Minnesota Trivia & Tidbits - Page 13

Looking for Minnesota trivia? Try our list Minnesota little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Menahga (pop. 1,220) means blueberry in the Chippewa Indian language. Wild blueberries are native to northern and central Minnesota and were a major food source for American Indians in the region.

first appeared: 6/30/2002

Postmaster James Hare suggested several names for his town to the Post Office Department, then flippantly added “nowthen” and signed his name. In 1897, the post office selected Nowthen.

first appeared: 6/23/2002

Lake Benton (pop. 703) is home to more than 200 wind turbines and dubs itself the “Wind Capital of the Midwest.”

first appeared: 6/16/2002

The state park system contains 4,378 campsites.

first appeared: 6/9/2002

With 217 acres, Alexander Ramsey Park in Redwood Falls (pop. 5,459) is the state’s largest municipal park.

first appeared: 6/2/2002

For $90 to $150, guests can spend the night in a replica of an 1880s sod house in Sanborn (pop. 434).

first appeared: 5/26/2002

Lake Superior agate was named the state’s official gemstone in 1969, thanks to the efforts of the late Jean Dahlberg, a longtime rock hound and ardent fan of the predominately red, iron-rich stone.

first appeared: 5/19/2002

The National Horseshoe Pitchers Association has 1,100 members in Minnesota, the largest number of any state.

first appeared: 5/12/2002

In 1926, Detroit was re-named Detroit Lakes (pop. 7,348) to avoid postal problems with Detroit, Mich. More than 400 lakes are within a 25-mile radius of the town.

first appeared: 5/5/2002

At the 1856 Anderson House Hotel in Wabasha (pop. 2,599), guests have their pick of a dozen “purrfect” companions for the night. The cat checkout began after the owners’ feline cheered a sick guest.

first appeared: 4/28/2002

Established in 1908, the 1.6 million-acre Chippewa National Forest in north-central Minnesota was the first national forest east of the Mississippi River.

first appeared: 4/21/2002

Minnesota ranked first in sugar beet production in 2000, harvesting 9.2 million tons, or about a third of the nation’s total crop. Sugar beets are processed into sugar.

first appeared: 4/14/2002

Angle Inlet, the northernmost community in the contiguous 48 states, is home to the state’s only one-room school.

first appeared: 4/7/2002

More than 107 feet long and weighing 3 tons, the world’s largest hockey stick rests near a giant puck at Eveleth (pop. 3,865), outside the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

first appeared: 3/31/2002

The Cup O’ Justice coffee shop in Ranier (pop. 188) dispenses coffee and legal advice. A chalkboard in the shop lists the prices for services offered by owner Jim Skelton, who is an attorney.

first appeared: 3/24/2002

With 680 breeding pairs, Minnesota ranks among the top four states—including Alaska, Florida, and Wisconsin—in number of nesting bald eagles.

first appeared: 3/17/2002

As secretary and librarian of the Minnesota Historical Society from 1895 to 1914, Warren Upham researched origins of the names of places in Minnesota and published them in his book, Minnesota Geographic Names.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

In a blizzard Jan. 31, 1893, the temperature in Park Rapids (pop. 3,276) dropped 40 degrees in less than five hours.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

Actress Jessica Lange, born in Cloquet (pop. 11,201) on April 20, 1949, received an Oscar for Best Actress in 1994’s Blue Sky and has appeared in more than 20 movies—including Tootsie, Frances, and A Thousand Acres.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

The Minnesota State Fair, first held in 1859, has been canceled five times. The reasons: the Civil War, a Dakota Indian conflict, a scheduling conflict with the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago, wartime fuel shortages in 1945, and a 1946 polio epidemic.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

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