1996 — 25 years ago
- The Jaycees “Wake Up America” bus tour with national Jaycees President Kelly Willis will stop in Elgin. The tour is conducting a four-month, 46-state trek to promote voter registration, a bipartisan commission to study Social Security, and a national effort to cut tobacco sales to minors.
1971 — 50 years ago
- Claiming the government disparages the Black Muslim religion, lawyers for Muhammad Ali asked the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction for refusing to be drafted into the armed forces. (The court ruled 8-0 in favor of Ali.)
- Gene Bygd, of Mankato State, a former Stewartville prep star, set a school record with a throw of 210 feet, 5 inches in the javelin at the Dickinson Relays in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Bygd also won the high jump.
1946 — 75 years ago
- Hook-and-line fishing season opens May 1 on the Mississippi River, including Lake Pepin and other Minnesota-Wisconsin boundary waters. This will exclude largemouth and smallmouth bass, which opens June 20.
- Rochester’s critical housing shortage was dealt a blow when an estimated $26,000 worth of lumber and other building materials were destroyed in a fire at the Fullerton Lumber Company.
1921 — 100 years ago
- For anyone considering a getaway to Minneapolis, The Curtis Hotel offers double rooms with a private bath for $3.50 a night.
- Rochester telephone subscribers will say farewell to operators tonight at midnight. When tomorrow dawns, the automatic telephone will have taken the place of soft, kind voices that ask, “Number, please?” Rochester Mayor C. D. Brown will throw a switch to initiate the change.
