20 Things You Might Not Know About Minnesota
Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes we're a proud bunch. We're in tune with our home, our history, and our heritage -- but there are some things that even the most diehard fans of Minnesota might not know. (Like Jessica Lange was born in Cloquet).
1. Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.
2. The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of more than 78 football fields.
3. Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline -- more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.
4. The first Intercollegiate basketball game was played in Minnesota on February 9, 1895. The Minnesota State School of Agriculture (now the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus) defeated Hamline College.
5. Minnesota is home to the oldest continuously running theater (Old Log Theater), the largest dinner theater (Chanhassan Dinner Theater), and the largest regional playhouse (Guthrie Theater) in the country.
6. Bloomington and Minneapolis are the two farthest north latitude cities to ever host a World Series game.
7. The first pop-up toaster was marketed in 1926 by McGraw Electric Co. in Minneapolis under the name Toastmaster. The retail price was $13.50.
8. There are 201 Mud Lakes, 154 Long Lakes, and 123 Rice Lakes in Minnesota.
9. In 1988 Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines was the first major airline to ban smoking on all North American flights.
10. Minnesota can experience earthquakes. The strongest recorded by the USGS was a 4.6 magnitude quake centered near Staples on July 9th, 1975 causing some minor damage. The most recent was a weak quake near Alexandria on April 29th, 2011.
11. Polaris Industries of Roseau invented the snowmobile.
12. The stadium formerly known as the Metrodome is still the only facility in the country to host a Super Bowl, a World Series and a NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship.
13. Minnesota Inventions include Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, the stapler, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables.
14. Hibbing became the birthplace of the American bus industry, when two men started the first bus line (with one bus) between the towns of Hibbing and Alice in 1914. The bus line grew to become Greyhound Lines.
15. Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country.
16. Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced Three Musketeers bar in 1932. The original Three Musketeers bar contained 3 bars in one wrapper. Each with different flavor nougat.
17. The Lost Forty received it’s name due to a surveying mistake made back in 1882, and as a result it avoided any type of logging in the late 1800’s. It remains one of the oldest stands of virgin pine in Minnesota, with trees dating back more than 300 years old.
18. The first open heart surgery and the first bone marrow transplant in the United States were done at the University of Minnesota.
19. Rollerblades, the first commercially successful in-line roller skates were invented in 1980 by Minnesota students Scott and Brennan Olson, looking for a way to practice hockey during the off-season.
20. Water skis were invented in 1922 by Ralph Samuelson, who steam-bent 2 eight-foot-long pine boards into skies. He took his first ride behind a motorboat in Lake City.
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