MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds

Everybody knows that before First Ave was an iconic live music venue it was a Greyhound bus station. But fewer know the history of the in-between years. Britt Aamodt turns back to the early 1970s when First Ave was Uncle Sam’s and the dance beat was disco. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: A concert bill for Sam’s Danceter...

The 1976 film Logan’s Run posited a utopian city under a dome. But that science fiction nearly became reality in Northern Minnesota. Producer Britt Aamodt tells the story of visionary Athelstan Spilhaus and his domed city. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media....

There have been many candy bars that have come and gone throughout the years, but one of the most intriguing was the seven up bar. What makes this candy bar so special?  ----- Producer: Autumn Haeg Editor: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image:  Pearson's Candy Company, St. Paul, 1970. [credit: Collection of the Minnesota Historical Society] -...

For two weeks in July, 1936 Minnesotans baked, sweated and wilted. Nine hundred died. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: People sleeping outdoors during a heat wave, St. Paul, July 1936.  [credit: Collection of the Minnesota Historical Society] ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. insta...

Fall 1974, Eileen Hudon went to Women’s Advocates because she needed to escape an abusive husband. But her encounter with the domestic violence shelter, the first in the nation, also opened the door to her life’s calling as an advocate for survivors, particular Native women, of domestic violence and sexual assault. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberg...

For decades, the Eveleth Clown Band has represented a vibrant tradition on the Minnesota iron range that promotes community spirit, generational connections, and joyful performances.  ----- Producer: Autumn Haeg Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagram.com/ampersradio/ Facebook.co...

In 1922, Ralph Samuelson steamed the ends of two 8-foot boards, strapped them to his feet, and water skiing was born. But it was 40 years until anyone noticed. Find out how the inventor of water skiing was discovered after a lifetime of anonymity. ----- Producer: Andi McDaniel Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood ----- For the latest episode drops and updates,...

What's stronger: nature or nurture? Britt Aamodt sheds light on a Minnesota study that tried to answer that question. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt  Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Twins at 1984 Democratic Convention. [credit: Collection Minnesota Historical Society] ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagr...

October 1880 – Leon Belmont dressed for the brisk weather, slouch hat and men’s overcoat. But Minneapolis took exception to this young man, who it was claimed was a really a woman in men’s clothes. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Leon Belmont [credit: Courtesy of Skaffaren och Minnesota Stats Tidning...

For those in search of a unique hiking experience, Magnetic Rock Trail promises a journey off the beaten path, where the rewards are as extraordinary as the trail itself. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: A trail in Grand Marais, 1974 [credit: Collection of the Minnesota Historical Society]. ----- For the latest episode dr...

Ojibwe Chief Hole in the Day the Younger (1827-1868) signed almost every land cession treaty between the Minnesota Ojibwe and the U.S. government. MN90 producer Marisa Helms reports that while the Chief was a controversial figure, he was also a very smart and effective negotiator. Still, the Chief had many enemies. On June 27, 1868, as he was traveling to Washington, D.C. to fight the removal of h...

Actor James Wong grew up in Minneapolis, braving snow drifts and subzero cold. But nothing could prepare him for the Los Angeles meat locker that stood in for his character Dr. Chew’s laboratory while filming Blade Runner in 1981. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image:  ----- For the latest episode drops an...

Summer 2018, Jared Yost just finished mowing a lawn when he heard the sounds of an animal in distress. A kitten, or so he thought. Britt Aamodt has the story of Yost’s encounter with one of Minnesota’s wild feline species, the bobcat. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood image: A bobcat [credit: Public domain – found on Wikipedia]....

Hope Jahren always felt at home in her father's science lab in southern Minnesota. Decades on, Britt Aamodt tells us, the geobotanist has distilled the lessons learned from a life in science in a celebrated memoir. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Chemistry laboratory, 1907 [credit: Collection Minnesota Historical Society...

On July 3, 1863, on the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Private Marshall Sherman of St. Paul stole something from the Confederate enemy that they wanted back, badly—the battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Marshall Sherman poses in front of the 28t...

Eliza Winston was supposed to be free. But her husband died before he could pay off Richard Christmas, her owner. Britt Aamodt looks at how a trip to St. Anthony, Minnesota, in 1860, helped Eliza Winston of Mississippi plan her escape from slavery. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: St. Anthony Falls, 1863 [Collection of th...

1996 – Hollywood director Tim Burton fell in love with Topps trading card images created by two Minnesota artists thirty years before. But would audiences fall in love with Burton’s new film, Mars Attacks!, based on those cards? Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Mars Attacks! Topps trading card [credit...

June 1930: Eric Sevareid and Walter Port celebrated the graduation from high school, not with a party but with a canoe and a more than 2,000-mile river trip through Canada. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Canoe trip in Boundary Waters, 1916 [credit: Minnesota Historical Society Collections] ----- For...

Learn about The Way Community Center, a historic non-for profit organization that fostered and incubated some of Minneapolis's influential organizers and artists. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Eemanna Rivers Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: A photo of the 1966 original building off Plymouth Ave in North Minneapolis. [credit: Minnesota Historic...

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 golfers. What was needed was a bigger, better course. Britt Aamodt investigates the origins of Hazeltine National Golf Club. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Minne...

Mary Welsh was not only Ernest Hemingway’s fourth (and last) wife but also his literary executor. But critics sniffed at the idea of this lumberman’s daughter from Bemidji editing her great husband’s memoir A Moveable Feast . ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Mary Welsh as war correspondent in World War II (1943) [credit:...

The William Marvy Company in St. Paul, Minnesota,is the last remaining manufacturer of commercial barber poles in North America. Here’s Autumn Haeg. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Autumn Haeg. Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Barber shop interior, 1935 [credit: Collection of the Minnesota Historical Society] ----- For the latest episode drops a...

In 1945, the crew of the USS Duluth were stationed outside Tokyo when they discovered the abandoned 17th-century temple bell later to be called the Ohara Peace Bell. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: The USS Duluth in 1944 [credit: Public Domain – found on Wikipedia] ----- For the latest episode drops...

They have pink noses, small black ears and fleshy finger-like claws. What are they? Britt Aamodt introduces us to Minnesota’s only marsupial, the opossum. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: An opossum [credit:  Public domain from Wikipedia] ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. instagram...

The radar equipment had been used in World War II to train pilots. But a University of Minnesota researcher discovered it could also be used to detect cancer. Britt Aamodt follows the story of Dr. John Wild, pioneer of ultrasound.