Episodes
-
Between 2 Urns - Alan Howell
Alan Howell Episode 1's guest is St. Paul resident, Alan Howell. Alan brings more than 25 years of aviation design experience—and a decade of diverse creative work—to his role as Senior Airport Architect with the Metropolitan Airports Commission. Guided by a vision to create exceptional airport...
-
March of the Governors #40 Mark Dayton
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...
-
March of the Governors #39 Tim Pawlenty
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...
-
March of the Governors #38 Jesse Ventura
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%…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #37: Arne Carlson
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #36: Rudy Perpich 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...
-
Ramsey County History - Little Women, Little Houses, Lots of Work, (and a Little Play)
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #35: Albert Harold Quie
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #34: Rudy Perpich
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #33: Wendell Anderson
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #32: Harold Levander
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #31: Karl Fritjof Rolvaag
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #30: Elmer L. Andersen
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #29: Orville Lothrop Freeman
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #28: C. Elmer Anderson
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...
-
March of the Governors Special Edition: Billy Williams
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #27: Luther Youngdahl
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #26: Edward John Thye
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #25: Harold Stassen
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…
more -
March of the Governors #26: The Farmer-Labor Party
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.…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor # 24, Elmer Benson
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #23: Hjalmar Petersen
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #22: Floyd B. Olson
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #21: Theodore Christianson
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #20: Jacob A. O. Preus
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #19: Joseph Alfred Arner Burnquist
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #18: Winfield Scott Hammond
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #17: Adolph Olson Eberhart
(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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #16: John A. Johnson
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #15: Samuel Van Sant
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #14: John Lind
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #13: David Marston Clough
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #12: Knute Nelson
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #11: William Merriam
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #10: Andrew McGill
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #8: John Pillsbury
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.…
more -
The March of Governors, Governor #9: Lucius F. Hubbard
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...
-
The March of Governors, Governor #7: Cushman Davis
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;...
-
March of the Governors, Special Edition: The U.S. Dakota War of 1862
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...
-
The March of Governors, Governor #6: Horace Austin
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #5: William Rainey Marshall
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.…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #4: Stephen Miller
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....
-
March of the Governors, Governor #3 - Henry Swift
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...
-
March of the Governors, Governor #2: Alexander Ramsey
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…
more -
March of the Governors, Governor #1: Henry Sibley
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.
-
Podcast Spring 2019: International Institute with Krista Finstad Hanson
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...
-
Podcast Winter 2018: Crusade for Forgotten Souls with Susan Bartlett Foote
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...
-
Podcast Spring 2018: North Star Civil War Stories with Daniel Bergin
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…
more -
Podcast Spring 2018: Minnesota Caves with Greg Brick
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.
-
Podcast Fall 2017: Gibbs Farm
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,...
About this show
The podcast that highlights the history of St. Paul and Ramsey County Minnesota and keeps you up to date on the work of the Ramsey County Historical Society.
Hosted by
Paul Nelson
Categories