11 October 2023
In April 1849, the safety pin had just been invented and the rules of a new game called base-ball were being hammered out in the area around New York City.
The United States was on its 12th president, while most of Europe was still ruled by monarchs.
The fastest way to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast was a five-month steamship journey around South America.
And the first issue of the Minnesota Pioneer – earliest ancestor of the Pioneer Press – was printed in the drafty spare room of a carpentry shop in downtown St. Paul, which was then just a muddy little river town of a few hundred inhabitants.
Minnesota’s oldest newspaper, the Pioneer Press will celebrate its 175th birthday on April 28. We’ll be marking the occasion with a variety of special content and products over the next six months.
Scheduled to be published in November 2023, “Twin Cities Snapshots” features more than 250 images from the Pioneer Press’s photo archive.
The first of these is a hardcover photographic history book called “Twin Cities Snapshots,” which features more than 250 images selected from our vast archive that stretches back more than a century.
Since the Pioneer Press published its first photo in 1894, our photojournalists have been crisscrossing the metro to create a unique visual record of our community. This book comprises just a sampling of their work.
More family photo album than history textbook, “Twin Cities Snapshots” is meant to reflect the way our paper has aimed to cover the news since it was founded nearly 175 years ago: with warmth and curiosity – and an admitted favoritism for St. Paul.
“Twin Cities Snapshots” is now available at a discounted pre-order price through the Pioneer Press online store at store.twincities.com. Pre-order copies are expected to ship on Nov. 17.
Our online store also features reprints of historic Pioneer Press front pages, merchandise branded with our old logos and a host of other products that would make any Minnesotan’s day — including a new Vikings history book.
Stay tuned for more special products and promotions as the anniversary approaches. Beginning next month, we’ll begin counting down to our birthday by sharing 175 years’ worth of front pages in 175 days, and we’ll be publishing a weekly St. Paul trivia feature every Sunday.
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