or sixty feet, when they were really only about sixteen feet. explored the to the  area around 1700. He thought the blue earth was a source of, and he told stories about the possibility of mineral wealth, but there actually was no copper to be found.

Explorers searching for the fabled and large inland seas in North America continued to pass through the state. In 1721, the French built on. In 1731, the trail was first traversed by a European,. He used a map written down on a piece of  by Ochagach, an  guide. The, which traded in fur and competed with the , was established along the Grand Portage in 1783 – 1784.

, a maker from, visited the area in 1767 as part of another expedition. He and the rest of the exploration party were only able to stay for a relatively short period, due to supply shortages. They headed back east to, where Carver wrote journals about the trip, though others would later claim the stories were largely from others. The stories were published in 1778, but Carver died before the book earned him much money. and are named for him.

Until 1818 the was considered British and was subject to several colonization schemes, such as the. The boundary where the Red River crossed the 49th parallel was not marked until 1823, when conducted a survey expedition. When several hundred settlers abandoned the Red River Colony in the 1820s, they entered the United States by way of the Red River Valley, instead of moving to eastern Canada or returning to Europe. The region had been occupied by people, the children of voyageurs and Indians, since the middle 17th century.

Several efforts were made to determine the source of the. The true source was found in 1832, when was guided by a group of Ojibwa headed by  ("Yellow Head") to a lake in northern Minnesota. Schoolcraft named it, combining the words veritas ("truth") and caput ("head"). The native name for the lake was Omashkooz, meaning. Other explorers of the area include in 1806,  in 1817, and  in 1835. Featherstonhaugh conducted a geological survey of the Minnesota River valley and wrote an account entitled A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor.

scouted the area in the late 1830s, exploring and mapping the Upper Mississippi River basin, the St. Croix River, and the land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He and left their mark in the southwest of the state, carving their names in the  quarries near Winnewissa Falls (an area now part of  in ).

never explored the state, but he did help to make it popular. He published  in 1855, which contains references to many regions in Minnesota. The story was based on Ojibwa legends carried back east by other explorers and traders (particularly those collected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft).

Land acquisition
All of the land east of the was granted to the United States by the  at the end of the  in 1783. This included what would become modern day Saint Paul but only part of Minneapolis, including the northeast, north-central and east-central portions of the state. The wording of the treaty in the Minnesota area depended on landmarks reported by fur traders, who erroneously reported an "Isle Phelipeaux" in Lake Superior, a "Long Lake" west of the island, and the belief that the Mississippi River ran well into modern. Most of the state was purchased in 1803 from as part of the. Parts of northern Minnesota were considered to be in. The exact definition of the boundary between Minnesota and was not addressed until the, which set the U.S.-Canada border at the  west of the  (except for a small chunk of land now dubbed the ). Border disputes east of the Lake of the Woods continued until the of 1842.

Throughout the first half of the 19th century, the northeastern portion of the state was a part of the, then the , then the , and finally the. The western and southern areas of the state were not formally organized until 1838, when they became part of the.

Fort Snelling and the establishment of Minneapolis and Saint Paul
was the first major presence in the state. The land for the fort, at the of the  and  rivers, was acquired in 1805 by. When concerns mounted about the fur trade in the area, construction of the fort began in 1819. Construction was completed in 1825, and Colonel and his officers and soldiers left their imprint on the area. One of the missions of the fort was to mediate disputes between the Ojibwa and the Dakota tribes. was an agent of the. He spent 20 years at the site, finally resigning in 1839.

In the 1850s, Fort Snelling played a key role in the infamous. s Dred Scott and his wife were taken to the fort by their master, John Emerson. They lived at the fort and elsewhere in territories where slavery was prohibited. After Emerson's death, the Scotts argued that since they had lived in free territory, they were no longer slaves. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court sided against the Scotts. Dred Scott Field, located just a short distance away in, is named in the memory of Fort Snelling's significance in one of the most important legal precedents in U.S. History.

By 1851, treaties between Native American tribes and the U.S. government had opened much of Minnesota to settlement, so the fort no longer was a frontier outpost. Fort Snelling served as a training center for soldiers during the and later as the headquarters for the Department of Dakota. A portion has been designated as where over 160,000 are interred. During, the fort served as a training center for nearly 300,000 inductees. After World War II, the fort was threatened with demolition due to the building of freeways and, but citizens rallied to save the historic fort. Fort Snelling is now a historic site operated by the.

Fort Snelling was largely responsible for the establishment of the city of. In an effort to be self-sufficient, the soldiers of the fort built roads, planted crops, and built a and a  at. Later, Franklin Steele came to Fort Snelling as the post (the operator of the general store), and established interests in lumbering and other activities. When the Ojibwa signed a treaty ceding lands in 1837, Steele staked a claim to land on the east side of the Mississippi River adjacent to Saint Anthony Falls. In 1848, he built a sawmill at the falls, and the community of Saint Anthony sprung up around the east side of the falls. , an employee of Franklin Steele, pointed out that land on the west side of the falls would make a good site for future mills. Since the land on the west side was still part of the military reservation, Stevens made a deal with Fort Snelling's commander. Stevens would provide free service across the river in exchange for a tract of 160 acres at the head of the falls. Stevens received the claim and built a house, the first house in Minneapolis, in 1850. In 1854, Stevens platted the city of Minneapolis on the west bank. Later, in 1872, Minneapolis absorbed the city of Saint Anthony.

The city of owes its existence to Fort Snelling. A group of s, mostly from the ill-fated in what is now the Canadian province of, established a camp near the fort. A number of the people at the fort, including Taliaferro, did not appreciate the new presence. As the fort imposed new restrictions, the squatters were forced to head down the Mississippi River. They settled at a site known as Fountain Cave. This site was not quite far enough for the officers at the fort, so the squatters were forced out again. , a popular r among the group, moved downriver and established a saloon, becoming the first European resident in the area that later became Saint Paul. The squatters named their settlement "Pig's Eye" after Parrant. The name was later changed to Lambert's Landing and then finally. However, the earliest name for the area comes from an Indian colony Im-in-i-ja Ska, meaning "White Rock" and referring to the limestone bluffs nearby.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul are collectively known as the "Twin Cities". The cities enjoyed a rivalry during their early years, with Saint Paul being the capital city and Minneapolis becoming prominent through industry. The term "Twin Cities" was coined around 1872, after a newspaper editorial suggested that Minneapolis could absorb Saint Paul. Residents decided that the cities needed a separate identity, so people coined the phrase "Dual Cities", which later evolved into "Twin Cities". Today, Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota, with a population of 382,618 in the 2000. Saint Paul is the second largest city, with a population of 287,151. Minneapolis and Saint Paul anchor a metropolitan area with a population of 2,968,806 as of 2000, with a total state population of 4,919,479.

Early European settlement and development
built the first stone house in the Minnesota Territory in in 1838, along with other limestone buildings used by the, which bought animal pelts at that location from 1825 to 1853. Another area of early economic development in Minnesota was the industry. Loggers found the especially valuable, and it was plentiful in the northeastern section of the state and in the  valley. Before railroads, lumbermen relied mostly on river transportation to bring logs to market, which made Minnesota's timber resources attractive. Towns like and  became important lumber centers fed by the St. Croix River, while  was supplied lumber by areas in southern Minnesota and along the. The unregulated logging practices of the time and a severe drought took their toll in 1894, when the ravaged 480 square miles in the  and  areas of, killing over 400 residents.

Saint Anthony, on the east bank of the Mississippi River later became part of Minneapolis, and was an important lumber milling center supplied by the. In 1848, businessman Franklin Steele built the first private on the Saint Anthony Falls, and more sawmills quickly followed. The oldest home still standing in Saint Anthony is the Ard Godfrey house, built in 1848, and lived in by Ard and Harriet Godfrey. The house of, the first house on the west bank in Minneapolis, was moved several times, finally to in south Minneapolis in 1896.

Minnesota Territory
, the chair of the Senate Committee on Territories, drafted the bill authorizing Minnesota Territory. He had envisioned a future for the upper Mississippi valley, so he was motivated to keep the area from being carved up by neighboring territories. In 1846, he prevented from including Fort Snelling and Saint Anthony Falls within its northern border. In 1847, he kept the organizers of from including Saint Paul and Saint Anthony Falls. The was established from the lands remaining from  and  on,. The Minnesota Territory extended far into what is now and, to the. There was a dispute over the shape of the state to be carved out of Minnesota Territory. An alternate proposal that was only narrowly defeated would have made the 46th parallel the state's northern border and the Missouri River its western border, thus giving up the whole northern half of the state in exchange for the eastern half of what later became South Dakota.

With  as the first governor of Minnesota Territory and   as the territorial delegate to the United States Congress, the populations of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony swelled. , who replaced Sibley as the territorial delegate in 1853, worked in Congress to promote Minnesota interests. He lobbied for the construction of a railroad connecting Saint Paul and Lake Superior, with a link from Saint Paul to the. In December 1856, Rice brought forward two bills in Congress: an that would allow Minnesota to form a state constitution, and a railroad land grant bill. The enabling act was passed in February 1857, although southern states were in opposition because they feared their political power would be diluted by the addition of another.

The eastern half of the Minnesota Territory became the country's 32nd state on,. The western part remained unorganized until its incorporation into the on,.

Civil War era and Dakota War of 1862
Although Minnesota was a new state when the started, it was the first to contribute troops to the  effort, with about 22,000 Minnesotans serving. , the first governor of Minnesota, was in Washington on, , when the war broke out. He sent a telegram back to Saint Paul urging his lieutenant governor,, to call out volunteers. The was particularly important to the.

At the same time, the state faced another crisis as the broke out. The Dakota had signed the and  in 1851 because they were concerned that without money from the United States government, they would starve, due to the loss of habitat of their prey. They were initially given a strip of land of ten miles north and south of the, but they were later forced to sell the northern half of the land. In 1862, crop failures left the Dakota with food shortages, and government money was delayed. The conflict was ignited when four young Dakota men, searching for food, shot a family of white settlers. The ensuing battles at the, , , and punctuated a six-week war, which ended with the trial of 425 Indians for their participation in the war. Of this number, 303 men were convicted and sentenced to death. Bishop pled to President  for clemency, and the death sentences of all but 39 men were reduced to prison terms. On, , 38 men were hanged in the largest mass execution in the United States. Many of the remaining Dakota Indians, including were confined in a prison camp at  over the winter of 1862 – 1863, where more than 300 died of disease, and they were later exiled to the, then later to a reservation near. A small number of Dakota Indians managed to return to Minnesota in the 1880s and established small communities near, , , and.

Farming and railroad development
After the Civil War, Minnesota became an attractive region for European immigration and settlement as farmland. Minnesota's population in 1870 was 439,000; this number tripled during the two subsequent decades. The in 1862 facilitated land claims by settlers, who regarded the land as being cheap and fertile. The railroad industry, led by the and, advertised the many opportunities in the state and worked to get immigrants to settle in Minnesota. , in particular, was instrumental in reorganizing the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad and extending lines from the area into the  Valley and to. Hill was also responsible for building a new passenger depot in Minneapolis, served by the landmark which was completed in 1883. During the 1880s, Hill continued building tracks through and. In 1890, the railroad, now known as the, started building tracks through the mountains west to. Other railroads, such as the and the, also played an important role in the early days of Minnesota's statehood. Later railways, such as the and  facilitated the sale of Minneapolis flour and other products, although they were not as involved in attracting settlers.

played an important role in farming as one of the founders of the, along with several other clerks in the. The movement grew out of his interest in cooperative farm associations following the end of the Civil War, and he established local Grange chapters in and Saint Paul. The organization worked to provide education on new farming methods, as well as to influence government and public opinion on matters important to farmers. One of these areas of concern was the freight rates charged by the railroads and by the grain elevators. Since there was little or no competition between railroads serving Minnesota farm communities, railroads could charge as much as the traffic would bear. By 1871, the situation was so heated that both the and  candidates in state elections promised to regulate railroad rates. The state established an office of railroad commissioner and imposed maximum charges for shipping. also served the Grange as an organizer.

, the only waterfall of its height on the Mississippi, played an important part in the development of Minneapolis. The power of the waterfall first fueled sawmills, but later it was tapped to serve. In 1870, only a small number of flour mills were in the Minneapolis area, but by 1900 Minnesota mills were grinding 14.1% of the nation's grain. Advances in transportation, milling technology, and water power combined to give Minneapolis a dominance in the milling industry. could be sown in the spring and harvested in late summer, but it posed special problems for milling. To get around these problems, Minneapolis millers made use of new technology. They invented the, a device that used jets of air to remove the husks from the flour early in the milling process. They also started using roller mills, as opposed to grindstones. A series of rollers gradually broke down the kernels and integrated the with the. These improvements led to the production of "patent" flour, which commanded almost double the price of "bakers" or "clear" flour, which it replaced. and the Washburn-Crosby Company (a forerunner of ) became the leaders in the Minneapolis milling industry. This leadership in milling later declined as milling was no longer dependent on water power, but the dominance of the mills contributed greatly to the economy of Minneapolis and Minnesota, attracting people and money to the region.

Industrial development
At the end of the 19th century, several forms of industrial development shaped Minnesota. In 1882, a power plant was built at Saint Anthony Falls, marking one of the first developments of hydroelectric power in the United States. mining began in northern Minnesota with the opening of the in 1884. The was surveyed and mapped by a party financed by. Another mining town, began with the foundation of the Chandler Mine in 1888. Soon after, the was established when ore was found just under the surface of the ground in. The Mesabi Range ultimately had much more ore than the Vermilion Range, and it was easy to extract because the ore was closer to the surface. As a result, became well-established on the Mesabi Range, with 111 mines operating by 1904. The (3M) was founded in 1902 in, and was later moved to , , and then. To ship the iron ore to refineries, railroads such as the were built from the iron ranges to  and  on Lake Superior. Large ore docks were used at these cities to load the iron ore onto ships for transport east on the. The mining industry helped to propel Duluth from a small town to a large, thriving city. In 1904, iron was discovered in the in. Between 1904 and 1984, when mining ceased, more than 106 million tons of ore were mined. Iron from the Cuyuna Range also contained significant proportions of, increasing its value.

Mayo Clinic
Dr., the founder of the , emigrated from , to the United States in 1846 and became a  in 1850. In 1864, Mayo and his two sons, (1861 – 1939) and  (1865 – 1939) moved to. In the summer of 1883, an tornado struck, dubbed the, causing a substantial number of deaths and injuries. Dr. W. W. Mayo worked with nuns from the to treat the survivors. After the disaster, Mother and the Drs. Mayo recognized the need for a hospital and joined together to build the 27-bed which opened in 1889; today, the hospital has 1,157 beds. Dr. joined the Mayo Brothers' practice in 1901. Plummer developed many of the systems of group practice which are universal around the world today in medicine and other fields, such as a single and an interconnecting  system.

Urbanization and government
As a result of industrialization, the population became more concentrated into urban areas. By 1900, the were becoming a center of commerce, led by the  and the foundation of the  with its ninth district in Minneapolis. Many of the businessmen who had made money in the railroad, flour milling, and logging industries lived in the Twin Cities and personified the. They started to donate money for cultural institutions such as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the ). The parks of Minneapolis, under the direction of became famous, and the new  building and the  attracted attention to Saint Paul.

The role of government also grew during the early 20th century. In the rural areas, most people obtained food and manufactured goods from neighbors and other people they knew personally. As industry and commerce grew, goods such as food, materials, and medicines were no longer made by neighbors, but by large companies. In response, citizens called on their government for consumer protection, inspection of goods, and regulation of public utilities. The growth of the automobile spurred calls to develop roads and to enforce traffic laws. The state officially started its trunk highway system in 1920, with the passage of the that established 70 s around the state. New regulation was necessary for banking and insurance. The safety of industrial workers and miners became an increasing concern, and brought about the system. Since government was getting more complex, citizens demanded more of a role in their government, and became more politically active.

Great Depression
Wilbur Foshay, the owner of utility companies, built the in 1929, just before the. The building was the tallest building in Minneapolis (and in Minnesota) at the time. It remained the tallest building in Minnesota until 1973, when the surpassed it. The tower was a symbol of the wealth of the times, but when the stock market crashed, Foshay lost his fortune in the crash.

The had several effects on Minnesota, with layoffs on the  and a drought in the  from 1931 through 1936. One of the causes of the Depression was that United States businesses in the had improved their efficiency through standardizing production methods and eliminating waste. Business owners were reaping the benefits of this increase in productivity, but they were not sharing it with their employees because of the weakness of, nor were they sharing it with the public in the form of lowered prices. Instead, the windfall went to stockholders. The eventual result was that consumers could no longer afford the goods that factories were producing.

The 1930 election saw of the  elected as the governor. In his first term, he signed a bonding bill that authorized $15 million for highway construction, in an effort to provide work for the unemployed. He also signed an executive order that provided for a of 45 cents per hour for up to 48 hours weekly. This effort predated the of 1938 that established a nationwide minimum wage. By 1932, with the Depression worsening, the Farmer-Labor Party platform was proposing a state income tax, a graduated tax on nationwide chain stores (such as and ), low-interest farm loans, and a state unemployment insurance program. The 1933 legislative session saw a comprehensive response to the depression including a moratorium on mortgage s, a reduction in property taxes for farmers and homeowners, the state income tax, and chain store taxes,  reform, ratification of a  amendment, a state old-age pension system, and steps toward preserving the area that later became the.

Meanwhile, formerly quiet labor unions began asserting themselves rather forcefully. The turned ugly, with the union demanding the right to speak for all trucking employees. As a result of this strike and many others across the nation, passed the  in 1935. Government programs such as the and  brought much-needed work projects to the state. Congress passed the in 1934, giving Minnesota's Ojibwa and Dakota tribes more autonomy over their own affairs.

Arts and culture
The was established in 1883. The present building, a structure, was opened in 1915, with additions in 1974 by  and in 2006 by.

The dates back to 1903 when it was founded as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. It was renamed the in 1968 and moved into its own building,, in downtown Minneapolis in 1974. The building has a modern look with a brick, glass, and steel exterior, in contrast to the old-world look of traditional concert halls. The interior of the building features more than 100 large cubes that deflect sound and provide excellent acoustics. Later the became the second full-time professional orchestral ensemble in the cities.

The was established in 1927 as the first public art gallery in the Upper Midwest. In the 1940s, the museum shifted its focus toward modern art, after a gift from Mrs. Gilbert Walker made it possible to acquire works by, , , and others. The museum continued its focus on modern art with traveling shows in the 1960s.

The, opened in 1963, was the brainchild of , who wanted to found a regional theater without the commercial constraints of. The high cost of staging Broadway productions meant that shows had to be immediately successful and return a high amount of revenue. This discouraged innovation and experimentation, and made it difficult to stage important works of literature. These ideas were first disseminated in a 1959 article in the drama section of the , and citizens in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area were eager to support the idea. The theater served as a prototype for other resident non-profit theaters.

Minnesota in World War II
Like other U.S. States, Minnesota made its contributions to the effort of in wartime manufacturing and other areas. The contracted with  to build ships after seeing their success in building ships and barges used to haul grain. Cargill built facilities in on the south bank of the  and turned out 18 refueling ships and four towboats in four years. After the war, the Cargill facilities became a major grain shipping terminal. built airplane control systems and sights for s, and also developed a proximity fuse for  shells. The United States government built the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant to produce munitions. The plant employed 8,500 workers in 1941, and since there was a shortage of male workers during the war, more than half of the workers at the munitions plant were women. The plant also employed nearly 1000 workers, as President Roosevelt had issued an executive order forbidding racial discrimination in defense industries. workers also found opportunities due to workforce shortages in wartime.

During the wartime years, Savage was also the home of, a school designed to improve the foreign language skills of Japanese-American soldiers and to train them in military intelligence gathering. The school was originally established in, but moved to Minnesota after the bombing of. Eventually, the school outgrew its facilities in Savage and was moved to. Fort Snelling itself served a major role as a reception center for newly drafted recruits after the was passed in 1940. New recruits were given a physical exam and the Army General Qualification Test to determine their fitness for service in a particular branch. The most intelligent recruits, about 37% of Minnesotans going through Fort Snelling, were assigned to the. Recruits were also issued uniforms and sent from the fort to other training centers. Over 300,000 recruits were processed through Fort Snelling during the World War II years.

Modern economy
Agriculture evolved from an individual occupation into a major industry after World War II. Technological developments increased productivity on farms, such as automation of s for hogs and cattle, machine milking at dairy farms, and raising chickens in large buildings. Planting also became more specialized with ization of corn and wheat, fertilization, and mechanical equipment such as s and became the norm. University of Minnesota professor contributed to this knowledge as part of the.

an development intensified after the war, fueled by the demand for new housing. In 1957, the Legislature created a planning commission for the Twin Cities metropolitan area. This became the in 1967. Minnesota also became a center of technology after the war. was formed in 1946 to develop computers for the. It later merged with, and later became. left Sperry in 1957 to form (CDC). was formed when left CDC to form his own company. Medical device maker also was founded in the Twin Cities in 1949.

, the dominant airline at, was founded in 1926 carrying mail from the Twin Cities to Chicago. The airline is now headquartered in.

Postwar politics
was a Minnesotan who became a nationally prominent politician. He first ran for mayor of Minneapolis in 1943, but lost the election to the Republican candidate by just a few thousand votes. As a Democrat, Humphrey recognized that his best chance for political success was to obtain the support of the. Other members of the Farmer-Labor Party had been considering the idea, as encouraged by, but the merger only became reality after Humphrey traveled to to discuss the issue. Rather than simply absorbing the Farmer-Labor party, with its constituency of 200,000 voters, Humphrey suggested calling the party the. He was elected mayor of Minneapolis in 1945, and one of his first actions was to propose an ordinance making racial discrimination by employers subject to a fine. This ordinance was adopted in 1947, and although few fines were issued, the city's banks and department stores realized that public relations would improve by hiring blacks in increasing numbers. Humphrey delivered an impassioned speech at the encouraging the party to adopt a civil rights plank in their platform. He was elected to the in 1948 and was re-elected in 1954 and 1960.

In the early, the topic of civil rights was coming to national prominence with sit-ins and marches organized by and other black leaders. In 1963, President sent a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress, based largely on the ideas that Humphrey had been placing before the Senate for the previous fifteen years. The bill passed the House in early 1964, but passage through the Senate was more difficult, due to segregationists who ed for 75 days. Finally, in June 1964, the became law. Humphrey called this his greatest achievement. recruited Humphrey for his running mate in the, and Humphrey became. Governor  appointed  to fill Humphrey's Senate seat. Humphrey voiced doubts about the 1965 bombings of, which alienated him from Johnson. He later defended Johnson's conduct of the, alienating himself from , who were beginning to oppose the war around 1967. In the, Humphrey ran against and  candidate  and lost the popular vote by only 0.7%. Humphrey later returned to the Senate in 1971 after Eugene McCarthy left office.

served in the from 1949 through 1959 and in the United States Senate from 1959 through 1971. He gained a reputation as an intellectual with strong convictions and integrity. In 1967, he challenged Lyndon B. Johnson for the presidential nomination, running on an anti-war platform in contrast to Johnson's policies. His strong support in the primary convinced Johnson to leave the race.

Democrat also achieved national prominence as Vice President under. He served in the Senate from his appointment in 1964 until becoming Vice President in 1977. In 1984, he ran for, choosing as his running mate. proved to be a landslide victory for popular incumbent. In 2002, just 11 days before election day, when incumbent Senator was killed in a plane crash, Mondale stepped into the race as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. He lost the bid by 2 percentage points to the Republican,.

In 1970,  was elected as governor of Minnesota. He spent two years working with a split to enact a tax and school finance reform package that shifted the source of public education funding from local property taxes to state sales taxes, as well as adding  taxes to liquor and cigarettes. This achievement, dubbed the "Minnesota Miracle", was immensely popular. In the next few years, the Legislature enacted other facets of their "new liberalism", including ratification of the, strong environmental laws, increases in workers' compensation and unemployment benefits, and elimination of income taxes for the working poor.  Magazine featured Wendell Anderson and the state in an article entitled, "Minnesota: A State That Works". In 1976 when Mondale resigned his Senate seat to become Jimmy Carter's running mate, Anderson resigned the governor's seat and turned it over to Lieutenant Governor, who promptly appointed Anderson to fill Mondale's vacant Senate seat. Voters turned Perpich and Anderson out of office in 1978, in an election dubbed the "Minnesota Massacre". Perpich was again elected as governor in 1983 and served until 1991.

was elected to the United States Senate in 1990, defeating incumbent  in one of the biggest election upsets of the decade. In 1996, he defeated Boschwitz again in a rematch of the 1990 election. Wellstone was known for being a liberal activist, as evidenced by his books How the Rural Poor Got Power: Narrative of a Grassroots Organizer, describing his work with the group Organization for a Better Rice County, and The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda. He explored a possible presidential bid in 1998, telling people he represented the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party". On, , he was killed in a plane crash near , along with his wife, his daughter, three campaign staffers, and the two pilots.

, elected governor in 1998, had a colorful past as a, a professional wrestler, an actor, mayor of , and a radio and TV broadcaster. He left office after one term. His election brought international attention to the.