On this date in 1942, sixteen United States B-25B Mitchell medium bombers attacked Tokyo in the famous Doolittle Raid. The aircraft used in this raid were all modified at Wold-Chamberlain Field (now Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport) in February 1942 by local mechanics of Mid-Continent Airlines. The goal was to transform these medium-range aircraft into […]
General
1911-03-18
On this date in 1911, a prairie fire started by a group of young boys burning brush and grass in a backyard got out of control and swept through a ten block area of Columbia Heights burning President Lincoln’s railroad funeral car in the process. First used as the private railroad car for Lincoln and […]
1970-05-22
On this date in 1970, St. Paul police officer James Sackett was shot and killed while responding to a fake call. The case remained unsolved until 2006, when a jury convicted Ronald Reed of first-degree murder. Prosecutors alleged that Reed planned the killing to impress the Black Panther movement. A second suspect, Larry Clark, was […]
1972-07-27
On this date in 1972, Virginia Piper, the wife of retired investment banker Harry C. Piper, was abducted from the couple’s home in Orono. Her kidnappers released he two days later after her husband paid $1 million in ransom. Two men charged in the kidnapping were acquitted. The crime remains unsolved.
1970-08-22
On this date in 1970, a bomb explodes in the women’s restroom of Dayton’s department store in downtown St. Paul. One woman was seriously injured in the blast.
