Minnesota Trivia & Tidbits - Page 4

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

—The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, a nearly 400-mile race along Lake Superior’s North Shore, is named for Beargrease, a Chippewa Indian who delivered mail, often by dogsled, in the 1880s and 1890s.

first appeared: 3/25/2007

—Founded in 1865, Faribault Woolen Mill in Faribault (pop. 20,818) produces more than half of the woolen blankets and throws in the United States. The mill is one of the nation’s few remaining “fully vertical” woolen mills, which means it performs all functions required to change raw fiber into woven blankets.

first appeared: 3/11/2007

—Deb Luzinski, 38, of Woodbury (pop. 46,463) bagged a 24-point whitetail deer with a bow and arrow in October in Ramsey County. Luzinski’s deer was among the largest non-typical bow-killed bucks in state history. A deer’s antlers are classified as non-typical when they are not symmetrical.

first appeared: 2/27/2007

—Weighing 2,900 tons, the 1910 Shubert Theater in Minneapolis was moved about a block in 1999 to a new downtown location to make way for an entertainment complex. At the time, the theater was the heaviest building ever moved on rubber-wheeled dollies.

first appeared: 2/11/2007

—Explorers Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen, both of Grand Marais (pop. 1,353), became the first people to trek to the North Pole in summer when they journeyed in 2006 by canoe and skis. Their expedition focused attention on global warming, which they say threatens the existence of polar bears.

first appeared: 1/28/2007

Opened in 2002, The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis is the only U.S. museum dedicated solely to Russian art from the Soviet era, 1921 to 1991. MISSOURI—One of the nation’s top radio programming executives, Les Garland, co-founded the popular music channels MTV and VH1, and most recently The Tube Music Network, a music channel accessible to people with digital TV tuners. Garland grew up in Springfield.

first appeared: 1/14/2007

—Homesteader and prospector Cuyler Adams discovered iron ore in 1904 in central Minnesota and named the Cuyuna Range of iron mines by combining the first three letters of his name with the name of his constant companion, his St. Bernard, Una.

first appeared: 12/17/2006

—Faced with a surplus of aluminum and a staff of skilled metalworkers after World War II, Henry Neils of Flour City Ornamental Iron Co. in Minneapolis began building aluminum boats, a revolutionary idea in an age when boats were made of wood. The first Alumacraft boat rolled off the assembly line in 1946. The company today is located in St. Peter (pop. 9,747) and Arkadelphia, Ark.

first appeared: 12/3/2006

—Visitors to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden are in for a big treat—a 5,800-pound spoon with a giant cherry poised on the end. Sculptors Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen created the whimsical fountain sculpture, dubbed Spoonbridge and Cherry, which stretches more than 50 feet.

first appeared: 11/19/2006

—During her professional golfing career spanning more than 20 years, Patty Berg won the first U.S. Women’s Open in 1946 and helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association, serving as the organization’s first president. She was born in 1918 in Minneapolis.

first appeared: 11/5/2006

—Opened in 1929 as an ultra exclusive retreat, the Naniboujou Lodge near Grand Marais (pop. 1,353) lists baseball great Babe Ruth, boxer Jack Dempsey and sports writer Ring Lardner among its charter members. Cree Indian designs and a 200-ton native stone fireplace embellish the dining room.

first appeared: 10/22/2006

—A water tower in Pequot Lakes (pop. 947) is painted like a giant bobber. Sounds fishy, but locals claim the bobber belonged to that giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan who reeled a 40-foot walleye from the lake and snagged his line on the tower scaffolding.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

Built in 1910, the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul is named after native son F. Scott Fitzgerald, but perhaps is best known as home for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

The Hubbell House Restaurant has welcomed guests to Mantorville (pop. 1,610) since 1854 when John Hubbell, one of the town's founders, built a log hotel there. Through the years, guests have included Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and publisher Horace Greeley.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

Maud Hart Lovelace, author of the popular Betsy-Tacy book series in the 1940s and 1950s set in the fictional town of Deep Valley, was born in 1892 in Mankato (pop. 32,427). The Betsy-Tacy Society is restoring the author's childhood home.

first appeared: 8/27/2006

A remnant of the original "Big Woods," Nerstrand Big Woods State Park at Nerstrand (pop. 233) dazzles visitors each spring with more than 50 varieties of wildflowers. Large hardwood trees and the Hidden Falls waterfall are other natural treasures.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

Longville (pop. 180) calls itself the "Turtle Racing Capital of the World" and holds turtle races down Main Street every Wednesday during the summer. Turtles are available for contestants who don't happen to have one.

first appeared: 7/30/2006

Since the late 1800s, guests and their fishing poles have arrived at the state's oldest resort, Lutsen Resort and Sea Villas on Lake Superior in Lutsen (pop. 360). The showplace of the resort is a Swedish-style main lodge.

first appeared: 7/16/2006

The "Curling Capital of the United States" is Bemidji (pop. 11,917), where the men's and women's U.S. Olympic curling teams are based. The town gave a hero's welcome in March to Pete Fenson, skip of the U.S. men's curling team, which won an Olympic bronze medal in Italy in February. Curling is a precision sport played on ice.

first appeared: 7/2/2006

Madison (pop. 1,768) is the self-proclaimed "Lutefisk Capital of the World," where the town mascot is a 25-foot-long codfish statue aptly named Lou T. Fisk. Loved or loathed, lutefisk is a traditional Scandinavian dish of dried cod treated with lye. Lutefisk-eating contests are held during Madison's annual Norsefest each November.

first appeared: 6/25/2006

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