First Look Upon Arriving
Our last day of sightseeing was Friday, September 21st. We chose to go about 10 miles east, crossing to the east bank of the Mississippi River, to visit the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul, the twin city to Minneapolis. We had anticipated a small modest building like the local visitor center of most towns and then we would possibly head on the the Science Museum. We were blown away by the extent and content of the Minnesota History Center. The building was huge and we learned it contained not only the museum, our destination, but it also housed the headquarters of the Minnesota Historical Society, a library, archives, and event rooms for meetings, weddings, etc. It is considered one of Minnesota's finest public buildings.
Our last day of sightseeing was Friday, September 21st. We chose to go about 10 miles east, crossing to the east bank of the Mississippi River, to visit the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul, the twin city to Minneapolis. We had anticipated a small modest building like the local visitor center of most towns and then we would possibly head on the the Science Museum. We were blown away by the extent and content of the Minnesota History Center. The building was huge and we learned it contained not only the museum, our destination, but it also housed the headquarters of the Minnesota Historical Society, a library, archives, and event rooms for meetings, weddings, etc. It is considered one of Minnesota's finest public buildings.
We entered into a long hallway that took us up a wide, stone staircase where halfway up we were greeted by a larger than life, giant post card of Minnesota.
At the top of the staircase was a large domed area where a model of a Jenny aircraft was suspended, its cotton cloth outer covering removed to reveal the intricate wood and wire construction within. This is the plane of barnstorming fame. Charles Lindbergh took his first solo flight in a Jenny. Ninety-five percent of the United States and Canadian World War I pilots trained in Jennies.
From this central rotunda area stretched two long hallways housing various exhibits. In one direction were five exhibits: Minnesota's Greatest Generation, Weather Permitting, Then Now Wow, Open House: If These Walls Could Talk, and Grainland. An orthogonal hallway led to a traveling exhibit titled 1968.
Minnesota's Greatest Generation
This exhibit hall pays tribute to "the greatest generation", those who lived through the depression, World War II, and the baby boom afterward. Baby boomer is a term used to describe a person who was born between 1946 and 1964. Frank and I and our four traveling companions are considered baby boomers. The baby boomer generation represents nearly 20% of the American public.
Most of the displays in this exhibit hall were made from mementos and writings and recollections of folks of my parents' generation, making the history of the time quite personal. In one activity we boarded a C-47 simulator with a voice-over of a man who was a survivor of that D-Day mission. Others on that plane did not even make it off the plane if they were one of the later ones to parachute out. Another hands-on activity was loading WWII ammunition shells. One war effort that I was totally unaware of was contributions by conscientious objectors. Some volunteered for a semi-starvation study at the University of Minnesota to lend their bodies to the science of determining the effects of the malnutrition anticipated in war-ravaged countries.
We heard snippets from TV shows and commercials of the time and saw iconic signs, vehicles, and from a post-war era when prosperity was beginning to emerge. People began to travel and take vacations.
I took this next photo mostly because I thought the display mechanism was quite clever and creative. A dry cleaner's rotating rack was hung with clothes of a particular vintage and, on each intermittently hung dry cleaning bag, was a description of a particular aspect of the era. With a push of a button, a new bag with another topic came into view, front and center. This one in particular referred to bowling, our son Alex's favorite past time. The text on the bag stated.
Bowling was the perfect sport for the booming middle class of the 1950's – physically undemanding, indoors, and best of all fun and social. ... Unlike most other sports bowling was almost equally popular with men and women. ...The automatic pin setting machine was introduced in 1952, and bowling took off. By 1961 there were more than 10,000 bowing alleys in the United States.My dad, born in 1913, had worked as a manual pin setter when he was a young boy.
Across the hall from the greatest generation exhibit was Weather Permitting. This jolly snowman greeted visitors at the entrance.
This picture of the locals slipping and sliding along their sidewalks was an amusing back to a typical park or bus stop bench.
There was a strong focus on the cold and snow in this exhibit. I laughed that even the mannequins who demonstrated the different cold weather garbs, had blue skin tones.
- 1930's Dust Bowl
- Nov 11, 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard
- 1991 Halloween Blizzard
- 1997 Red River Flood,
- 1965 Tornadoes, 1965 Floods (Tie).
For details of these top six worst weather events see http://climateapps.dnr.state.mn.us/doc/journal/top5/top5.htm
Per the previous link,
One exhibit was dedicated to the experience of being in a tornado shelter during a tornado. Above the entrance to the "basement" was a representation of the havoc wreaked by a twister. With the eccentricity typical of tornadoes, an upright piano – that is no longer upright – lies adjacent to undisturbed towels hanging in the remnants of a bathroom. Once inside we listened to the sound of the tornado passing and a radio announcer commenting on the event in progress as lights flickered and walls "shook".
1968
1968 is a traveling exhibit that will continue to be at the Minnesota History Center though January 21, 2019. This collection was created by the Minnesota History Center, in partnership with the Atlanta History Center, the Chicago History Museum and the Oakland Museum of California. I was amazed at the depth of content of this exhibit while maintaining a high quality degree of concise summary and perspective. In the entry hallway, the year 1968 was encapsulated month by month with impressively simple but spot-on icons. A lot happened in one year! I have no commentary on the synopses for the months; each speaks for itself.
The largest items displayed in this exhibit were a helicopter and a space capsule. The effort put into the helicopter display blew me away. A poster by the helicopter stated
This is a replica of the Apollo 8 capsule that orbited the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. The astronauts sent back photos of earth as viewed from space and read from the book of Genesis. Space related videos were looping on the non-flat screen television nearby. My favorite part of being by the space capsule was talking to the other history center attendees. Talk of course drifted to landing on the moon in July of 1969. There was a camaraderie in exchanging our stories of "where were you when that happened". I remember being allowed to stay up late with my mom watching the TV real time. The story that made me chuckle the most was a man lamenting that he had been out on a date with a girl at the time and missed the whole thing. "And that girl is not even my wife now!"
There were many fascinating displays from the lighthearted – Barbie dolls, music groups such as the Beatles, record albums, TV shows and commercials, clothing, sports, to the more serious – politics, racial and sex discrimination protests, dissents, political speeches, rallies, assassinations, war. There is a less-than-one-minute YouTube Video of vignettes from the 1968 exhibit that gives a time capsule type feel for what was available for viewing and the various formats in which the topics were offered. What was thought-provokingly eerie was the comparison of a 50 year difference between 1968 and 2018. Here is a presentation of those side-by-side "then and now" posters on the way out of the exhibit. The topics included drug crisis, television, guns, women and activism, sports and protests, race and violence, movies, politics, America at war, and the economy
Then Now Wow
As I realize we have three more exhibits to visit, I acknowledge that my energy level and mental retention ability are flagging. The Then Now Wow exhibit advertises
Per the previous link,
On May 5th and 6th 1965, a violent outbreak of at least 12 tornadoes roared through Minnesota. Six twisters touched down in or close to the metro area. Particularly hard hit was Fridley, with two of the tornadoes crossing the city. In all, 14 people died due to the storms. The event has been called the greatest weather disaster in Twin Cities history.
One exhibit was dedicated to the experience of being in a tornado shelter during a tornado. Above the entrance to the "basement" was a representation of the havoc wreaked by a twister. With the eccentricity typical of tornadoes, an upright piano – that is no longer upright – lies adjacent to undisturbed towels hanging in the remnants of a bathroom. Once inside we listened to the sound of the tornado passing and a radio announcer commenting on the event in progress as lights flickered and walls "shook".
On a lighter more festive note, here is a model of an ice-palace built for the annual winter carnival in St. Paul. To date, the St. Paul Winter Carnival has built 37 Ice Palaces, all of different shapes and sizes. The first was in 1886. I believe the model is for 1986.
This 1986 Palace was built for the 100th Anniversary of the Winter Carnival. It was the tallest of Ice Palace built to this time. It was the first palace illuminated by a computerized lighting system.
1968 is a traveling exhibit that will continue to be at the Minnesota History Center though January 21, 2019. This collection was created by the Minnesota History Center, in partnership with the Atlanta History Center, the Chicago History Museum and the Oakland Museum of California. I was amazed at the depth of content of this exhibit while maintaining a high quality degree of concise summary and perspective. In the entry hallway, the year 1968 was encapsulated month by month with impressively simple but spot-on icons. A lot happened in one year! I have no commentary on the synopses for the months; each speaks for itself.
The largest items displayed in this exhibit were a helicopter and a space capsule. The effort put into the helicopter display blew me away. A poster by the helicopter stated
Is this a real helicopter?
This is an actual UH-1H helicopter – usually called a “Huey” – used by the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1967 through 1970. Huey #66-01008 was manufactured by Bell Helicopters in 1966. The Minnesota Historical Society purchased it as a collection of scrap parts from Northwest Helicopter Service in Olympia, Washington, in October 2010. It had been restored by a group of more than 20 volunteers, many of whom are Vietnam veterans with decades of experience in flying and maintaining Army helicopters. Working with MHS technicians, these aviation enthusiasts poured several thousand hours of time into repurposing this Huey to be disassembled for shipping and reassembled for display.
This is a replica of the Apollo 8 capsule that orbited the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. The astronauts sent back photos of earth as viewed from space and read from the book of Genesis. Space related videos were looping on the non-flat screen television nearby. My favorite part of being by the space capsule was talking to the other history center attendees. Talk of course drifted to landing on the moon in July of 1969. There was a camaraderie in exchanging our stories of "where were you when that happened". I remember being allowed to stay up late with my mom watching the TV real time. The story that made me chuckle the most was a man lamenting that he had been out on a date with a girl at the time and missed the whole thing. "And that girl is not even my wife now!"
There were many fascinating displays from the lighthearted – Barbie dolls, music groups such as the Beatles, record albums, TV shows and commercials, clothing, sports, to the more serious – politics, racial and sex discrimination protests, dissents, political speeches, rallies, assassinations, war. There is a less-than-one-minute YouTube Video of vignettes from the 1968 exhibit that gives a time capsule type feel for what was available for viewing and the various formats in which the topics were offered. What was thought-provokingly eerie was the comparison of a 50 year difference between 1968 and 2018. Here is a presentation of those side-by-side "then and now" posters on the way out of the exhibit. The topics included drug crisis, television, guns, women and activism, sports and protests, race and violence, movies, politics, America at war, and the economy
As I realize we have three more exhibits to visit, I acknowledge that my energy level and mental retention ability are flagging. The Then Now Wow exhibit advertises
Blast for iron ore, crawl into a tipi, plow a field, visit a sod home, board a street car, trade at the fur post, sing in a box car, discover all the parts of a buffalo, and so much more in this action-packed exhibit. Fun for kids of all ages!Really? I think I will do some of that but not all. I did a perfunctory walk through a dark winding tunnel but skipped the hands on blasting portions. I sat for a couple minutes in a tipi and watched a video on Native Americans. Yes, there was a sod house but I walked by it. Board a street car? I'd done the real thing on Sunday. I did not trade at a fur post and I only discovered a few parts of the buffalo but I did sing in a box car.
What I did like in this area were the vinyl insets in the floor in the various sections that made one aware of what part of Minnesota he was studying. A silhouette of the state in white against a background of gold had turquoise areas highlighted to indicate where the visitor was in the context of the displays and activities. These next two vinyl insets were for the timber area up north where lumbering occurred, Northwoods, and the Twin Cities where the grain milling was king. I felt we were exposed to a lot of information about those two occupations on our trip to the Mill City Museum on Wednesday, September 19th (blog post dated October 20, 2018) so I skimmed through those aspects.
I did learn that iron mines and taconite (a low-grade iron ore) were in the middle of the Northwoods area too, hence the presence of the mining tunnel walk-thru model.
Next were the more southern and western parts of the state that had a strong native American influence, the Dakota Homelands and the Prairie.
I did not entirely dissect this buffalo but I was brave enough to lift the side flap and look inside.
Being an MIT graduate and sporting my class ring of a beaver – known by undergraduates, graduates, and alumni as a Brass Rat – I could not pass by the beaver exhibit. Why is the beaver on the MIT class ring? Because, "The beaver is the engineer of the animal world". Proud graduates tongue in cheek also proclaim "The MIT engineer is the animal of the engineering world." My class ring is from 1975 and has the great dome on the side shanks. After 1990 the side shanks have the Cambridge and Boston skylines instead. A history of the MIT ring in Wikipedia notes this change in design.
So here I present a beaver, the engineer of the animal world.
This is a hat made from a beaver pelt and the hat's carrying case. The caption of the photo reads
A fine beaver hat was a fashion statement for wealthy Europeans and Americans from about 1600 until the 1840s. The word “beaver” came to describe the hat as well as the animal. By the 1850s, silk hats replaced the beavers as the most fashionable topper.
The final floor plate represented more of a rail interface rather than a special region of Minnesota.
Once inside this box car, I watched a video of traveling the line through the different cities and viewed the scenery that passed by the train window on the way. It was presented with a background song being sung in a jingle type rhythm so as the better to be remembered. It was enjoyable both visually and audibly.
The far end of the box car was marked with the fill level lines for each of the grains, barley, corn, and wheat.
Outside the boxcar was a display advertising, "Travel around Minnesota. See huge stuff!" I am not sure if Minnesota is unique in having so many large roadside icons, but there sure seemed to be quite a number.
I was curious so I looked up the links for each. They are all listed in Roadside America. I noted that Rocky Taconite (no. 6) is located in the heart of the iron ore part of the state. The Dala Horse (no.9) is reminiscent of Swedish wood carved horses but it was located about an hour's drive north of the American Swedish Institute where we visited on Tuesday, September 18th (blog post dated 10/17/18) so we did not see it. The snowman (no.11) was within a 25 minute driving distance and perhaps had we known earlier (and rated him a high priority) we might have ventured to seek him out as we had the Mary Tyler Moore on Sunday September 16th (blog post dated 10/9/18). These roadside attractions are numbered from northwest to southeast to correspond with the previous photo.
- Willie Walleye https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7820
- Paul Bunyan and Babe Statues
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8737 - Big Smokey Bear https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2132
- World's Largest Prairie Chicken
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2712 - Big Fish Supper Club https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12753
- Rocky Taconite https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/6564
- Big Ole: America's Biggest Viking
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/19491 - World's Largest Giant Walleye
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7821 - Dala Horse https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/16565
- Giant Corn Gazebo https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/4026
- World's Largest Snowman https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/724
- The Hermann Monument https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11260
- Jolly Green Giant https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2127
- Ear of Corn Water Tower https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/4025
We saw none of these huge landmarks but I was able to stand by a shorter replica of the Jolly Green Giant. The 55.5 feet tall true statue in Blue Earth, Minnesota wears six feet long shoes. He would have been over a two hour drive from where we were staying, so I was quilt content to rub shoulders/elbows with this scaled down replica.
Two more exhibits to go...whew! The Open House exhibit advertises
Walk through a re-created home from St. Paul’s East Side, and explore the daily lives of the German, Italian, African American, and Hmong families who lived there through rooms representing each era.
This caught my attention when three families were living in the home together. They were social with each other.
Nearness to the rails was recalled with fondness and not as a burden.
The Grainland exhibit advertises
Kids love to climb and slide through the chutes of this model grain elevator as they learn about the journey of soy and corn from farm field to town.
Seniors who are plodding through their final exhibit of the day are not up for romping and swooping down slides. Downscaled physical activities notwithstanding, I was able to enjoy a mural juxtaposing the two methods of harvesting grains – historic and modern.
Last Looks Before Leaving
It was time to go. We had started our journey at the replica of the Jenny airplane. As we looked down that long hallway in the opposite direction, we had a beautiful view of the state capitol. Walking to that window we looked out and saw its gleaming dome in the distance.
A poster near the window was an illustration taken from a cigar box which pointed out the salient features of the capitol building. The picture however was based on the design rather than the completed building, so it is not 100% accurate.
The Minnesota History Museum had been a pleasant surprise. It was a very worthy choice for our final day together investigating Minneapolis. We never made it to the Science Museum but there are no regrets. This place was fantastic. After we walk down the long staircase toward the exit I had us pause for one last picture with our six pair of feet. Clockwise from the Minnesota History Center sign they are, Frank, Diane, Margaret, John, Joe, Sue. A tradition is a tradition and must be upheld!
