Finding Minnesota: Northfield Honors Bloody, All-Hands Defeat Of Jesse James' Gang

By John Lauritsen, CBS Minnesota

August 17, 2023

NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State Fair may be fast approaching, but after that's done a Rice County town will have a pretty big festival of their own. Northfield has been celebrating its famous defeat of Jesse James for 75 years, in honor of the residents who saved the city.

"I go somewhere and people ask, 'Where are you from?' 'Northfield.' One of the first things that most people say is, 'Oh, the Defeat of Jesse James Days,'" resident Galen Malecha said.

Nearly every Minnesota town has a celebration centered around parties and pageantry. But Northfield may be the only one that honors the defeat of a famous American outlaw. This will be the 75th year they've re-enacted their victory. They even have video of the first re-enactment in 1948.

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