Nickname: The North Star State Date Ratified: May 11, 1858 (32nd) Capital: St. Paul [caption id="attachment_1919" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Map of Minnesota"] [/caption]

• Southdale Center, in Edina, was the first shopping mall in the United States. Today, the largest shopping mall in the U.S. is the Mall of America, in Bloomington.
• Minnesota has the highest percentage of residents who exercise regularly.
• Minneapolis is home to the Old Log Theater, the oldest continuously running theater in the U.S. The largest dinner theater in the country, Chanhassan Dinner Theater, is also located in Minneapolis.
• The Hormel company made the first canned ham in Austin, MN in 1926. They also introduced Spam in 1937.
• The Metrodome is the only facility to host a Super Bowl, a World Series and a NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship.
• Tonka Trucks are manufactured in Minnetonka.
• The state flag of Minnesota was adopted in 1957.

[caption id="attachment_1920" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Flag of Minnesota"] [/caption] Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow EiH on Twitter or you could miss out on your chance to win Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States by George R. Stewart