Interesting Facts
- On December 26, 1862, 38 of 303 convicted Dakota Indians were hanged in Mankato in the largest mass execution in American history. Frustrated by the U.S. government’s failure to make treaty payments on time and supply their families with food as promised, a group of warriors killed several settlers, igniting an armed conflict that lasted four months. Although President Abraham Lincoln commuted the death sentences of 264 convicted Dakota, Congress passed a law expelling all Dakota bands from Minnesota a few months later.
- The first successful open-heart surgery was performed on a 5-year-old girl on September 2, 1952, by Dr. Floyd John Lewis and Dr. Clarence Walton Lillehei at the University of Minnesota. With her body temperature reduced to 81 degrees Fahrenheit, the girl was able to survive for 10 minutes while the doctors repaired a congenital hole in her heart.
- Bloomington’s Mall of America, which opened in 1992, is the most visited shopping mall in the United States with roughly 40 million visitors each year. The megastructure encompasses 4.2 million square feet—enough space to fit 32 Boeing 747s inside.
- The skyway system in downtown Minneapolis is the world’s largest continuous indoor network of pedestrian pathways, stretching eight miles and connecting 73 blocks—making it possible to sleep, eat, work and shop without ever needing to step foot outside.
- Minnesota’s nickname is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” A more precise moniker would be the “Land of 11,842 Lakes.”
