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Minnesota Important Dates


Important Dates in Minnesota History

  • 1686 - 1762 The French established a chain of forts and small settlements in the area of Minnesota.
  • 1763 - 1819 The area was controlled by British fur traders of the Northwest Company.
  • 1783 Great Britain granted eastern portions of Minnesota to the United States.
  • 1803 The United States obtained the western portion of the area through the Louisiana Purchase.
  • 1820 The U.S. Army established Fort Snelling at its permanent location near the future site of St. Paul. It became a nucleus of settlement. Mississippi River steamboats reached Fort Snelling in 1823.
  • 1836 All of Minnesota was in the Wisconsin Territory.
  • 1837 The Sioux and Chippewa Indians sold their claim to the St. Croix Valley, opening the way to major white settlements in eastern Minnesota.
  • 1849 Congress created the Minnesota Territory.
  • 1851 - 1855 The Indians gave up their rights to millions of acres of land west of the Mississippi River.
  • 1854 Large scale immigration began when the railroad reached the Mississippi River.
  • 1858 Minnesota gained statehood.
  • 1861 - 1865 The Civil War and Indian wars involved 22,000 men.
  • 1870 - 1890 A period of rapid settlement as homesteaders, chiefly from Germany, Sweden, and Norway, moved into the western and southwestern parts of Minnesota.

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