Minnesota Information

Minnesota Info

Capital: St. Paul.
State abbreviation/Postal code: MN.
Nickname: Gopher State. North Star State.
Organized as territory: The Territory of Minnesota was incorporated on 03 March, 1849. That territory had originally been carved out of the Iowa territory. Present day Minnesota was formed from part of the Wisconsin Territory and the Minnesota Territory.
Entered Union: 11 May, 1858.
Present constitution adopted: It's quite old compared to the constitutions of most other states, as Minnesotans have chosen to amend rather than replace. It was adopted 13 October, 1857. It underwent a general revision much later, with that revision approved on 05 November, 1974. More amendments followed: 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2006, and 2008.
Motto: "L'Etoile du Nord," which translate to "The Star of the North."
Land area: 86,943 square miles, making it the 12th largest state.
Highest point: Eagle Mountain - 2,301 feet (701 m) above sea level.
Lowest point: Some argue that Minnesota's lowest point was when Al Frankel became a US Senator. But geographically speaking, the lowest point is the shore of Lake Superior (602 ft).
Geographic center: Crow Wing, which is 10 miles southwest of Brainerd
Number of counties: 87.
Largest county: St. Louis County (county seat, Duluth) is the largest county by total area in Minnesota. It's also the second largest in the USA east of the Mississippi River. In terms of land area, only Aroostook County, Maine is larger.
Major lakes: Upper Red Lake, Lower Red Lake, Mille Lacs Lake, Vermillion Lake, Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, Lake Superior, Leech Lake, Winnibigoshish Lake, Lake Pepin.
Major rivers: Minnesota River, Mississippi River, Rainy River, Red River of the North, St. Croix River.

State Symbols:

Bird: Common loon (not to be confused with the loonies in Washington, DC).
Fish: Walleye. The walleye are so good in MN that people travel from neighboring states to fish for them. Even though they have walleye in their own rivers and lakes.
Flower: Pink and white lady's slipper.
Tree: Norway pine. This is rather fitting, as Minnesota is home to a large number of people of Norwegian ancestry (and rightfully proud of that fact).

Largest Cities:

Minneapolis.
Saint Paul.
Duluth.
Rochester.
Bloomington.
Brooklyn Park.
Plymouth.
Eagan.
Coon Rapids.
Burnsville.

Some Famous Natives of Minnesota:

Warren E. Burger. Legendary Supreme Court Justice. Saint Paul.
William Orville Douglas. Legendary Supreme Court Justice. Maine.
Bob Dylan. Musician. Duluth.
Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Author. Saint Paul.
Judy Garland singer. Actress. Grand Rapids.
Jean Paul Getty oil executive. Minneapolis.
Garrison Keillor. Writer, Humorist. Anoka.
Jessica Lange. Actress. Cloquet.
Sinclair Lewis. Author. Sauk Center.
John Madden. Sportscaster. Austin.
Roger Maris. Baseball player. Hibbing.
E. G. Marshall. Actor. Owatonna.
Charles Horace Mayo. Surgeon. Rochester.
William J. Mayo. Surgeon. Le Sueur.
Eugene J. McCarthy. Senator. Psychopath. Watkins.
Walter F. Mondale. Vice President. Celyon.
Jane Russell. Actress. Bemidji.
Winona Ryder. Actress. Winona.
Charles Monroe Schulz. Cartoonist. Minneapolis.
Jesse Ventura. Athlete. Politician. Minneapolis.

Some Minnesota Factoids

Bloomington is world-famous for the The Mall of America. Everyone knows it's huge, but in fact it is so huge that it takes up as much area as 78 football fields. That's 9.5 million square feet.
Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the USA.
Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people (no other state has as many boaters per capita, though if California slides into the ocean that may change).
While Alaska has more shoreline than any other state, Minnesota is no slacker in this area either. The state has 90,000 miles of it, which is more than the shorelines of California, Florida, and Hawaii combined.
In most states, the rivers flow in one general direction. Not so with Minnesota's waters. They flow in three general directions. As with other central states, water flows south to the Gulf of Mexico. It also flows east to the Atlantic Ocean (through the St Lawrence Seaway). And rather unusual for the northern hemisphere, some Minnesota bodies of water drain to the north (into the Hudson Bay in Canada).
Minnesota is the headquarters of innovative companies like 3M. Consequently, it is the home of a huge number of inventions. These include Post-It Notes and the stapler.
Being the home of the world-renowned Mayo Clinic and other centers of excellence, Minnesota has pioneered both medical research and medical feats. On 02 September, 1952, a 5 year old girl was the first human to undergo a heart operation performed using the deep freezing technique. Dr. Floyd Lewis (Medical School of the University of Minnesota) performed the operation while the patient's body (excluding her head) was chilled to only 79 DegrF.
In a nod to heart health and basic human compassion, Northwest Airlines (based in the Twin Cities) was the first major airline to ban smoking on international flights.