Ramsey County History podcast

Mark Dayton, Minnesota’s fortieth governor, was the oldest to assume that office for the first time at sixty-three. He stepped into the role with vast political experience. In the 1970s, he served as legislative aide and Minnesota Economic Development commissioner and later worked four years as state auditor and six as a US senator. He won elections easily and had also been trounced. Dayton was born into wealth—an heir to the Dayton’s department store fortune—and enjoyed a private school education at Breck School and Yale. His family impressed upon him that with wealth came the responsibility to serve the public. Dayton took this charge seriously.

In his eight years as governor (2011-2019), he faced an uncooperative Republican legislature for six of those years. He also inherited a projected deficit of over $6 billion. He used his veto power ninety-five times and presided over an elimination of the deficit, substantial increases of funding for K-12 education, big increases in the minimum wage, an additional tax bracket for high incomes, and construction of a new Vikings US Bank Stadium. Dayton was an unapologetic big-government liberal, and the first Minnesota Democrat to pass the governorship, by election, to another Minnesota Democrat.

Direct download: dayton_for_posting_revised.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am CST

Tim Pawlenty grew up in a family of South St. Paul Democrats but embraced Republicanism as a teenager. He was a hard worker and excellent student in public schools and at the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Law School. He was hired by a prestigious Minneapolis law firm before getting into politics. At age thirty-two, Pawlenty was a member of the state legislature, where he quickly rose to positions of authority. He served as House majority leader when Jesse Ventura was governor. He then succeeded Ventura as Minnesota governor in a close three-way race in 2002. In office (2003-2011), Pawlenty faced large budget deficits thanks to hard economic times and strong DFL opposition in the legislature. He also made a no-new-taxes pledge that restricted his flexibility. He did succeed in slowing the rate of government growth and presided over some legislation and initiatives that have proved enduring.

Direct download: pawlenty_for_posting_revised_30_aug.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:14am CST

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 the vote, was the lowest of any Minnesota governor. No other governor had been a national celebrity before election, and none before him used the governorship to enrich himself while in office. Despite everything, his term (1999-2003) was a reasonably successful one, marked by substantial tax rebates, a reform of property taxes and school funding, and the foundations of the Twin Cities light rail system. Ventura declined to run for a second term.

Direct download: ventura_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am CST

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: Minneapolis City Council, he legislature, and three terms as state auditor.  He lost the 1990 GOP primary for governor but won the nomination anyway when John Grunseth flamed out. He ran the shortest election campaign in Minnesota history—five days—to defeat incumbent Governor Rudy Perpich. Carlson served eight effective years and was reelected in 1994 by a landslide. He went out like he did everything—on his own terms.

Direct download: carlson_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:33am CST

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 into office in 1982, making him the first (and only) governor of Minnesota to serve noncontinuous terms. Perpich returned to the governor’s seat with a new outlook on bringing economic health to Minnesota, working with and not against big business. No longer the slightly rumpled and lovable character with crazy ideas, he was polished and confident and worked to attract international companies to the state. He was reelected yet again in 1986, making him our longest-serving governor. He might be remembered for the high drama he often brought to the office, which eventually earned him the nickname Governor Goofy, but he was much more than that. His legacy in the advancement of women in law and politics and in education reform lives on today.

Direct download: perpich_2_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:07am CST

Growing up in Frogtown

In 1941, young Wendy Ham’s Gumpa Guy Metzger built a dollhouse—a replica of the family home at 435 Charles Avenue in St. Paul. In 2023, Wendy Ham Rossi donated the “two-story,” six-room dollhouse complete with “indoor plumbing” to Ramsey County Historical Society, a gift for which we are grateful. She also penned a companion memoir about growing up on Charles and, later, at 554 Arundel Street surrounded by the love of her grandparents, parents, and little sister, Joyce. And she graciously recorded a reading, which you can hear online. The retired St. Paul public school teacher weaves memories of the dollhouse and her two childhood homes, her love of books—especially Little Women—and her absolute distaste for household chores into a delightful story that will bring smiles to readers’ faces and likely spur memories of your own growing-up adventures from decades’ past.

Direct download: Wendy_Rossi_Final_-_5_16_24_5.58PM.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:05pm CST

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 elected to the US Senate. But in another respect, his timing could not have been worse. A successful first year of tax cuts was followed by an unwelcome recession that slashed state revenues and triggered a three-year budget crisis requiring six special legislative sessions and making most of the governor’s political agenda impossible to achieve. Quie did not seek reelection, moving, instead, into a long career of public service, most notably in prison ministry. 

Direct download: quie_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:12am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #34
Rudy Perpich
Series Podcast #37

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 to the US Senate—the first event leading to the Minnesota Massacre of 1978. Perpich was the first Iron Ranger, the first dentist, and first Roman Catholic to serve as governor and, maybe, the last to have grown up in poverty. His term was marked by the national energy crisis, controversies over electric power lines, and Reserve Mining Corporation, and the death of Hubert Humphrey. It ended with his crushing defeat by Al Quie in 1978. But he would be back

Direct download: 20240312_MOTG_Gov_Perpich_Revised.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:25am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #33
Wendell Anderson
(Series Podcast #35)

Before an ignominious electoral end, Wendell “Wendy” Anderson was one of Minnesota’s most significant and popular governors. Born and raised on St. Paul’s East Side, he had been an Olympic hockey player and a twelve-year legislative veteran when elected governor in 1970 at the age of thirty-seven. In his first term, Anderson successfully encouraged legislative passage of landmark open government, environmental, labor and other forward-looking laws. Most importantly, he campaigned and got passed a sweeping change in how K-12 education in the state was funded—later termed the “Minnesota Miracle.” For his efforts, Anderson was reelected in 1974 with 63 percent of the vote, carrying every county in the state. However, four years later, as a consequence of his self-appointment to that body, voters chose rival Rudy Boschwitz over him for the US Senate by a 56-40-percent margin, effectively ending his political career. Anderson later practiced law, was a television political commentator and served on the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents. He died in 2016.

Direct download: anderson_W_for_posting2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:57am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #32
Harold Levander
(Series Podcast #35)

Harold Levander (1910-1982) ran for political office once in his long life, in 1966. He defeated incumbent governor Karl Rolvaag, served four years, and never ran for office again. He had been a star athlete in college, in football and track, and a national champion orator. He practiced law in Harold Stassen's firm, where he represented rural electric power cooperatives and the South St. Paul stockyards. As a Republican governor, he helped enact a remarkably progressive agenda that included creation of the sales tax, the Metropolitan Council, and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

Direct download: levander_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:22am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #31
Karl Fritjof Rolvaag
(Series Podcast #34)

Karl Fritjof Rolvaag (1913-1990) grew up in Northfield, the son of acclaimed novelist Ole Rolvaag. Upon his father’s untimely death in 1931, Rolvaag roamed the West for five years, working in the fields and forests and allying himself with that most radical of unions—Industrial Workers of the World. He graduated from St. Olaf College in 1942. He then began six years in the US Army that included combat service as a tank commander. After graduate work at the University of Minnesota, he became an organizer and frequent candidate for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He won election as lieutenant governor four times. In the 1962 election, Rolvaag defeated incumbent Governor Elmer L. Andersen by ninety-one votes. As governor, he pushed for a modern community college system, helped reapportion Minnesota’s legislative districts, oversaw the passage of a taconite amendment for the Iron Range, supported notable reforms in mental health, and protected the environment. In 1966, he lost his bid for reelection to Harold Levander. Rolvaag later served two years as ambassador to Iceland and as chair of the Minnesota Public Service Commission. He resigned to fight his alcoholism and spent the rest of his life lecturing and counseling others about the importance of treatment.

Direct download: rolvaag_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:34am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #30
Elmer L. Andersen
(Series Podcast #33)

For Elmer L. Andersen, his single term as governor (1961-1963) marked a brief episode in a life of remarkable accomplishment. From modest beginnings in Muskegon, Michigan, Andersen rose from salesman for HB Fuller Co. to the leader who made the company a giant. He served with distinction in the state legislature, then defeated the popular and effective governor Orville Freeman in 1960. His great accomplishment as governor was reform of taconite taxation. He was a Republican far to the left of his party. In 1962, he lost the closest election in Minnesota history. He moved on to a career in philanthropy and a very long life.

Direct download: AndersonEL_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:34am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #29
Orville Lothrop Freeman
(Series Podcast #32)

Orville Lothrop Freeman (1918-2003) was, like governors Floyd Olson and Luther Youngdahl before him, a product of the streets and schools of Minneapolis: His parents ran a clothing store on Lake Street. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he played football under the legendary Bernie Bierman, served as student council president, and was a champion debater. College was interrupted by World War II; he enlisted in the US Marines, where his one week in combat at Guadalcanal ended in a firefight and a bullet to the jaw. He returned to Minneapolis. There, his college debate partner, Hubert Humphrey, got him into DFL politics. Freeman proved to be a superb organizer. He ran for attorney general in 1950 and lost; he ran for governor in 1952 and lost. In 1954, he defeated incumbent governor C. Elmer Anderson and became Minnesota's first DFL governor. He spent the next six years modernizing and enlarging state government, largely in response to the postwar baby boom. He was a key figure in creating the modern, liberal Minnesota state government. In 1960, Freeman narrowly lost his try for an unprecedented fourth term, in part, due to his handling of a meatpackers' strike in Albert Lea. He served the next eight years as Secretary of Agriculture under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He proved to be a superb organizer, helping build the new party statewide and expelling the far-left elements of the old Farmer-Labor party. 

Direct download: freeman_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:38pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #28
C. Elmer Anderson
(Series Podcast #31)

Minnesota's twenty-eighth governor, C. Elmer Anderson (1912-1998), mostly aspired to be lieutenant governor, and at that he succeeded—elected six times in seven tries. He rose to governor in September 1951 with the resignation of Luther Youngdahl. Anderson won the governorship on his own in 1952, riding the ample coattails of Dwight Eisenhower. In this role, he tried to carry out Youngdahl's progressive policies, but the stars and the Minnesota senate were against him. He had beaten DFL candidate Orville Freeman handily in 1952; Freeman whipped him in their 1954 rematch, where Anderson's lifelong motto, "silence is golden," helped bring him down. He later served four years as mayor of Nisswa and ten years as mayor of his hometown, Brainerd. 

Direct download: anderson_ce_for_posting_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:50pm CST

March of the Governors Special Edition: Billy Williams
March of the Governors Series Podcast #30

William F. (Billy) Williams never served as Minnesota's governor, but he served more Minnesota governors than any public servant in our state's history. He caught the eye of Governor John A. Johnson as a baseball player at the turn of the twentieth century. Johnson invited him to work at the capitol as his aide and messenger. Johnson died, but Williams stayed on, through the next thirteen governors—Eberhart, Hammond, Burnquist, Preus, Christianson, Olson, Petersen, Benson, Stassen, Thye, Youngdahl, Anderson, and Freeman—over fifty years. No one saw more of Minnesota government from the inside than did Billy Williams. 

Direct download: williams_for_posting_revised.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:40pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #27
Luther Youngdahl
(Series Podcast #29)

From his youth, Luther Youngdahl (b. 1896) aspired to be a judge, and he succeeded: Minneapolis Municipal Court (1930-1936), Hennepin County District Court (1936-1942), Minnesota Supreme Court (1942-1946), and US District Court for the District of Columbia (1951-1978.) Along the way, he found time to serve as Minnesota’s twenty-seventh governor (1947-1951.) A deeply committed Christian, Youngdahl found his signature issue in pushing for reforms of the state’s mental hospitals. Elected three times, the Republican cut short his third term to accept an appointment by Democrat Harry Truman (an appointment instigated by Hubert Humphrey), as a federal court judge in Washington DC. Youngdahl was the son of Swedish immigrants, a Minneapolis city kid like his contemporary Floyd Olson, and a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College. He died in 1978.
Tom Beer, with host Paul Nelson.

Direct download: youngdahl_final_edit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:10am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #26
Edward John Thye
(Series Podcast #28)

Edward John Thye (1896-1969) was called Minnesota’s “farmer-governor,” and aptly so. He was born on a farm in South Dakota, grew up on a farm near Northfield, maintained his own Dakota County farm during his political career, concentrated on farm issues during his twelve years in the US Senate, and retired to the farm when his political career ended. Thye was the son of Norwegian immigrants, served in France during World War I, sold tractors, farmed, and got into politics through his friend Harold Stassen, who appointed him assistant commissioner of agriculture in 1939. Stassen then effectively chose Thye to succeed him when he left the governorship for the Navy in 1943. Thye finished Stassen’s term, won election easily in 1944, then moved on to the Senate in 1946. Eugene McCarthy defeated him in 1958.

Paul Nelson, with host Ken Peterson

Direct download: thye_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:48am CST

March of the Governors – Harold Stassen, Governor #25
Podcast #27

Harold Stassen, Minnesota’s twenty-fifth governor, is among our most intriguing. He sprang to national attention as the state’s “Boy Governor,” elected in 1938 at the age of thirty-one. Stassen was very popular in his over four years as governor because of success with the legislature and in administering state government. He went on to be a US Navy commander in WWII; one of eight US delegates to the 1945 UN Charter Assembly; a top presidential candidate in 1948; president of the University of Pennsylvania; and a member of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s cabinet. Stassen also is credited by many with leading and inspiring a long line of progressive leaders in Minnesota’s Republican Party. 

Today, however, Stassen is sometimes remembered not for his political accomplishments but for the many unsuccessful runs for political office in his last three decades. As a result, Stassen has become a joke to some political observers instead of the multitalented politician and public policy thinker that he was.

Direct download: stassen_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:18pm CST

March of the Governors
Podcast #26
The Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party was the most successful third party in American history. Between 1930 and 1938, the party far outpaced both traditional parties in vote-getting, including successfully electing three Farmer-Labor governors. For this special episode, we assembled a panel of historians to reflect on the terms of Floyd Olson, Hjalmar Peterson, and Elmer Benson and this unique interlude in Minnesota political history.

Direct download: MOTG_special_edition_farmer_labor_panel_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:05am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #24
Elmer Austin Benson
(Series Podcast #25)

We are unlikely to see a politician like Elmer Benson ever again. The small-town, left-wing banker served briefly as a US Senator before becoming governor. He was a genuine political radical who advocated replacing capitalism in Minnesota with a "cooperative commonwealth." The first time he ran for governor of Minnesota in 1936, he won by a landslide. The next time, in 1938, he lost by a landslide. In between, he battled with the legislature, filled state jobs with Farmer-Labor party workers, and once endorsed an occupation of the state senate chambers by Farmer-Laborites demanding action. Benson lived a long life (1895-1985) and never repented of anything. 

Direct download: benson_ready_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:16pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #23: Hjalmar Petersen
(Series Podcast #24)

Hjalmar Petersen (1890-1968) holds many distinctions as a governor of Minnesota: our only Dane, our only Hjalmar, our last immigrant (so far), our only governor from Askov (so far), and the one who served the shortest term (four months.) He served two terms in the legislature, one term as lieutenant governor, and eighteen years as a warehouse and railroad commissioner. He ran for governor four more times—three with the Farmer-Labor Party, one as a Republican. His political career began in 1930 and ended in 1967. He became governor in August 1936 upon the death of Floyd B. Olson. Passed over as Farmer-Labor candidate for governor in the primaries later that year, Petersen nurtured a grudge against the party for years to come. In 1938, he nearly upset Governor Elmer Benson in a primary. He tried again in 1942 and 1946. In 1956, he managed Estes Kefauver’s Minnesota presidential primary win over Adlai Stevenson. He served once more on the railroad and warehouse commission from 1955 to 1967.

Direct download: peterson_ready_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:17pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #22
Floyd Bjornstjerne Olson
(Series Podcast #23)

By age thirty, Floyd Bjornstjerne Olson (1891-1936) had been a shabbos goy, a college dropout, a stevedore, and a Wobbly. By age forty, he had served ten years as Hennepin County attorney. In the next five years, he would become one of Minnesota’s most successful politicians – its first Farmer-Labor governor (elected three times), a powerful speaker, the force behind legislation to support suffering farmers and workers during the Depression, and the only Minnesota governor ever to proclaim, “I am a radical.” He toyed with the idea of leading a national Farmer-Labor Party and took aim at a seat in the US Senate in 1936. But it was not to be: Pancreatic cancer took him in his prime at age forty-four. 

Direct download: olson_for_posting_4jan23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:36pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #21
Theodore Christianson
(Series Podcast #22)

Theodore Christianson (1883-1948) was a farm boy from Lac Qui Parle County and a progressive Republican who proved eminently successful as a vote-getter and as a government reformer. He was the first man elected governor three times, knocking off three successful Farmer-Labor politicians—Floyd B. Olson (1924), Magnus Johnson (1926), and Ernest Lundeen (1928). In times of crisis in farm country, he declined direct help to farmers, choosing instead to concentrate on small, efficient state government. Farmers rewarded him with their votes. Before becoming governor, he ran a newspaper in Dawson, Minnesota. After his terms, he worked for trade associations in Chicago and wrote a five-volume history of Minnesota.

Direct download: Christianson_ready_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:16am CST

March of the Governors, Governor #20
Jacob A. O. Preus
(Series Podcast #21)

By age forty-one, Jacob A. O. Preus had been Minnesota's insurance commissioner and state auditor and had served two successful terms as governor (1921-1925). On his watch, the Minnesota Republican Party enacted a considerable program of progressive legislation. But the long crisis in farm country and the rise of the Farmer-Labor Party brought him down. Now, decisively defeated by Magnus Johnson for the US Senate, Preus was finished with politics. However, he was far from done piling up accomplishments. He had a long and successful second career in insurance and is the only person in Minnesota history to serve as governor AND found a Fortune 500 company—in his case, Lutheran Brotherhood, now Thrivent, based in Minneapolis.

Direct download: 20221031_preus_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:44pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #19
Joseph Alfred Arner Burnquist
(Series Podcast #20)

Joseph Alfred Arner Burnquist (1879-1961), born in Dayton, Iowa, was destined for leadership from an early age. A star student and orator at Carleton, he was in the legislature at age twenty-eight, lieutenant governor at thirty-one, and governor at thirty-six. He led, or at least presided over, Minnesota’s infamous Public Safety Commission, the author of the worst World War I-era state-sponsored repression in the United States. The voters then turned against him, and he was out of office and seemingly out of politics at age forty-one. However, he returned eighteen years later to serve four terms as Minnesota’s attorney general.

Direct download: burnquist_for_posting_adjusted_mp3_file.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:27pm CST

March of the Governors, Governor #18
Winfield Scott Hammond
(Series Podcast #19)

Winfield Scott Hammond (1863-1915) was Minnesota’s eighteenth governor and the last of only four from the Democratic Party (decades before, by merger, it became the DFL.) He was the first unmarried governor and the man who served the shortest time in office. Hammond was also our first Ivy League governor (Dartmouth, class of 1884) and one of several with deep New England roots: two of his forebears fought at Lexington and Concord. A Democrat in deep Republican country, the studious Hammond proved an excellent vote-getter, elected to Congress in 1906. He enjoyed that job but was lured back to Minnesota by a Democratic Party desperate for a plausible gubernatorial candidate. He defeated Republican William Lee in 1914 and died during a visit to Louisiana eleven months later.

Direct download: hammond_final_revised_august_23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:52am CST

(March of the Governors Podcast #18)

Adolph Eberhart (1870-1944) was a penniless, immigrant child from Varmland, Sweden, who embraced the opportunities the United States offered. Despite minimal schooling, he was named valedictorian of his class at Gustavus Adolphus College. He later became a lawyer, state senator, lieutenant governor, and then, governor. As a Republican governor, Eberhart engineered one of the most productive legislative sessions in Minnesota history and signed into law a remarkable host of progressive measures. Despite these successes, he became the first incumbent governor unseated in a primary. Eberhart seems also to have led an exemplary personal life. In 1915, he published a song (performed in the podcast), “‘Tis Only You,” which he dedicated to his wife.

Direct download: RCHP_Governors_18--Peterson_on_Eberhart.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:48am CST

John Albert Johnson (March of the Governors Series #17)
Minnesota’s sixteenth governor, John Albert Johnson, was our fourth from St. Peter. He had a “rags-to-riches Horatio Alger life.” The son of Swedish immigrants, he quit school at age twelve to support his mother and siblings. Self-educated, he eventually became a newspaper editor, state legislator, and was elected governor three times. If he hadn’t died during his third term at the age of forty-seven, Johnson would have likely been a serious candidate for the presidency in 1912. His priorities in office were those of the Progressive Era—improved conservation, making the tax system more fair, better regulation of business, and protection for workers. Johnson unsuccessfully urged women’s suffrage, ending capital punishment, and direct election of US senators. One of our most popular governors, today, his statue stands in front of the state capitol.

Direct download: 20220113_johnson_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:55pm CST

March of the Governors, Podcast #16
Samuel Van Sant

Samuel Van Sant was Minnesota’s fifteenth governor—the first to serve in the twentieth century and the first to occupy the current capitol. After three years of combat duty in the Union cavalry  (1861-1864), Van Sant joined the family steamboat business in LeClaire, Iowa. In 1883, he moved to Winona and soon went into politics. A Republican, he was elected to the legislature in 1892 and rose to speaker of the house just two years later. A gifted public speaker, he was elected governor in 1900 and reelected in 1902. In keeping with the spirit of the age, he championed such progressive measures as reform of the state's tax system, advocating for wilderness protection, and extending the use of the primaries to nominate candidates. In the decades following his retirement from political office, Van Sant became a national leader in Civil War veterans’ affairs and was a popular speaker at Republican gatherings throughout Minnesota. He died in 1936 at the age of ninety-two.

Direct download: 20220516_van_sant_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:57pm CST

Three-term US congressman John Lind, a traditional Republican with a stream of populism coursing through his veins, made a major political course change in 1894. Unhappy with Republican policies, Lind, the first Swedish-American elected to Congress, opted not to run for a fourth term and quit the party. Two years later a fusion of Democrats, Populists and left-leaning Republicans convinced him to run for governor. David Clough narrowly defeated him. In 1898, Lind returned for another gubernatorial run, this time cruising to a convincing victory. A self-described political orphan during his second run for governor, John Lind proved a zealous, highly-principled advocate for progressive ideals. This former Republican broke that party’s hold on the governorship that began in 1859 with Alexander Ramsey.

Direct download: lind_for_posting_May_edit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:17pm CST

David Marston Clough was a lumber baron and politician who served as Minnesota’s Republican governor from 1895 to 1899. Born in New Hampshire in 1846, he moved with his family to Spencer Brook Township, Minnesota, in 1857. He was successful in the lumber business and moved into politics, serving as a city council member in Minneapolis, state senator, and lieutenant governor before his elevation to the gubernatorial seat upon the election of Governor Knute Nelson to the US Senate. He was then elected in his own right and served one two-year term before declining to run for reelection (and controversially endorsing the Democratic candidate in the following election). Shortly thereafter, he moved to Everett, Washington, to continue in the lumber business until his death in 1924.

Direct download: clough_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:44am CST

Knute Nelson (1843-1923) spent two years as Governor of Minnesota on his way to becoming a representative in the US Senate, where he served for twenty-eight years. Nelson was the first prominent Scandinavian-American politician in Minnesota and in the United States. He immigrated from Voss, Norway, to Chicago as a six-year-old child and spent most of his upbringing in Norwegian-immigrant communities in Wisconsin. He made his way to Minnesota after serving in the Union Army during the Civil War and apprenticing to become a lawyer. As a politician, Nelson leveraged his dual identity as a Norwegian and war veteran to gain support from both Scandinavian and American-born populations. During Nelson’s long and accomplished career, he made what is arguably his longest-lasting mark as a US representative with the passage of the Nelson Act in 1888. 
Direct download: 20210602_nelson_for_posting_copy.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00am CST

Ramsey County Historical Society presents March of the Governors, Governor #11: William Merriam.

William Merriam (1849-1931) was the first Minnesota governor born into wealth and the first to break an unwritten code of the Minnesota Republican Party when he wrested the party’s nomination from the incumbent governor, Andrew McGill, in 1888. He proved a much better vote-getter than McGill (that year, anyway), but still won his first election with only 51 percent of the vote. The next time around he did much worse—he was re-elected, yes, but with only 36 percent of the vote in a four-way contest. With his Republican Party fractured and the legislature divided, he was unable to get much done in office. He did not try for a third term. His second act, as director of the United States Census Bureau, was far more successful. When he took that job in 1897, he left Minnesota and never returned. He is known, to some, as the Father of the Modern US Census.

Direct download: RCHPodcast-NelsononMerriam.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:51pm CST

Andrew McGill (1840-1905), our tenth governor, served one tumultuous term in office after 13 years as state insurance commissioner. Because of divisions in the Republican Party and the strength of his main opponent, Alonzo Ames, he won by only 2600 votes in the election of 1886. After a moderately successful two years as governor, the Republican Party, doubting his ability to win, dumped him in 1888. This was the first time a sitting governor had been denied renomination. McGill’s post-governor career was more successful: He served four terms in the state senate and as postmaster of St. Paul, and became a highly respected figure. His house on Langford Park still stands.

Direct download: mcgill.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:41am CST

John Pillsbury, a Republican, served three terms as governor of Minnesota, from January 1876 to January 1882. An immigrant from New Hampshire, Pillsbury made a fortune in the grain milling business, in the company that still carries his name. He also had a strong commitment to  public life. Serving in the state senate from St. Anthony, Pillsbury was a major force in the establishment of the University of Minnesota. As governor he championed accountable and efficient government and struggled to find a humane response to the grasshopper plague that devastated thousands of farms in Western and West Central Minnesota. That response included opening his own purse. Pillsbury remained a widely admired public figure until his death in 1901 at the age of 74.

Direct download: 20210405_motg_pillsbury_mp3versopm_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01pm CST

Possessing little more than a drive to be a success, 21-year-old Lucius F. Hubbard reached Red Wing in spring 1857. Unimposing in size and stature, the clean-shaven, boyish New York-born newcomer appeared a long shot to make it on the rugged Minnesota frontier. But by age 30, Hubbard was a celebrated American Civil War hero, rising from the rank of private in the Fifth Minnesota infantry to brevet Brigadier General, a thrice-wounded combat leader, and recognized hero in battles at Corinth and Nashville.

Lucius Hubbard returned to Minnesota as the King Wheat Era blossomed, becoming a grain merchant and mill owner before shifting to the state’s booming railroad industry where he found more financial success. He was elected to the state senate in 1872 where he emerged as a Republican party leader. Voters elected Hubbard governor in 1881 by a wide margin and then gave him a second term in 1883.

To learn more about Lucius Hubbard, including photos, see the brief MNopedia article, https://www.mnopedia.org/person/hubbard-lucius-f-1836-1913

Direct download: 20210405_motg_hubbard_mp3_version_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:17pm CST

Minnesota’s seventh governor, Cushman Davis, served only one term from 1874 to 1876 during which most of the state recovered from the Panic of 1873. Highlights of his time in office include amending the state’s constitution to allow women to vote in school board elections and serve on the boards; establishing (and a year later abolishing) a railroad regulatory commission; and providing limited state assistance to farmers affected by the grasshopper plague. A prominent St. Paul attorney, Davis is most remembered today as a US Senator representing the state in Washington, DC, from 1887 until his death in 1900. 

Direct download: 20210313_motg_davis_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:35pm CST

The US Dakota War of 1862 was a unique event in Minnesota history. In his recent book, Massacre in Minnesota, the eminent historian Gary Clayton Anderson calls it “the most violent ethnic conflict in American history.” It was a calamity that we Minnesotans are still trying to deal with today. One of the remarkable things about it is that all six of Minnesota’s first governors participated in it: Alexander Ramsey as sitting governor and the five others as army officers or emergency volunteers. To discuss the actions of these governors, we assembled a panel: Sydney Beane, a professor and filmmaker with family connections to both sides of the war; Mary Lethert Wingerd, history professor emerita at St. Cloud State University and author of North County: The Making of Minnesota—a state history that ends with the 1862 war; and Rebekah Coffman, director of historical programming for the City of Plymouth and a descendant of German immigrant farmers caught up in the conflict.

We encourage our listeners to further research the circumstances and events leading up to and following this war to better understand the context of these actions and their outcomes.

Direct download: RCHP-Governors_6-Dakota_War.v2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:33am CST

The second of four Minnesota governors from St. Peter, Horace Austin was the state’s first governor to directly confront the increased power of railroads, the state’s most powerful business force. Noted for being honest and straight forward, Austin succeeded in regulating their rates after being reelected in 1871 to a second term by promising to “Shake the railroads over hell”. Minnesota’s growth and prosperity during his administration was marred only near its’ end by the western Minnesota grasshopper plague and the Panic of 1873. A lawyer, Austin’s political career began as a judge after his service as a captain in the mounted rangers’ unit in the Dakota War.

To learn more about the US Dakota War and Austin’s involvement in it, Ramsey County Historical Society encourages our listeners to further research the circumstances and events leading up to and following this war to better understand the context and the outcomes.

Direct download: 20210404_motg_austin_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:43am CST

William Rainey Marshall could be said to occupy a prominent place in Minnesota’s list of founding fathers. He played a leading role in many of the seminal events that shaped the state's early history. A strong opponent of slavery, he chaired the founding meeting of Minnesota’s Republican Party. He was an officer in the military expedition against the Dakota. He served with valor as commanding officer of the Minnesota’s 7th Regiment during the Civil War and was elected governor in November 1865 and reelected in 1867.  According to contemporaries, he served with integrity and effectiveness and waged a contentious, but ultimately successful campaign for passage of a Black Suffrage amendment to Minnesota's state constitution.

To learn more about the US Dakota War and Marshall’s involvement in it, Ramsey County Historical Society encourages our listeners to further research the circumstances and events leading up to and following this war to better understand the context and the outcomes.

Direct download: 20210405_motg_marshall_mp3_version_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:56am CST

Stephen Miller moved to Minnesota in middle age from Pennsylvania, several years after his friend Alexander Ramsey had moved to the state. He immediately involved himself in politics in St. Cloud. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was named lieutenant colonel of the First Minnesota Regiment. He distinguished himself in battle and upon returning to Minnesota, supervised the imprisonment of 303 Dakota men and the execution of thirty-eight who were condemned for their part in the US-Dakota War of 1862. With Ramsey’s support, he was elected governor in 1864.

To learn more about the US Dakota War and Miller’s involvement in it, Ramsey County Historical Society encourages our listeners to further research the circumstances and events leading up to and following this war to better understand the context and the outcomes.

The “March of the Governors” podcast series provides brief snapshots of Minnesota’s governors during their terms in office. As you might imagine, there’s far more to each of their stories, both positive and negative. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and we hope you will be inspired to learn more.

Direct download: 20210404_motg_miller_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:25pm CST

May 2021: March of the Governors #3 - Henry Swift

Henry Swift came to Minnesota from Ohio as a young man, eventually settling in St. Peter. He was elected to the state senate and saw combat in the US-Dakota War of 1862 at the Battles of New Ulm. The next year, because of Lieutenant Governor Ignatius Donnelly’s election to the US House of Representatives and Governor Alexander Ramsey’s election to the US Senate, Swift was quickly elevated to the governorship from his position as president pro tempore of the Minnesota Senate. He served the remainder of Ramsey’s original term but declined to run for election on his own.

To learn more about the US Dakota War and Swift’s involvement in it, Ramsey County Historical Society encourages our listeners to further research the circumstances and events leading up to and following this war to better understand the context and the outcomes.

Direct download: 20210405_motg_swift_mp3_version_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:57pm CST

Alexander Ramsey did not have it easy. He was orphaned at age 10 and worked as a store clerk and a carpenter before finding his vocation in politics. He served two terms in Congress from Pennsylvania and for his service to the Whig Party was rewarded, if you call it that, with being sent to a cold place with hardly any people -- Minnesota. But he took to it, first as territorial governor (1849), then succeeding his rival Henry Sibley to become our second state governor. But his three years in office were nothing but crisis -- Depression, war, and war. The defining event of his administration was the Dakota War of 1862, something that has darkened Ramsey’s reputation forever. There’s no evidence that Ramsey ever had sympathy for Minnesota’s native people. He left the governorship in 1863 to become a U.S. senator.  

The “March of the Governors” podcast series provides brief snapshots of Minnesota’s governors during their terms in office. As you might imagine, there’s far more to each of their stories, both positive and negative. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and we hope you will be inspired to learn more.

Direct download: 20210405_motg_ramsey_mp3version_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:20pm CST

This is the first in a new series of podcasts. We call it March of the Governors because we will examine the lives and careers of governors of the state of Minnesota, one by one. We start with our first state governor, Henry Sibley, governor 1858 to 1860.

Direct download: 20210405_motg_sibly_mp3_version_for_posting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:48am CST

The International Institute of Minnesota opened its doors, in St. Paul, in December of 1919, to serve the needs of recent immigrants and refugees. One hundred years later the world has changed, but the International Institute is still in St. Paul, still doing the same work. 

In this episode we interview Krista Hanson, author of the lead article in the spring 2019 edition of Ramsey County History magazine. The title of her article is "The Centennial of the International Institute of Minnesota."

Direct download: Ramsey_County_History_Podcast_013.1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:58pm CST

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Minnesota led the nation in reform and modernization of the treatment of the mentally ill. But it didn't last. Author Susan Bartlett Foote has told the story, a story at the same time inspiring and disheartening, in her new book, Crusade for Forgotten Souls. She brings to life some heroic and nearly forgotten people: the amazing mental health worker Engla Shey, the clergyman Arthur Foote, and the crusading governor, Luther Youngdahl. 

Direct download: Ramsey20County20History20Podcast20012.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:58pm CST

Ramsey County Historical Society and TPT (Twin Cities Public Television) have collaborated in the production of a new documentary film, North Star: Civil War Stories, about Minnesotans of African heritage who served in the Civil War. At the premiere screening, filmmaker Daniel Bergin ande historian Bill Green discussed the project.

Direct download: Ramsey20County20History20Podcast20011.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:24pm CST

No one knows more about subterranean St. Paul -- the caves beneath our feet -- than geologist and author Greg Brick. In his new book, Minnesota Caves: History and Lore, Brick describes the many caves, both natural and human-made, under St. Paul -- their legends, their lore, and their reality.

Direct download: Ramsey20County20History20Podcast20010.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:48pm CST

The Gibbs Farm museum preserves remnants of both native and pioneer life from the mid-19th century, right in the middle of a densely populated urban environment. There you can find farm buildings from the Gibbs family, an archeological site, re-creations of a sod hut, native tipi and long house, native prairie and an early orchard, and a one-room school house.

Direct download: Ramsey_County_History_Podcast_009.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:24pm CST

The Euro-American phase of Minnesota history begins with Fort Snelling, starting in 1820. The fort's busiest period was 1861-1865 -- the Civil War and the Dakota Conflict. All of the soldiers headed south to fight for the Union, and west to fight the Dakota, passed through the fort. And over a thousand displaced Dakota were interned there too. Steve Osman's new book, Fort Snelling and the Civil War -- published by the Ramsey County Historical Society -- is full of stories you've never heard before. 

Direct download: Ramsey20County20History20Podcast20008.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:46pm CST

For almost a century the Ford Motor Company built vehicles in St. Paul, first on University Avenue, and from 1925 onward in Highland Park. Architect and historian Brian McMahon has now published a book telling the story of Ford in St. Paul, The Ford Century. And for the Fall 2016 issue of Ramsey County History magazine McMahon has written an article about the Highland Park factory's defense production during World War II. We talked with Brian McMahon about both themes.

Direct download: Ramsey20County20History20Podcast20007.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:57pm CST

Harriet Bishop is the only well-known woman among St. Paul's early settlers. In fact, she may be the best-known of all. She was Minnesota's first schoolteacher, yes, but what else do we know about her? Minnesota's leading historian, Professor Mary Wingerd, brings us closer to the real Harriet Bishop -- writer, land speculator, jilted bride, divorcee -- a person far more interesting than our image of her as virtuous schoolmarm.

Direct download: Ramsey_County_History_Podcast_006.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:49pm CST

He was sometimes known as "mayor for life." George Latimer served as mayor of St. Paul from 1976 to 1990, the longest consecutive term in St. Paul history. A lot happened ob his watch: the Town Square and Lowertown developments, the Dutch elm plague; the departure of big employers like Whirlpool and Amhoist; a population decline of 40,000, and plenty more. Throughout it all Mr. Latimer remained very popular; he is still popular today. In this interview you will hear some of the reason why: there is lots of laughter.

Direct download: Ramsey_County_History_Podcast_005.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:07pm CST

For more than a century pioneer legislator Joe Rolette has been credit for preventing the Minnesota state capital from being moved from St. Paul to St. Peter. The story has been repeated countless times. But, Is it true?

In this episode Minnesota historian William Lass makes the case that the popular story is folklore, not history.  

Direct download: Ramsey20County20History20Podcast20004.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:06am CST

What can an anti-Nazi writer and intellectual, exiled in the United States, do for his beloved Germany? Over 70 years ago Prince Hubertus zu Lowenstein visited St. Paul and met Hamline University student John Larson. A lifelong friendship and flood of letters ensued. John Larson has now assembled some of these letters, from World War II and after, into a book entitled The German Friend. We interviewed Mr. Larson at his home on Taylors Falls.

The Minnesota Historical Society has created a new venture called MNopedia: short-form articles of state history -- including several Ramsey County stories -- in an on-line encyclopedia. We interviewed MNopedia's then-editor, Molly Huber.

Direct download: Ramsey_County_History_Podcast_003.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:50pm CST

Edward Phelan was one of St. Paul's very first settlers. Was he also a murderer? In September 1839 the body of Phelan's cabin-mate, John Hays, was found floating in the Mississippi River. He had been beaten to death. Phelan was charged with the crime, but not convicted. Now, 170 years later, St. Paul author Gary Brueggemann believes he has solved the case. He tells the tale in his new book, Minnesota's Oldest Murder Mystery. We met with Gary Brueggemann at Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul.

 

Swede Hollow is a ravine on St. Paul's east side, and for a hundred years -- 1850s to 1950s -- a receptor neighborhood for recent immigrants. Swedes first, then Italians, then Mexican-Americans. St. Paul historian Steve Trimble edited the Swede Hollow memoirs of Michael Sanchelli for the Spring 2014 issue of Ramsey County History magazine. Steve Trimble joined us to talk about life in old Swede Hollow. 

Direct download: Ramsey_County_History_Podcast_002.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:17pm CST

John Milton tells the story of how citizen opposition delayed for many years to completion of Interstate Highway 35 through St. Paul.

Labor historian Peter Rachleff describes how he and his partner Beth Cleary plan to convert the closed Arlington Hills public library into the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul.

Direct download: Ramsey_County_HIstory_Podcast_001.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:35pm CST

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