I can save Target Corporate a lot of training headaches. Speaking for all lifelong Upper Midwesterners of Scandinavian descent, we do not want any employees smiling at us, asking us about our day, or approaching us in any way, unless we're having some kind of medical emergency.

#OnThisDay Nov 8, 1898: The Kensington Runestone is "discovered" on Olof Ohman's farm near Alexandria, Minnesota. Its engravings tell of Vikings who traveled here in 1362. Scholarly consensus classifies it as a hoax, but there remain true believers convinced the stone is authentic.

#OnThisDay Nov 8, 1926: A crowd of 15,000 attends as the governor cuts the ribbon on the new Mendota Bridge. Designed by famed engineer C. A. P. Turner, at the time it was the longest concrete arch span in the world. The old Mendota Ferry, operating since 1839, ended service the next day.

Large multi-agency response at the staircase leading down to East River Flats. Presence of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and no Fire/Rescue indicates... not good things.

#OnThisDay Nov 7, 1938: Majorettes distribute flowers and release pigeons to celebrate new equipment on the Milwaukee Road's "Twin Cities Hiawatha." The streamlined passenger cars with unique "Beaver Tail" end design were pulled by the new F7 steam locomotives, among the fastest in the world.

#OnThisDay Nov 7, 1885: The Canadian Pacific Railway steamer "Algoma" runs aground and breaks in two during a blinding snowstorm just north of Isle Royal. 46 passengers and crew die in what remains the largest single loss of life in the history of @lakesuperior.bsky.social shipping.

"You wouldn't treat me this way if I weren't in this chair!" "But y'are Blanche, Y'ARE in that chair."

#OnThisDay Nov 6, 1887: Virginia Street Swedborgian Church is dedicated in St. Paul. It was designed by architect Cass Gilbert when he was 37 years old and in the "house building" phase of his career. The 1922 east addition was designed by St. Paul’s second-most-famous architect, Clarence Johnson.

Somebody call Bill McGuire and get this done.

The most loved building in St Paul happens to sit just across the street from the most hated.

The further away green one is among my favorite church buildings in the Twin Cities: St Agnes. Begun 1897 and finished 1909, it's modeled on Schlägl Abbey in Upper Austria - a style that would've been familiar to Central European immigrants working at the nearby Great Northern Railway shops.

The Brentwood, 1930 and 1975.

"We boast more theater per capita than the Big Apple. We go to see, not to be seen. We go even when we must shovel 10" of snow from the driveway to get there. Our flair for style is balanced by a healthy respect for wind chill factors. And we always, always eat our vegetables." - Minneapple 1981

The opinion sections of major newspapers have responded to Zohran Mamdani's campaign in the same way that a group of terrified, purse-clutching suburbanites visiting NYC might respond if you asked them to ride the subway to try some Indian food in Jackson Heights. www.cjr.org/analysis/leg...

#OnThisDay 1940: Kathryn Fitzsimmons demonstrates the new mechanical voting machine at Minneapolis City Hall.

East Bank core @eastbankmpls.bsky.social

The @wedge.live Emergency Election Eve Eve Bike Ride™ feat DJ @deveric.net and @ehbinmn.bsky.social was a SMASH HIT! Lots of fun and familiar folks @taylordahlin.com @walkingminnesota.com @locallhuman.bsky.social @patiomensch.bsky.social @joyfulridersclub.bsky.social @perennialcycle.bsky.social

#OnThisDay Nov 3, 1935: Loring Park caretaker Al Holland warms up one of the park's famous swans on a cold day.

#OnThisDay Nov 2, 1943: Operator at the Division Office of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in Seligman AZ. Master clocks on the wall accurately synchronize time on the railroad using telegraph signals. During World War II the nation is on permanent Daylight Saving Time, called "War Time."

Happy end of Daylight Saving Time, to all those who celebrate.

#OnThisDay 1947: Sensational faith healer Avak Hagopian arrives at Minneapolis Station aboard an 11-car special train with 150 followers on a nationwide tour. Declaring Minneapolis "a beautiful city," Hagopian never leaves the train in the 2 hours he's here. "It is much too early for sightseeing"

Fantastic! This put me in mind of one of Roger Puta's most stunning photographs. "Operator at White Heath, Ill. handing up train orders addressed to Illinois Central freight which is Champaign bound, May 6, 1966."

Green Line today 🙄

Sorry friends but it has to be done: #OnThisDay 1991: The infamous Halloween Blizzard begins. The first flakes begin falling at 11:30am, and over next 72 hours 28.4" of snow snarls the Twin Cities. It remains the state's largest recorded snowfall in a single storm.

1940: Shop workers of the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul & Pacific railroad pose for a group photo in front of engine no. 8012 on the turntable at La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Standing room only at Signature Arts in Prospect Park as @peterwagenius.bsky.social introduces the next mayor of Minneapolis, @dewayneforminneapolis.com. A lovely evening with friends and neighbors out to meet a fantastic candidate.

#OnThisDay Oct 29, 1897: Reconstruction begins on the lower St. Anthony dam, which had washed out in a storm 6 months earlier while being built. The project finally finishes at the end of 1897, the innovative attached hydro station generating electricity for the rapidly expanding streetcar system.

April 26, 1942: The Reichstag holds its last session, unanimously passing a decree making the Führer "Supreme Judge of the German People." Any last privileges of the parliament were removed as Hitler became final decision-maker in all matters, including life and death over every German citizen.

In a city that's already 22% green space, just about the last thing Saint Paul needs is adding another 5 acres that doesn't pay any taxes.

The Palmer's Bar logo is just one more coat of paint away from disappearing forever.

Maybe I'm in a unique cohort, but most of my Minnesota friends are extremely well travelled, many have lived and worked in other countries, and all of them embrace different cultures. I just don't accept this meme that people here are any more provincial than humans anywhere else.

#OnThisDay Oct 28, 1949: President Harry S. Truman appoints Eugenie Anderson of Red Wing, Minnesota, as ambassador to Denmark, the first American woman to hold the rank. Anderson was a trailblazer for women in international diplomacy during the post-World War II era.

#OnThisDay Oct 28, 1947: A flag-draped casket bearing the body of Marine Private Adolph W. Greenfield arrives at Minneapolis Milwaukee Road station, marking the beginning of the "Return of the Dead" program to bring home the remains of service members buried in temporary overseas cemeteries in WWII

On the Green Line. What is this fantastic hat logo, some sort of LGBTQ+ basketball mining operation?

#OnThisDay Oct 27, 1950: Employee Dolores Hoss and commanding officer Colonel Ed Miller look over .30 caliber ammunition coming off the 1st production line at Twin Cities Ordnance Plant. Closed since the end of World War II and converted to a school, the huge plant was reactivated for the Korean War

#OnThisDay Oct 27, 1935: Hollywood Theater, "incomparable showplace of the northwest" located in Northeast Minneapolis, opens with the film "Woman Wanted." Designed in Streamline Moderne style by architects Liebenberg & Kaplan, it has since been converted into a popular events center.

#OnThisDay Oct 27, 1958: The Minneapolis & St Louis Railway's "Banco Special" departs Great Northern Depot for Aberdeen, South Dakota. An annual event for Northwest Bancorporation managers headquartered in Minneapolis, note the armored car behind EMD F3 engine No. 405.

#OnThisDay Oct 27, 1849: The Territorial Legislature creates the original 9 counties of Minnesota: Dakota, Itasca, Ramsey, Benton, Wabashaw, Washington, Wahnahta, Pembina, Mahkahta. They would soon be further divided and the latter 3 names no longer appear on a map.

sexy beaux-arts cathedral

The @wedge.live Emergency Bike Ride for Justice™ featuring @taylordahlin.com and @ehbforbet.bsky.social was a smash success. Here we've stopped under the Hennepin Avenue Bridge to debate the virtues of Ranked Choice Voting. Nerds.

My next door neighbor received a lovely Bird Buddy™ feeder as a gift from her son and today the cam caught this neighborhood resident.

Picture it: you live in Minneapolis and are enjoying a postcard-perfect fall day riding on our network of over 100 miles of trails and curb-protected bikeways.

#OnThisDay Oct 26, 1960: Calvin Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators, gets permission to move his baseball club to the Twin Cities. The team is renamed Minnesota Twins and their new logo features “Minnie” and “Paul” shaking hands across the Mississippi River. The first game occurs in 1961.

#OnThisDay Oct 25, 1899: After 10 years of delays, the first train reaches Sargent, Nebraska. Construction of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was a significant event for the small community.

we lost paul and sheila wellstone 23 years ago today. can never forget how bleak it felt to receive this news in my high school classroom, less than 2 weeks before the election. 10th graders knew how bad it would be that he was gone, because he had voted no against war in iraq

#OnThisDay Oct 24, 1961: Crowds pack the platform at Milwaukee Road depot in Madison WI as the 32nd Infantry Division departs for Fort Lewis WA during the Berlin Crisis. 10,000 Wisconsin Guardsmen were activated for potential deployment to Europe in the last major incident of the Cold War.

Who did it better? 1940 vs 2025 h/t @discosaurus.bsky.social

#OnThisDay Oct 24, 1861: The world's 1st transcontinental telegraph line is completed between existing networks east of the Mississippi River to California via Omaha and Salt Lake City. The astonishing speed of new communication made the Pony Express obsolete, which officially ended 2 years later.

#OnThisDay Oct 24, 1945: Landing Ship Medium USS LSM-109 docks at Minneapolis Riverside Park in preparation for Navy Day celebrations. It remains until Nov 2 to stimulate war bond sales. In the background is the Franklin Avenue Bridge, before it was modified with fewer vertical support columns.

Besides the 1,000 laid off at Target, I'm sorry for any downtown shop or restaurant owners who made business decisions based on this theater that took place *checks notes* six weeks ago