11 Historic Photos That Show Us What It Was Like Living In Minnesota In The Early 1900s
By Betsy Rathburn|Published August 27, 2021
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Betsy Rathburn
Author
Betsy is a Minneapolis-based writer who's lived in Minnesota for 20 years. If you know of any amazing Minnesota restaurants, nature areas, or other attractions, feel free to let her know about them at brathburn@onlyinyourstate.com or on Twitter @betsyrathburn.
We are more than 100 years removed from the early 1900s. Life has changed dramatically, from technology to politics to fashion and medicine. But it is still fun to look back on what life was like a century ago. What did people do for fun? What did work look like? How have cities grown? Below, you’ll find 12 historic photos that might help you answer those questions and more. Read on to learn a bit about Minnesota history!
1. Roseau, Minnesota, is a town of around 3,000 people in the far northern part of the state. It is small today, but in the early 1900s it was even smaller! This more than 100-year-old. image shows the town's sparse buildings and dirt streets.
2. Just because many of the streets were still unpaved does not mean that there was no technology. This 1903 photo shows a locomotive in the Mesabi Range, a mining region in northeastern Minnesota. Mining is still prevalent in the area today.
3. Minnesota has long been famous for its wild rice. Indigenous peoples have grown in harvested it for far longer than Minnesota has been a state. This image from 1905 shows Anishinaabe people harvesting wild rice.
4. Though smaller towns were less developed at the turn of the century, the Twin Cities were well on their way. This 1905 image shows a milling district in busy Minneapolis. At that time, Minneapolis was considered the flour-milling capital of the world.
5. This image from a decade later, in 1915, shows Block E of downtown Minneapolis. It's fun to imagine the shops and restaurants that used to stand in this busy area!
6. Even in the early 1900s, people had plenty of ways to entertain themselves. This image from 1910 shows a homemade snowmobile! It's a lot different from today's sleds, but it looks like it still did the job!
8. It's fun to look back on the old cars of the time, too. These old-fashioned vehicles were photographed in small-town Braham in 1918, just 10 years after the Model T made history.
9. Of course, not everything back then was perfectly idyllic. This photo shows the aftermath of the 1919 Fergus Falls tornado, still the second-worst tornado on record in Minnesota.
10. Still, despite the hard times, life carried on - just as it does now. This busy street scene was captured in Duluth in 1919. Today, the city remains one of the largest in Minnesota.
11. And this image shows a crowd gathered in Rush City in 1922. Though it's a small town today, it still gets many visitors thanks to its proximity to the highway. It's another example of how, despite years passing, some things never change!
Minnesota is full of history! These historic images are just a few of the many fascinating old photos of our state. If you’d like to see more, check out our past articles about the oldest photos taken in Minnesota and 1950s photos of Minnesota.
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