On This Date in Minnesota History: August 10

August 10, 1932 – “The last streetcar in Stillwater arrives at the Union Depot where it is decorated with black crepe. Led by the city band playing a funeral tune, it then proceeds to Main and Chestnut Streets where first Stillwater streetcar motorman Jerry Hagerty is presented with a large spray of flowers. With 50 Stillwater residents on board, the streetcar proceeds on its final trip to St. Paul. On the way, it stops at the Wildwood station where it is serenaded by the White Bear band playing several songs, ending with all bystanders joining in on the chorus of ‘Goodbye Forever.’ The streetcar’s arrival in St. Paul marks the end of the light rail service in Stillwater.”
http://projects.wchsmn.org/reference/events/last-streetcar-stillwater/

On This Date in Minnesota History: August 9

August 9, 1842 - “The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed [on this date], settled the Canadian-American boundary from the Atlantic to the Lake of the Woods. The St. Louis River was retained for the United States.”
Carroll, Francis M.; Crossroads in Time; The Carlton County Historical Society (Cloquet, Minn.,1987); page 37.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=webster-ashburton+treaty&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1166&bih=555&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=qI5Un1Qu0rx7gM:&imgrefurl=http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx%3Fid%3D248013&docid=ZM-3aJJTXLgcTM&imgurl=http://xtimeline.s3.amazonaws.com/Upload/Use200808210837236843755/Elt200903251647085095148.gif&w=630&h=450&ei=Hh4jUJLcF4XOyAH-64DQCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=320&vpy=2&dur=68&hovh=190&hovw=266&tx=146&ty=111&sig=103980965267227324745&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=192&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:108

On This Date in Minnesota History: August 8

August 8, 2009 – While in Beijing for the 2009 Summer Olympics, Todd Bachman, CEO of Bachman’s, “an institution in the Twin Cities gardening community,”¹ was stabbed to death  and his wife Barbara seriously injured by a Chinese man wielding a knife. Bachman’s son-in-law Hugh McCutcheon was the U.S. men's volleyball coach, and the family, including Bachman’s daughter Elizabeth Bachman McCutcheon, were there to support the team. “A female Chinese tour guide also was wounded in the attack, which happened around noon at the Drum Tower, a popular tourist site, China's official news agency, Xinhua, reported.”<sup>2

1</sup>http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/09/olympics_stabbing/
²http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/olympics.murder/index.html

Todd Bachman

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/video-american-tourist-killed-china-0

On This Date in Minnesota History: August 7

August 7, 1907 – Winona appears to be the greatest sufferer following 24 hours of severe electrical storms that passed through parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Bridges were ruined by the storm, “cars were blown from the tracks, and near Kiester, Minn., it was reported that a herd of fifty cattle was lifted bodily from the ground and carried into an adjoining pasture.”

Tower Weekly News; “Havoc is Caused by Fierce Storm, Wind and Hail Causes Great Damage in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Grain Pounded Into Earth”; August 9, 1907; p. 3.

On This Date in Minnesota History: August 6

August 6, 1996 – The first suicide by jumping out a window of the IDS Center into the Crystal Court took place on this date. A 32-year-old man walked into the offices of American Express on the 31^st floor of the IDS around 11 a.m., then walked down a stairwell to the 30^th floor, where he threw a 10-lb weight through a window overlooking the Crystal Court.

American Express employees tried to talk the man out of jumping; however, as soon police officers entered the room, the man jumped, crashing through the shopping court’s windows and into the courtyard area, right next to The Gap store.

Saint Paul Pioneer Press; “Man warns passers-by to clear area before fatal leap from IDS”; August 7, 1996; pp. 1A & 8A.

IDS Center Crystal Court

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain August 6, 2012, as long as acknowledgement included.  

IDS Center

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain August 6, 2012, as long as acknowledgement included.  

On This Date in Minnesota History: August 5

August 5, 1945 – “By the end of the Second World War some 400,000 German, Italian and Japanese POWs found themselves imprisoned in the United States. Those German and Italian POWs held in over 500 camps across the U.S. were sent out to harvest and process crops, build roads and waterways, fell trees, roof barns, etc. In the process, they formed significant, often decades long friendships with ‘the enemy’ and underwent considerable changes as individuals and as a group—thus fundamentally influencing post-war German values and institutions, as well as American-German relations. Many even emigrated to the U.S. after the war. From 1943-46 Camp Algona in Iowa and it’s (sic) 34 branch camps in Iowa, Minnesota and both Dakotas housed up to 10,000 German POWs.”

On this this date, the Minnesota branch camps held the following number of POWs:

             1 Moorhead/Minnesota                    85 men

                                2 Fairmont/Minnesota                    508 men

                                4 Bena/Minnesota                         145 men

                                5 Owatonna/Minnesota                  207 men

                                6 Deer River/Minnesota                  165 men

                                7 New Ulm/Minnesota                    318 men

                                8 Montgomery/Minnesota               633 men

                                9 Faribault/Minnesota                    366 men

                                10 St. Charles/Minnesota               304 men

                                11 Ortonville/Minnesota                 110 men

                                12 Wells/Minnesota                       311 men

              
 http://www.traces.org/germanpows.html

On This Date in Minnesota History: August 4

August 4, 1854 – “Congress approved legislation guaranteeing preemption for Minnesota settlers squatting on lands that had not been surveyed. This act, sponsored by delegate Henry H. Sibley, allowed settlers to purchase their land after the fact of settlement.”
http://www.thehistorypeople.com/data/docs/timeline-part1.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Hastings_Sibley2.jpg