MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds

In 1972, Minnesota’s Westgate Theater hit on a novel idea to compete with the large multiplex theaters being built. Play the same film, and only that film: Harold and Maude , a dark comedy that had bombed in its initial theatrical release. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt  Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Ruth Gordon acted in the fi...

The 1863 and 1864 Old Crossing Treaty separated the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Ojibwe from their lands along the Red River Valley. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Deanna StandingCloud Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image: Red Lake and Pembina lands included in Old Crossing Treaty [credit: public domain – found on Wikipedia] ----- For the latest...

The one million acres of land and water bordering Minnesota and Canada called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, or BWCA, began to be set aside for preservation purposes in 1902. And since then, further regulations have brought more restrictions, drawing the ire of industrialists and others who advocate for development, motorized traffic, and other uses of the area. MN90 producer Marisa Helms tells u...

A Minnesota construction crew was working on expanding US highway 59 through pelican rapids The crew was digging about 20 feet down when suddenly, they unearthed skeletal remains beneath layers of glacial and alluvial deposits.

Alonzo J. Whiteman, aka, AJ Whiteman, aka the Penman, was a Minnesota legislator from Duluth. By the time he died in 1922, he was wanted in 40 cities with 43 arrests and 11 convictions to his name. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt  Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image: Grand Opera House in Duluth (1910) [credit: Collection of the Minnes...

Mike Moh was a kid from Woodbury, Minnesota, who could act and do martial arts. And now, in 2018, Quentin Tarantino wanted to test him for his new film, in which Moh would portray a really famous dead guy who also did martial arts. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  ----- For the latest...

Elvira Coronado wanted to open a restaurant. But in 1946, St. Paul, let alone most of the United States outside the Southwest, was unfamiliar with Mexican cooking. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image: Vera Coronado in 1965 [credit: Collection Minnesota Historical Society]. ----- For the latest episode...

Muslims in Minnesota come from diverse cultural backgrounds. The majority of the approximately 150,000 Muslims in the state are from African and Arab countries and the Indian subcontinent. MN90 producer Marisa Helms discovers that no matter where followers of Islam immigrated from, they are all united by their faith, and the celebration of the Islamic holiday Eid Al-Adha, the festival of Abraham....

In 1924, Minnesota entomologist Marshall Hertig and a colleague discovered a bacteria residing in mosquitoes. He called it Wolbachia. Britt Aamodt has the story on the bacteria that can change the sex of insects and may hold the key to stemming mosquito-borne viruses. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  ----...

Minnesotan Erwin Hensch was among the crew of the USS Indianapolis, which July 1945, would deliver the bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima to the island of Tinian. But Britt Aamodt tells us what came after, a disaster that placed Hensch in the center of the one of the most harrowing stories of WWII survival at sea. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Kru...

Lex Porter was Ojibwe. He enlisted in World War II. He had a secret, and his family only found out when he received a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagram.com/ampersradio/ Facebook.com/M...

In 1941, the U.S. Military had an assignment for Ancel Keys, University of Minnesota physiologist: Create a combat ration that packs a caloric punch yet fits in a pocket. Britt Aamodt has the story behind World War II’s K-ration. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image:  90the Infantry Division during World W...

Learn about AIM and The Indigenous Protectors and other contributors to Minnesota’s long history of community-led protection efforts. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Eemanna Rivers Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: AIM news conference, 1971, with U.S. Senator Walter Mondale [credit: Minnesota Historical Society Collections] ----- For the latest e...

Minnesota's first brewery opened in 1848 from the hard work of German immigrant Anthony Yoerg. The Yoerg Brewery thrived for over a century, well known for its Bavarian-style beers. From cave expansion to natural disaster, Minnesota's first brewery has seen it all.  ----- Producer: Autumn Haeg Editor: Britt Aamodt   Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image:...

Gregory Corso was a beat poet. He’d been born in New York and made his literary reputation. But, says Britt Aamodt, Corso’s last reading was recorded in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, in January 2001, just days before his death. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, fol...

1975 – St. Paul composer and lyricist Dave Frishberg was known for hits like "I’m Hip" and "Peel Me a Grape." Now he was being asking to write a song for a cartoon music video series, Schoolhouse Rock . And could he make the lyrics about a bill becoming a law? Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris...

Barbara Kopple won her first Oscar for a documentary about Kentucky coal workers. She won her second Oscar for a documentary about striking meat packers in Austin, Minnesota. Britt Aamodt takes a look at Kopple’s American Dream.   ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image: Hormel strike solidarity button, 19...

In 1962, Jay Ward, co-creator of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, leased an island on the Minnesota-Canada border. Britt Aamodt tells us how a nuclear standoff got in the way of Moosylvania, America’s 52nd state. (Ward never identified the 51st state.) ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  ----- For the latest e...

In 1984, Minnesota became the first state to name an official mushroom, the morel. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt Producer: Katharine DeCelle Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Man at a table full of morel mushrooms. [credit: Photographer, Peter Leach. Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society] ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us o...

In 1920, Sauk Centre native Sinclair Lewis became a sensation with the publication of his novel Main Street. Now the pressure was on for a follow-up. Britt Aamodt turns the page on Babbitt, Lewis’ searing indictment of smug middle-class complacency.  ----- Producer: Britt Aamodt  Editor: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  ----- For the latest e...

In the late 19th century, Minnesota farmers began planting sugar beets, a domestic alternative to cane sugar. That new crop brought families of migrant workers to the state, and those families established some of Minnesota’s earliest Latino neighborhoods. Here’s Britt Aamodt. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Britt Aamodt Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwo...

The introduction of the “Safety Bike” changed society for the better. How did Minnesota change?  ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Autumn Haeg Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image:  Two Women and a Girl with Bicycles, 1897  [credit: Minnesota Historical Society Collections] ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. ...

Swans used to be a popular game of choice for Minnesota hunters. But by the 1900’s, the entire population of trumpeter swans was gone. ----- Produced by Autumn Haeg Editor: Chris Harwood Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood Image: Loring Park swans in Minneapolis Park Board's winter house in Theodore Wirth Park, 1948 [credit: Philip Dittes, photographer. Courte...

Founded in the Minneapolis basement of Dotty and Dave Dalquist in 1946, Nordic Ware is historically significant to Minnesota, and to the nation’s baking community. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Autumn Haeg Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  Image: Nordic Ware (1987) [credit: Photographer Jet Lowe – collection MNHS] ----- For the latest episode drops...

The origin of a popular dance style across Indian Country is said to have come from Minnesota. Deanna StandingCloud tells us the story. ----- Editor: Britt Aamodt  Producer: Deanna StandingCloud Editorial support: Emily Krumberger  Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood  ----- For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagram.com/ampersradio/ Facebook.com/MN90Ampers Ne...