Pionerd

Robert Thomas

Pionerd is a daily Minnesota history podcast. Every day, one story drawn from the people, places, and moments that shaped the state we call home. From the Iron Range to the Mississippi headwaters, from the Twin Cities to the small towns most maps forget, Minnesota's history is richer and stranger than most people realize. Join us every day and find out what happened here.

  1. 16H AGO

    A Day of Remembrance, Reflection and Reckoning

    On this Memorial Day, as we honor the ultimate sacrifice of our nation’s veterans, we also mark a profound anniversary in our own backyard. Pionerd steps outside the traditional historical lens to look at a defining chapter of Minnesota's recent past. We examine the event at 38th and Chicago in 2020 and the global ripples of George Floyd's death. From the quiet courage of everyday bystanders to the collective actions of millions worldwide, discover how a local tragedy sparked a global demand for justice and systemic reform. This episode honors the solemnity of the date while confronting its complex legacy, highlighting the ordinary individuals who had the courage to look at our deepest flaws and demand change.

    14 min

  2. 3D AGO

    The Battle of Deputies Run

    In 1934, Minneapolis was run by a shadow group of wealthy barons who ruthlessly crushed unions, but they pushed the city's truck drivers too far. On May 22, tens of thousands of citizens flooded the North Loop for a brutal hand-to-hand street battle between corporate elites and working-class families. When the dust settled, the elites were running for their lives, two men were dead, and American history was altered forever.

    12 min

  3. 4D AGO

    The Lone Eagle's Ascent and Darkest Descent

    On May 21, 1927, he was the most celebrated man on earth. A decade later, he was a national pariah compared to a Civil War traitor. How did the exact same icy, clinical detachment that allowed a Minnesota airmail pilot to survive the Atlantic completely blind him to the horrors of the twentieth century? We pull back the curtain on the triumph and the tragedy.

    13 min

  4. 5D AGO

    The 14 Minute Catastrophe That Broke Minnesota's Gallows

    Minnesota hasn't executed anyone in over a century, and we reveal the gruesome reason why. Discover how a smooth talking Minneapolis sociopath and a catastrophic mathematical error in a St. Paul basement collided on the exact same calendar day to force a statewide moral reckoning. This is the dark history the state tried to censor until the newspapers risked everything to print it.

    12 min

  5. 6D AGO

    He Saw It First

    Before the mines, park or carnival, Louis W. Hill looked at Minnesota and Montana and saw what nobody else had figured out yet and spent his life building it for everyone else. Born in St. Paul on May 19, 1872. This is where his story starts.

    10 min

  6. MAY 18

    Before the Country Was Ready

    Minnesota has a habit of being first, not because it plans to be, but because the right people show up at the right moment and do not wait for permission. Today, one date in three different years and more firsts than you can count. A baseball player and a community that answered a question the rest of the country was still arguing about. A coffee shop on the West Bank where something started one month before Stonewall. A courthouse, a student body election, a party platform, a marriage, and a legal fight that lasted 45 years. All of it happened here first.

    12 min

  7. MAY 16

    The Big Middle

    Before St. Paul had a name, the Dakota called this stretch of the Mississippi the big middle. Then a one-eyed bootlegger showed up and nearly named a capital city after himself. On May 16, 1850, the first Protestant church in Minnesota burned to the ground. On May 16, 1938, the island still carrying that bootlegger's name became home to the first wastewater treatment facility on the entire Mississippi River. One place that has been at the center of something in every era it has passed through.

    15 min

  8. MAY 15

    The Pilgrims and the River

    Robert Hickman escaped slavery in Missouri in 1863 with nothing but a congregation and a name. Twelve years before he was permitted to lead the church he founded, he was already building something that would outlast a freeway, a city, and 160 years of Minnesota history.

    12 min
See All (23)

Trailer

5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Pionerd is a daily Minnesota history podcast. Every day, one story drawn from the people, places, and moments that shaped the state we call home. From the Iron Range to the Mississippi headwaters, from the Twin Cities to the small towns most maps forget, Minnesota's history is richer and stranger than most people realize. Join us every day and find out what happened here.

Information

  • Creator
    Robert Thomas
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Kulachit Labs LLC

You Might Also Like