My love of history began at the age of five when my parents took me to look at abandoned pioneer house in the woods near our cabin in northern Minnesota. I was mesmerized by that crumbling piece of history and instantly wanted to know more about it. Since this was before the internet and smartphones were the norm, my curiosity was forced to fester for years. Every year I’d ask my parents to take me there again to see if it was still standing (yes, it is still there). That’s when I knew I was hooked.
In 2007 I started my first blog to share interesting genealogical items that I ran across with members of my extended family. A few years later, an acute interest in historic preservation inspired me to start blogs about the Upper Post of Fort Snelling in 2008, and the Anoka Asylum in 2010.
Although I enjoyed researching and writing about both subjects, I realized that I couldn’t maintain a blog for every old building or interesting story that I ran across. I wasn’t seeing a lot of people telling those stories online, so I put together a website where I could do just that and focus my energy on a wide range of historical subjects throughout the entire state. My goal was to write about the people and places in Minnesota that time has forgotten.
Forgotten Minnesota launched in January 2011. Since then, I have traveled throughout the state and combed through numerous sources to find unique pieces of history that are often overlooked or forgotten altogether.
It has always been about more than sparking nostalgia or looking back on a time that we have never experienced. It’ was’s about reveling in exploration and adventure. Slowing down and taking the time to uncover the stories of people and places that have been overlooked due to modernity, hidden by neglect, or lost to time. It’s often about looking back at what we’ve lost and learning to appreciate the unique places that surround us today. It’s always about sparking curiosity and seeking answers.
During the historic global pandemic of 2020, I stayed closer to home. I wandered the empty streets of Minneapolis and Saint Paul to photograph buildings that were typically surrounded by people or traffic and maybe only see one or two other people. It was a remarkable and unforgettable time to be in the downtown areas. My posts from that period focused heavily on historic buildings in and around the Twin Cities and photos from those days will pop up in many future posts.
Your support makes the long hours of research, travel, and writing worth it. Forgotten Minnesota has existed for nearly 15 years because people like you show up to read, share, and enjoy the site. Thank you for visiting.
— Carrie