page_title: Northfield, Minnesota
section_title: Defeat of Jesse James Days Celebration
hierarchical_section_title: Northfield, Minnesota / Arts and culture / Defeat of Jesse James Days Celebration
caption_attribution_description: The First National Bank in w:Northfield, Minnesota robbed by the w:James-Younger Gang on September 7, 1876. This is now a museum, no longer an operating bank. This is located within the w:Scriver Block Building.
context_page_description: Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,007 at the 2010 census.
context_section_description: On September 7, 1876, Northfield experienced one of its most important historical events, when The James-Younger Gang attempted a robbery on the First National Bank of Northfield. Local citizens, recognizing what was happening, armed themselves and resisted the robbers and successfully thwarted the theft. The gang killed the bank's cashier, Joseph Lee Heywood and a Swedish immigrant, Nicholas Gustafson. A couple of members of the gang were killed in the street, while Cole, Bob and Jim Younger were cornered near Madelia, Minnesota. Jesse and Frank James escaped west into the Dakotas, while the remaining gang members were killed or taken into custody.  Considering the James gang as related to postwar insurgency, the raid has sometimes been called the last major event of the American Civil War. Two of Northfield's slogans are "Jesse James Slipped Here", based on the raid's failure, along with “Get your guns boys, they’re robbing the bank!”
  The events have become the basis of an annual outdoor heritage festival called The Defeat of Jesse James Days. It is held the weekend after Labor Day and is among the largest outdoor celebrations in Minnesota. Thousands of visitors witness reenactments of the robbery, which is staged on Division street, outside of the First National Bank of Northfield. Other activities during the festival include: a championship rodeo, carnival, car show, and parade, as well as arts and crafts expositions, and musical performances. Many food stations are set up in Bridge Square, and during the evenings live music is played in a "beer tent" on Water Street. A horseshoe hunt takes place the week prior to the celebration; an antique horseshoe is hidden somewhere within the city on public grounds and the finder claims that year's cash purse.
caption: The First National Bank in the Scriver Building in Northfield, Minnesota, site of the attempted robbery.
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