Minnesota Experience

"Flour Power" explores how milling made Minnesota. The story charts the growth of wheat farming, the harnessing of water power, the founders of the flour milling industry, and the expansion of the industry into global purveyors of industrialized food products.

"Lost Twin Cities III" is the third installment of the immensely popular "Lost Twin Cities" specials. Based on the Larry Millett book of the same name, these programs explore the vibrant history of vanished places and cultures in the metropolitan area.

"Cornerstones: A History of North Minneapolis" explores the neighborhood's diverse past through the power of place. Co-produced with the University of Minnesota and the U's Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center on historic Plymouth Avenue, Cornerstones is an hour-long journey through the history of Minnesota's least understood neighborhood.

The horror and hardship of the great Minnesota fires of 1918 are hard to imagine 100-years later. Ten communities were destroyed and dozens more were damaged in an inferno that covered an 1,800-square mile area. The date October 12, 1918 will forever be remembered in this part of the world as a date that didn't just make history, but erased history.

Our latest installment of the Lost Twin Cities history series tells the stories of Northwest Airlines, Negro League baseball, Longfellow Zoo, Dayton’s Oval Room, St. Paul’s Public Baths and a lost Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece.

Glensheen is a true Minnesota original, preserved intact for future generations. It is a story of hard work, fortunate timing and a life long pursuit of knowledge.

"Becoming Big League" explores how sport was changing in 1960 and how that changed Minnesota. From Olympic hockey to High School hoops, from pro-sports origins in Big Ten titles, "Becoming Big League" is a retro sports page come to life that illustrates how 1960 might be the most dynamic year in Minnesota Sports history. A Twin Cities PBS Original production.

Take a look at how the Mayo Clinic, which is "world renowned for its medical arts," has met the changing demands of healthcare for 150 years, and what it can teach us about facing the challenges of patient care today.

One of the oldest neighborhoods in the Twin Cities is the focus of this 60 minute documentary that explores its birth, growth, decline and reclamation over the course of more than 150 years. In partnership with the Ramsey Hill Association.

The Experimental City is a documentary about the Minnesota Experimental City project, a futuristic attempt to solve urban problems by creating a full-size city from scratch in the isolated woods of northern Minnesota.

Follow the Gunflint Trail and Mesabi Trail through their fascinating pasts, their multi-faceted modern uses, and explore what lays ahead for these winding paths. Enjoy the amazing views that these treasured trails have to offer.

Minnesota 13 explores the little-known history of an elite moonshine produced in the heart of Minnesota during Prohibition, and the modern-day attempts of a micro-distillery to resuscitate the brand as a craft whiskey.

Citizen explores the multigenerational march of Minnesota women and all they hoped would come with the vote. From pioneering activists like Sarah Burger Stearns to Progressive Era leaders like Nellie Griswold Francis, the vote was seen as a mark of fuller citizenship and tool of change for concerns like healthcare, children, and women’s rights.

Based on the book from Zenith City Press, the story of "Lost Duluth" comes to life through the stories of explorers, dreamers, and leaders along with the common man looking for a better future for his children. From Duluth's humble beginnings sprang industry after industry, including a harbor busier than any other in the United States.

ROBERT BLY: A THOUSAND YEARS OF JOY presents a moving portrait of one of America's most celebrated and revolutionary poets of the last half-century. The film showcases Bly's development as a writer with an unswerving belief in the importance of poetry both to his own life and to American culture in general. A THOUSAND YEARS OF JOY charts Bly's singular path from a mid-western farmer's son to radical anti-Vietnam War activist to "wild man" of the 1990s men's movement and author of The New York Timesbest-seller Iron John: A Book About Men.

This two hour documentary examines one of the most difficult chapters of Minnesota's history: the state's involvement in the Dakota War as the Civil War was simultaneously raging. Both of these wars, which came quickly on the heels of statehood were about race, land, and identity.

From Pine City, Minnesota to war-torn Europe, WWII U.S. Eighth Air Force Bombardier Lt. Charles Woehrle, relives his experiences as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, made famous by the movie The Great Escape. Lt. Woehrle survived two long years of uncertainty and tremendous hardship by his wits, courage, and compassion. His harrowing saga can teach us about war and about life.

Coming to Mni Sota explores conflicts, contradictions and solidarity among the millions who have moved through, and to, Minnesota. For hundreds of years, the arrival of those from around the world has changed Minnesota's identity and caused disruption for those already here. By examining our state's narratives, communities reveal unique stories that lead to greater understanding.

In the 1970s, young people in Minnesota radicalized by the Vietnam War created a unique alternative economy featuring dozens of food cooperatives, but a shadowy revolutionary group used conflicts over class and race to try to seize the movement. The ensuing clash pitted friends and comrades in a sometimes violent conflict over the future of the counterculture.

We'll remember a World War I-era shipyard that once employed thousands in western Duluth's Riverside neighborhood. Along the way you'll learn what a carriage step is and why you can no longer find them in the city; delve in to Duluth's advertising legacy; and remember the grand pavilion that once served as the social center of the city.

The Baldies were a Minneapolis skinhead crew that fought racists in the 1980s and beyond.

Before high speed internet, telephones and even Highway 61, Minnesota's North Shore was connected by water--specifically a fleet of sailing vessels and steamers that hauled mail, fish, freight and passengers to communities up and down the remote coastline. The Steamer America was a star in the early 1900s, with her speed and relative luxury she became a vital lifeline and a friend to many.

Cemeteries are hallowed places right in our midst. But they also reflect the community, and have evolved dramatically over time, constantly adapting to meet our ever-changing views and values. Minneapolis' own Lakewood Cemetery is a mirror of the city: its remarkable origins, its rich history, its complex people, and its unwritten future. A TPT co-production with Lakewood Cemetery.

Celebrate the days when the Foshay Tower was the tallest building in town; when visitors viewed the bizarre attractions of Wonderland Amusement Park on East Lake Street; when St Anthony Falls was rough and unharnessed, with enough raw energy to create the greatest milling district in history; and when eagles soared above now-vanished Spirit Island.

25 years after the pro wrestler shocked the world when elected Governor of Minnesota, it's high time to explore the people, values and experiences that shaped him.

Dr. Josie Johnson fought for fair housing, education, and civil rights. Hear in her own words how her experiences turned her to activism, and see how her activism inspires in turn the next generation of activists, including her grandchildren.

A stand-out hockey star from Warroad, Minnesota, Henry Boucha impressed on the ice from the 1969 Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament to the 1972 Olympics to the NHL, but an on-ice assault and injury ended his athletic career that unexpectedly led to a journey of healing and cultural reclamation for this Ojibwe hockey legend.

In Minnesota, the Latine community burgeons amidst a vast opportunity gap. Two charter schools, rooted in decades of struggle, champion equity through decolonized, bilingual education that blends history and contemporary narratives.

Stanley E. Hubbard is an early pioneer in radio and television, and KSTP is the top local TV news for decades. That is, until a fresh-faced Dave Moore and his team launch a new kind of newscast at WCCO that ignites a fierce war for ratings which still rages today. Women and people of color fight their way into smoky, insular newsrooms, proving themselves to everyone, and paving the way for others.

KSTP hires a consultant to find the perfect anchor, reporters of color begin to find slightly greater welcome in local newsrooms, while stations dabble with putting women at the anchor desk. Meteorologists transform weather news, videotape kills onerous film processing, while trauma and toxic stress lead some to substance abuse. By the late 70s, local TV news is slick, sexy and highly profitable.

After decades of local news irrelevance, perennial also-ran KARE11 goes from laughingstock to ratings powerhouse in just a few short years. The Hubbards pour millions into a technological breakthrough that is still in use today. Seismic shifts are felt when major anchors swap stations or get the axe. Newscasters chafe as the public and media take heightened interest in their private lives.

A poetic exploration of architecture, utopia, and resistance to urban renewal in the 1970s and its aftermath in Minneapolis' Cedar Riverside neighborhood.