Sauk Rapids is flattened by a tornado. Seventy-nine people die. St. Paul holds its first winter carnival. St. Paul hosts the first ski tourney in the Midwest. 1888 Western Minnesota receives a major blizzard on January 12 which takes 109 lives.
Electric streetcars become commonplace in large Minnesota cities.
The Minnesota state flag, designed by Amelia Hyde Center of Minneapolis, is accepted by the Minnesota Legislature. Virginia, Minnesota destroyed by fire. A massive forest fire caused by clear-cut logging debris encompasses Hinckley, Minnesota and several other nearby communities. Over four hundred die. The Spanish-American War begins.