This week in state history

Historic Minnesota events with anniversaries this week.

March 14

1919 Humorist Max Shulman is born in St. Paul. An author and Hollywood screenwriter, he is best remembered for creating the character Dobie Gillis. Shulman died in 1988.

March 15

1927 The Arrowhead Bridge across the St. Louis River opens, linking West Duluth to Superior, Wisconsin.

1941 Thirty-one Minnesotans, mostly unsuspecting motorists caught on the roads, die in a blizzard, the second killer snowstorm of the season. The deaths exceeded 60 in the region as the storm barreled out of Canada and swept across North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. When the storm hit Duluth in the early morning hours of March 16, a then-record wind gust of 70 mph was recorded.

March 17

1851 St. Paul hosts the state’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade. Although Irish immigration to St. Paul would not peak until 1890, many Irish had already settled in town, working both as household servants and as laborers on the docks of the Upper Landing.

March 18

1891 Margaret Culkin Banning is born in Buffalo. She would live in Duluth for many years, authoring 36 novels, many set in northern Minnesota.

This column is derived from MNopedia.org and developed by the Minnesota Historical Society and its partners.