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Rondo Recreation in the St. Croix River Valley, 1909-1977

Haley Prochnow

The Silverbrook Estate/St. Croix Valley Country Club. Courtesy of Interstate State Park. By Haley Prochnow To see this complete magazine article with endnotes and additional images, please view the PDF version. The thermostat is set at 55°F during the winter in the Baker Land and Title Company…

March of the Governors: Jesse Ventura

Paul Nelson, Matt Wright, and Ken Peterson

To call our thirty-eighth governor, Jesse Ventura, unique is to engage in understatement. He was Minnesota’s first third-party governor since Elmer Benson in 1936. Though he ran on the Reform Party ticket, that party elected no one else, so he had no allies in the legislature. His plurality, 37% of…

March of the Governors: Arne Carlson

Paul Nelson and Tom Beer

Arne Carlson, Minnesota’s thirty-seventh governor, was a Swede and a progressive Republican, like several before him, but unlike them, too. He grew up poor in New York City and had no connection to the dominant Harold Stassen political lineage. Carlson came to Minnesota for graduate school—then won election after election:…

Ramsey County History Spring 2024

Paul Nelson, Drew Ross, Wendy Rossi, Meredith Cummings

Volume 59, Number 2: Spring 2024 Link to download PDF of full Ramsey County History Spring 2024 Articles in this issue: The Fraud of the Century Author: Paul Nelson According to author Paul Nelson, “The human desire for wealth without risk and the capacity for self-delusion make an…

Decisions, Destiny, and Dreams: Plympton’s Reserve, St. Paul’s Founding, and Desnoyer’s New Bridge Square

Drew M. Ross

The Desnoyer Halfway House located on the St. Anthony Falls-St. Paul Road attracted soldiers from Fort Snelling, residents from growing villages along the Mississippi, and tourists traveling to the area to glimpse the cascading St. Anthony Falls. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society. By Drew M. Ross To see this…

March of the Governors, Governor #36: Rudy Perpich Part II

Paul Nelson and Anne Field

Part II: Following his gubernatorial defeat in 1978, Rudy Perpich (1928-1995) spent a few years in Vienna, Austria, working as a trade representative for Control Data Corporation, but it wasn’t long before he began planning another run for the state’s highest role. Voters remembered him fondly and ushered him back…

March of the Governors: Al Quie

Paul Nelson and Tom O'Connell

Albert H. Quie (1923-2023) left a safe seat in Congress after twenty years to run for governor in 1978. In that, his timing was good. He rode around the “Minnesota Massacre” and into office as the state’s thirty-fifth governor along with fellow Republicans Dave Durenberger and Rudy Boschwitz, who were…

March of the Governors: Rudy Perpich

Paul Nelson and Anne Field

March of the Governors, Governor #34 Rudy Perpich (Series Podcast #37) Part I: Rudy Perpich (1928-1995) served as Minnesota’s thirty-fourth governor in the years 1977 and 1978. He got there by succession when Wendell Anderson resigned. Perpich then appointed Anderson…

Ramsey County History Winter 2024

Nicole Foss, Linda Kohl, Krista Finstad Hanson, Renoir Gaither, Mary Lethert Wingerd

Volume 59, Number 1: Winter 2024 Link to download PDF of full issue of RCHS Winter 2024 Magazine Articles in this Issue: Architect of St. Paul’s West Side: H. Emil Strassburger Author: Nicole Foss Link to N. Foss article PDF Additional Resources:…