Editorial: Minnesota celebrates a meaningful 150th

It's a big occasion -- Statehood Day in Minnesota's sesquicentennial year -- and history by the bucketful is being served in every format and forum within this proud state's borders.

For 141 of those 150 years, Minnesotans have counted on this newspaper and its antecedents to distill the first draft of state history into manageable daily doses. We're at your service again today. Here's a summary of old news in which we see abiding relevance to a people intent on living and governing themselves well:

• This has always been a multicultural state. The government whose anniversary is marked today was formed mostly by New Englanders and European immigrants. But already here when they arrived were the Dakota and Ojibwe, whose rich and ancient cultures soon clashed with the ideas and practices of the white newcomers. The deadly results in 1862 are history's condemnation of attempts to settle such differences with violence.

• The New Englanders brought with them ideas about citizenship that took strong hold. They were reinforced when Scandinavians with a similar civic tradition arrived in large numbers. These were people unafraid to use government as a tool to build the society they wanted, and to insist on their own place at the table when government made decisions. It's no coincidence that Minnesota still consistently leads the nation in voter turnout.

• Global awareness and participation in the global economy are nothing new. The first Europeans here were engaged in the European fur trade. Early Minneapolis millers went to Hungary to obtain the latest technology for their enterprises. By the late 1870s, flour milled at the Falls of St. Anthony was being shipped to European markets. Foreign investment in major Minnesota firms had already taken hold in the 1890s.

• The political climate in this state was always as bracing and varied as its meteorological one. Factions, splinter groups and third parties sprang up easily here, and sometimes succeeded. Four governors in the 20th century were affiliated with parties other than the big two.

• Partisan polarization is something Minnesotans learned to contend with early (and need to learn again). Republican/Whigs and Democrats were in such disagreement in 1857 that they refused to meet together to draft the state constitution that their statehood petition required. Two drafts were sent to Congress; both were accepted, and Minnesota operated with two founding charters until well into the 20th century.

• Good, reliable transportation has been a state priority from the start. The first amendment to the new constitution in 1858 authorized a construction loan to railroad companies. One of the nation's first state gas taxes was imposed in 1924 and dedicated to highway building, as it still is.

• Minnesotans have always craved education. They made it a state responsibility from the start. But not until the depths of the Depression did state government get serious about living up to that duty. In 1933, Gov. Floyd B. Olson led the charge to impose the state's first income tax and dedicate it to education. A 1971 surge in state funding for schools, again funded largely with the income tax, was so notable that it became known nationally as the Minnesota Miracle. The sufficiency of education funding remains a perennial topic for debate in St. Paul.

• Minnesota's bountiful, beautiful natural resources nurtured bodies, souls and bank accounts from the state's start. Efforts began as early as the 1880s to spare special sites from development. Those efforts led to the development of the second-oldest state park system in the country, with 72 sites, and city and regional parks acclaimed as among the nation's best.

• The Mayo Clinic claims, with good justification, that modern medicine was born in Minnesota. As brothers and sons of a doctor, Drs. Will and Charles Mayo teamed up naturally in the late 19th century and invited others to join them. They invented group practice and were on their way to making Minnesota's name synonymous with medical innovation and quality. Others enhanced that reputation repeatedly through the 20th century.

• Faith communities have been integral to Minnesota's story. From 1841, when Father Lucien Galtier built a chapel near Pig's Eye steamboat landing and named it St. Paul, Minnesota's church people were builders. This state is in their debt for schools, colleges, clinics, hospitals, community centers, homes for orphans and the aged -- and, in the 20th century, worldwide reach. Lutheran Social Services' resettlement work added to this state's cultural diversity. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association broadcast the name "Minneapolis, Minnesota" around the globe.

The list could go on and on. Minnesota's past is rich with lessons for today and the future. But we'll end on a celebratory note: Happy Statehood Day, Minnesota.