1. In 1917, Minnesota Governor J.A.A. Burnquist signed the state's first compulsory education law, requiring children between the ages of 7 and 16 to attend school.

2. In 1958, astronaut Alan Shepard visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to undergo medical tests prior to his historic spaceflight on May 5, 1961, as the first American in outer space.

3. In 1987, the Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3 in front of a home crowd of 45,891, breaking a Metrodome attendance record that still stands today.

4. In 2004, Minneapolis-based Target Corporation announced plans to acquire Marshall Field's, a venerable Minnesota-based department store chain that had been in operation since 1852.

5. In 2010, a tornado outbreak swept through southern Minnesota, killing three people and causing significant damage in the towns of Albert Lea and Wadena.