This week in state history

Historic Minnesota events that took place Aug. 2-8.

August 2

1928 President Calvin Coolidge visits Virginia and tours the iron mines.

1956 Albert Woolson, the last surviving Union veteran of the Civil War, dies in Duluth at age 106. Woolson had enlisted in the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery when he was 16, serving as a drummer boy. He was the model for a bronze figure on the Memorial to the Grand Army of the Republic at Gettysburg, although he did not fight there. Woolson moved to Duluth in 1905 and remained active in the GAR for decades. He is memorialized in downtown Duluth with a statue outside the Duluth Depot and a bust inside Duluth City Hall.

August 4

1854 Congress approves legislation guaranteeing pre-emption for Minnesota settlers squatting on lands that had not been surveyed. Technically, the land could be sold only after being surveyed, but settlers had poured into lands purchased from the Indians, sometimes making substantial improvements before the surveyors completed their work. This act, sponsored by delegate Henry H. Sibley, allows the settlers to purchase their land after the fact of settlement.

August 6

1945 Fighter pilot Richard Bong dies in an airplane explosion in California. Bong had shot down 40 Japanese planes during the war, making him America’s top ace. The Bong Bridge, which opened Oct. 25, 1984, connects Duluth with Bong’s birthplace, Superior.

August 8

1857 Organized baseball teams square off for the first time in Minnesota when members of the Base Ball Club meet on a field in Nininger.

This column comes courtesy of MNopedia,

an online encyclopedia project that has a “This Day in Minnesota History” feature on its website,

mnopedia.org. Developed by the Minnesota Historical Society and its partners, it is a free, curated, and authoritative resource about state history. The information here is culled from “The Minnesota Book of Days,” published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.