Shows / MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Daily dose of Minnesota history - MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds" is a history program airing on Ampers stations in Minnesota. It is a co-production of Ampers and the Minnesota Historical Society. Made possible by funding from the Minnesota Art's and Cultural Heritage fund.
Episodes
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsBalloon Bomb
During World War II, the Japanese military floated thousands of balloon bombs to the United States, its wartime enemy. The casualties were surprisingly few…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsIndigenous Seed Libraries
Indigenous seed-saving traditions in Minnesota are being revived today through community and library programs that preserve ancestral crops and the knowledge…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsSpringsteen Dancing in St. Paul
For two days in June 1984, Bruce Springsteen recorded a music video for a new single he was putting out at the St. Paul Civic Center. The video was pretty…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsDar Al-Hijrah Masjid
Dar Al-Hijrah is the oldest Somali masjid in Minnesota. Founded in 1988 in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, the masjid is a center for the…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsSt. James African Methodist Episcopal Church
From humble prayer meetings in their home, Paul and Mattie Brown helped birth one of Minnesota’s oldest Black churches. Despite setbacks and exclusion, the…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsMinnesota’s Oldest Cold Case
On a quiet November day in 1951, Betty Klein’s three sons went out to play and never came home. Though the case was closed as a presumed drowning, their bodies…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsLittle Oromia
Oromos began immigrating to Minnesota in large numbers during the 1970s and 1980s, fleeing government violence in Ethiopia. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsThe Holy Land Deli
At the heart of the Wadi family were their recipes. Wajdi, the eldest son knew they were special. Hear how a small storefront in northeast Minneapolis became a…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsDuane Pederson and the Living Room
Minnesota native Duane Pederson moved to California with dreams of entertainment but instead launched —a radical, Jesus-centered publication that sparked a…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsBirney Quick and the State's First Art Colony
Inspired by the collaborative art colonies he experienced in Boston, Duluth native Birney Quick returned to Minnesota, where a single summer cohort with his…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsThe Aria Building: From Warehouse to Social Gathering Place to Church
Widely remembered as an illustrious wedding venue, the Aria building in downtown Minneapolis holds a dramatic history that stretches back to 1889, when it…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsJay's Longhorn Leaves a Legacy
In June 1977, Jay Berine opened a live music club in what had been a Texas ranch-themed steakhouse. Jay’s Longhorn Bar, with its cow head and wagon wheel…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsRussell Lee in Craigville
Russell Lee’s most famous photograph, out of the thousands he took during the Great Depression, is the unlikely shot of bargoers at a logging town in Northern…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsBorghild Dahl Finds Her Way
In 1960, Borghild Dahl was at a school to talk about her new children’s book. But author had lost her sight in 1958 and the students were more interested in…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsFunkley Finds New York Friendly
In 1953, the entire town of Funkley, Minnesota (population 25) won an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Britt…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsWork People's College
In 1907, a new college opened in Duluth. The Work People's College taught its working-class students about unions and how to organize against the powerful…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Winona Municipal Band
Winona has the oldest municipal band west of the Mississippi River. Its story began July 31, 1915, with a performance at Winona's Levee Park. ----- Editor…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsTilsenbilt Homes
From 1954 to 1957, Archie Givens, Sr., a black architect, and Edward Tilsen, a home builder and Jewish immigrant, combined their talents and energies to create…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsDanebod Folk School
The Danebod Folk School opened in 1888 to provide an education in arts, culture and politics to the Danish population that had recently arrived in Lincoln…
MN90: Minnesota History in 90 SecondsB'nai Abraham Synagogue
In 1905, eighteen Jewish families met in Virginia, Minnesota, to plan the building of B'nai Abraham, the Iron Range's first synagogue constructed from the…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota Stone Cutters
The Minnesota State Capitol is a must-see building. Allison Herrera tells us all about the men who built it...by hand.
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota's Homegrown Communist, Gus Hall
Born on the Iron Range to Finnish immigrant parents, Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg) grew up in a rich brew of socialism and political activism. MN90…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota's Most Able Attorney
To say that Frederick McGhee had a remarkable life would be an understatement. Born into slavery, he became the first African American attorney to practice in…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota's Deadliest Snowstorm
When you’re in the middle of it, every blizzard seems like the worst blizzard. But the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940 really was one of Minnesota’s most lethal…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Michael Koppelman and the 11-Billion-Year-Old Gamma Ray
Michael Koppelman has a foot in two worlds. He was engineer and producer for Prince. But he was also an amateur astronomer who, says Britt Aamodt, caught on…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The First Case of Spanish Flu
The Spanish Flu descended on Minnesota in 1918, at a time when the world had no effective answer to major pandemics. The state's disjointed response had mixed…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota Broadcaster’s Pioneering Use of Satellites
The invention of the satellite newsgathering truck by lifelong Minnesota broadcaster Stanley S. Hubbard was met with skepticism when he first demonstrated it…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Last Flight of the Queen
Carole Lombard was the queen of 1930’s screwball comedies, and she was married to Clark Gable. Two Second Lieutenants from Minnesota never expected to end up…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Young JFK Hits the Airwaves
In 1940, John F. Kennedy was 23 and sick, which explains his visit to the Mayo Clinic. But he was also a newly published author. Britt Aamodt has the story…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Attacking an Epidemic without a Plan
In 1872, the Minnesota State Board of Health was created to coordinate sanitation and disease control statewide. And by 1918, the average lifespan for…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Hazeltine National Golf Club
Totten “Tot” Heffelfinger was an amateur golfer who worried that Minnesota’s golf courses were becoming too small and cramped for a new era of hard-hitting pro…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota's GLBT Champion
Allan Spear accomplished a lot in his three decades in the Minnesota Senate. But it’s the 1993 Minnesota Human Rights Act that he would call his “proudest…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
A Druggist in a Time of Influenza
James Douglas Falconer might have chosen to become a vet like his dad Thomas. Instead, the young man from Alexandria, Minnesota, trained as a druggist…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
In the Middle of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak
July 2014, Patrick Sawyer just wanted to finish his conference in Nigeria and get home to Coon Rapids. Two of his daughters had birthdays coming up. Britt…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota Madness
Intercollegiate basketball conjures up images of March Madness and games played at some of the nations most popular universities. The birthplace of this…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Evidence of an Ancient Cataclysm
The Ham Lake Fire of May 2007 devastated thousands of acres in Northeast Minnesota. Britt Aamodt looks at how it also turned up evidence of a cataclysmic event…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Dance of Healing
University of Minnesota professor Brenda Child heard a story growing up on the Red Lake reservation about a sick girl and the vision her father received of a…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Frankenstein on Stage
Victor Frankenstein and his Creature never had a true heart-to-heart in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Britt Aamodt looks at how playwright Barbara Field finally…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Minnesota Kicks the Habit
Minnesota is the only state that took on the tobacco companies and won. Now, thanks to a settlement of more than 6 billion dollars, Minnesotans and citizens…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Inventing The Slider
For nearly 50 years, Charles Albert Bender was the only Minnesota-born baseball player inducted into the Hall of Fame, in part for inventing the slider, a…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
A Nurse in the Spanish Flu Epidemic
September 16, 1918, Nora Emilie Anderson was embarking on the biggest adventure in her 37 years. The native of Rock Dell, Minnesota, was one of hundreds of…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Surf's Up
"Well, everybody's heard about the bird. Well, uh, bird, bird, bird, bird is the word." Britt Aamodt traces the origins of the 1963 surf rock hit, "Surfin'…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Animating Docter of Pixar
Pete Docter imagined adventures at his childhood home in Bloomington, MN. But at Pixar, says Britt Aamodt, he animated them.
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Supermayor is Watching Over You
St. Paul has had a lot of mayors. But, according to Britt Aamodt, only one Supermayor.
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Pioneer Seedswoman
Carrie H. Lippincott was merely looking for a way to support her mother, sister and brother-in-law. But out of necessity grew a flourishing seed business…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Get to the Top from Albert Lea to Hollywood
There was Gene Vincent. There was Chuck Berry. And there was Eddie Cochran. But Britt Aamodt reveals that only one of these '50s rockers made "Summertime…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Surviving the Tornadoes of 1965
While many powerful and deadly tornadoes have battered Minnesota, those that struck on May 6th, 1965, stand out because they hit the densely-populated Twin…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Art of Migration
Cy Thao wanted to tell the story of the Hmong people. Britt Aamodt finds out that he did it not with words but with paint and canvas.
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Architect, The Girl, and a Big Mistake
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright may have made a name for himself with his legendary homes all over the country, but he also had a reputation with the ladies…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Ike's Farewell Speechwriter
In 2010, Grant Moos finally decided to go through the boxes left behind by his dead father, Malcolm Moos, President Eisenhower’s chief speechwriter. Britt…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Studying Chimps with SIV
Growing up in Minnesota, Michael Wilson knew he wanted to work with primates after he watched a documentary on Dian Fossey. Britt Aamodt looks at Wilson’s work…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Sweating It
Minnesota weather isn’t known for its steaminess. So Britt Aamodt wonders how the state ended up with the oldest Finnish steam bath in North America.
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Mr. Cool
Frederick McKinley Jones was an inveterate tinkerer. So it wasn’t surprising that after a sweltering summer drive in Minnesota, he hit upon an idea. Britt…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Texting Away History
You hardly ever hear about kids writing in diaries anymore because paper and pencils seem to have been replaced by computers and text messages. As MN90…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Artist In Red Wing
Charles Biederman was one of the great abstract artists in the 20th century. Britt Aamodt tries to discover why this Cleveland-born artist has more art in…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
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…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Death by Hearse
To prepare lectures for his course on Death and Dying at Hamline University in St. Paul, Mark Berkson visited religious centers around the Twin Cities. But on…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Beatles' Minnesota Guitar
The Beatles' press conference in Minneapolis, August 1965, played a part in—or rather, added guitar to—the group's 1966 album Rubber Soul. Britt Aamodt opens…
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
The Carlton Celebrity Room
The Carlton Celebrity Room was featured in the film Fargo. But Britt Aamodt tells us this dinner club was more than a piece of Coen Brothers fiction.
- MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds
Kodiak Days
They were southern Minnesotans who signed up for the National Guard during the Great Depression. Many did it for a job when jobs were scarce. But when America…