A lot of things were done first right here in Minnesota. Even if you’ve lived here your entire life, you may not realize that these things started here. You may have even heard about it before, but you didn’t believe it.

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I was born and raised in Minneapolis, yet I didn’t know many of these things! Check out the list and keep them in the back of your mind. If you have trouble starting conversations with people you don’t know, this is the kind of information that makes for a great conversation starter.

Big thanks to Golden Valley Microwave Foods for giving us even more time on the couch on movie night. Their “Act II” popcorn was the first shelf-stable microwave popcorn. No more standing at the stove popping corn in a big soup pot.

attachment-ActII popcorn-Photo by the Adams Store via Amazon
Photo Credit: The Adams Store via Amazon.com
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Next time you pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer and pop it in the oven you can thank Minnesota’s Totino family for the convenience. Totino's made the first crisp-crust frozen pizza in 1979.

Photo Credit: Totinos.com
Photo Credit: Totinos.com
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Hopefully you’ll never need a transplant or open-heart surgery, but if you do you can go in with the confidence that Minnesota was the scene of the first of both those surgeries.

Photo by Unsplash
Photo by Unsplash
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It’s hard to believe that libraries didn’t always have a Children’s section. But it’s true! In 1889 Minneapolis became the home of the first library Children’s Section.

Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash
Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash
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People all over the world drive safe thanks to Minnesota. James “Crash” Ryan invented the first automatic retractable seat belts.

Photo Credit: Unsplash
Photo Credit: Unsplash
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H/T: onlyinyourstate.com

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