We all know that Minnesota is cold and has a lot of lakes, but there is much more to the state than meets the eye. You may be surprised to learn these lesser known facts, OR if you think you’re an expert, see how many of these you’ve already committed to memory.

1. In Minnesota, there are 201 Mud Lakes, 154 Long Lakes, and 123 Rice Lakes commonly named.
Flickr/Doc Searls
2. Minnesota was birthplace to the popular game the Oregon Trail. Sorry for the dysentery everyone.
Flickr/Trevor Owens
3. Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people. Obviously the most of all the states.
Flickr/Greg Gjerdingen
4. Minnesota started the bus industry with Greyhound.
Flickr/Loco Steve
5. St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis was the only major natural waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River until it collapsed in 1869 and was replaced by a concrete spillway.
Flickr/Richie Diesterheft
6. Minnesota manufactured the first modern armored cars.
Flickr/Terry Ross
7. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow based his famous poem, “The Song of Hiawatha,” on Minnehaha Falls even though he never saw them.
Flickr/spikenheimer
8. Minnesota has more shoreline than California, Florida and Hawaii combined. The math has been done.
Flickr/Tony Webster
9. Southdale, in Edina, was the first climate controlled indoor mall.
Flickr/Jerry
10. Minneapolis was the home of the first Better Business Bureau in 1912.
Flickr/Ron Reiring

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11. On February 9,1895, the first Intercollegiate Basketball game was in Minnesota.
Flickr/Dustin Gaffke
12. The Minneapolis Public Library had the first separate children's section.
Flickr/WhitewallBuick
13. The Minneapolis Skyway System is the longest in the world.
Flickr/chelsiefoty
14. The American version of a puffed rice cake was created here by Alexander Anderson.
Flickr/Ambernectar 13
15. The clocks on Old City Hall have faces bigger than Big Ben.
Flickr/Tony Webster
16. Brave New Workshop is the oldest sketch comedy theatre and a performance spot of Al Franken pre-SNL.
Flickr/Rachel
17. The first open heart surgery and bone marrow transplant in the US happened at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.
Flickr/Jacob Norlund
18. Minneapolis is the nation’s third most literate city.
Flickr/quattrostagioni
19. Minnesota has the oldest public wildflower garden in the US, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.
Flickr/Molly O
20. Minneapolis has the most golfers per capita of any city in the US.
Flickr/Krzysztof Urbanowicz

Which one of these was the most surprising to you? Minnesotans, how many of these did you know?

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