1. In 1864, the Battle of the Birch Coulee took place in southwestern Minnesota during the Dakota War of 1862. The battle resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers and civilians, and 150 Dakota warriors.

2. On August 5, 1914, the Great Hinckley Fire destroyed the town of Hinckley and surrounding areas, killing over 400 people and burning over 200,000 acres of land. The fire remains one of Minnesota's deadliest disasters.

3. The Edmund Fitzgerald, a freighter that sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, was launched on August 5, 1958, in River Rouge, Michigan. The ship's sinking inspired the ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.

4. In 1974, the St. Paul Winter Carnival was held in the summer for the first time in its history. The "Summer Ice Palace" was constructed in Como Park and featured a 55-foot-tall ice castle.

5. On August 5, 1981, the first successful heart transplant in Minnesota was performed at the University of Minnesota Hospital. The recipient, 54-year-old David Lundquist, lived for an additional five years after the surgery.