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May 2022
History Break: The Rise and Tragic Demise of Edward Larrabee Baker
Ed Baker, a young, well-educated and far-sighted entrepreneur, ranks with the most successful of Red Wing’s early founders and leaders, Sheldon, Lawther, Foot and Betcher. He was Red Wing’s mayor in 1861 when he left his thriving Main Street hardware wholesale business to fight and distinguish himself in the Civil War. Upon his return, involvement in Minnesota’s post-war economic boom, aka the King Wheat Era, enriches Baker and prompts him to make an aggressive investment. Baker masterminds construction of Diamond…
Find out more »June 2022
Free Family Fun Day: Steamboats
Steamboats were a vital piece of transportation for Goodhue County Come visit the historical society and check out the new temporary exhibit in the lobby on Steamboats in Goodhue County. Build and color your own miniature boat to race. Or participate in a number of family friendly activities around the museum. Free family Fun Day is sponsored in part by Xcel Energy.
Find out more »Stories At GCHS: Prophets and Ghosts The Story of Salvage Anthropology
Salvage anthropology was a widespread and deeply fraught movement to rapidly document and collect in the face of presumed cultural extinction. Starting around the time of the Civil War, collectors of all kinds drove the rapid expansion of U.S. museums. But the methods used to gather these materials, especially the stories and objects of Native American societies, often reflected deeply troubling realities about power, race, and colonialism. Drawing on more than a decade of research and interviews with Native American…
Find out more »History Break- Silas Foot’s Big Idea: The Advent of the Duluth, Red Wing and Southern Railroad
In the 1890s, DRW&S has the potential to change Red Wing and Minnesota history with a groundbreaking railroad route. Foot envisions a northern railway passage that could bypass Chicago’s monopolistic grip on Midwest rail shipments, and enlists allies willing to make a new railroad happen. Backed by capital from Foot’s flourishing St. Paul shoe manufacturing plant and his Red Wing tannery, along with support from influential Minnesotans and Red Wing investors, the DRW&S comes to life. Lucius Hubbard, former two-term…
Find out more »Walk into Local History: Walking the Jordan Creek
Did you know a river used to bisect downtown Red Wing? Or that the same river continues to flow beneath the town? This guided walking tour leads participants along the historic route of the Jordan Creek, with a collection of anecdotes and historical photographs to make the history of the Jordan Creek come alive. Tours will depart from in front of City Hall in Red Wing and end at Levee Park. The Historical Society is excited to lead this walking…
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