Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities

17 Unique Stations from Border to Border

MN90: Rochester History in 90-Seconds a series of short, fun and engaging stories exploring the history of Rochester and the surrounding area.

Rochester MN90: Dwellers in the Vale of Siddem

1911 – The superintendent of the School for the Feeble Minded in Faribault wanted to find out what had caused his charges to get so “defective.” In an era of Eugenics, the finger seemed to point to subpar family relations.


Rochester MN90: Watkins and his Liniment

1868 – J. R. Watkins was headed to Ohio to marry his bride. But a stopover along the way gave him a new career as a muscle rub salesman.


Rochester MN90: The Covered Bridge

Zumbrota wanted to return its covered bridge to the Zumbro River. But it would take more money and many more years than anyone thought.


Rochester MN90: William Costley

An Illinois researcher wanted to track down the son of an indentured servant freed with the help of lawyer Abraham Lincoln in 1941. Could the son be the same William Costley who died at Rochester State Hospital in 1888?


Rochester MN90: The Dinosaur Apocalypse

1980 – Nobel laureate and Rochester High School graduate Luis Alvarez had done money great things in his career. But now he wanted geologists to swallow an unusual theory: that an asteroid was responsible for killing off the dinosaurs.


Rochester MN90: Lady on the Hill

She’s the Stone Lady, the stone cairn that has perched atop Black Hammer hill since the 19th-century. But where did she come from?


Rochester MN90: Middleweights

March 28, 1969 – Pat O’Connor, 18, had only gone pro 10 months ago. Now he was meeting the formidable middleweight Duane Horsman for a record crowd at the Mayo Civic Auditorium.


Rochester MN90: The Yellow Fever Collection

Dr. Philip S. Hench was a Nobel laureate with a research job at Mayo, and a passion for collecting anything having to do with the yellow fever experiments in Cuba.


Rochester MN90: The Cannon River Wilderness Area

1966 – Jackie May and Barney Code savored the wilds near where they lived in the Cannon River Valley. They wanted to turn it into a park so it would be preserved for everyone to enjoy.


Rochester MN90: The Beatle and the Stolen Coins

August 1965 – Revernd Gallagher had only stopped out of the rectory for an errand. But he was gone long enough that scruffy Beatle-type ran off with the coin collection.


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McKnight FoundationMN Legacy