author
William Watts Folwell
1833–1929
Best remembered as the first president of the University of Minnesota, he helped shape a young frontier school into a more ambitious institution and later became one of the state's important historians.
1 Audiobook
Minnesota, the North Star State
by William Watts Folwell
About the author
Born in New York in 1833, William Watts Folwell was an American educator, writer, and historian. He served as the first president of the University of Minnesota from 1869 to 1883, a formative period when the university was still defining its mission and place in the state.
After his presidency, he remained active in Minnesota's intellectual and civic life. He is especially known for writing A History of Minnesota, a major multi-volume work that helped preserve and interpret the state's past for later readers.
Folwell died in 1929, but his name remained closely tied to Minnesota through the university and other places named in his honor. His legacy is that of a builder: someone who strengthened higher education while also recording the history of the community around him.