| 6000 BC | prehistoric people and their dogs hunt bison near headwaters |
| 1000 BC | people arrive in northern Minnesota and establish what was later labeled the Blackduck Culture, which prevailed until the 17th century |
| 1492 | first Europeans come to North America |
| 1600's | Dakota dominate most of Minnesota region; Ojibwe migrate from east into area in latter part of the century |
| 1673 | Marquette and Joliet record discovery of Upper Mississippi River |
| 1695 | Pierre LeSueur in charge of Fort Isle Pel'ee (Prairie Island) |
| 1766 | Jonathan Carver, adventurer, visits St. Anthony Falls |
| 1782 | smallpox plague, brought from Europe, wipes out entire Native American villages along the Mississippi and throughout Midwest |
| 1805 | Lt. Zebulon Pike secures from the Dakota 100,000 acres at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota Riversfor trade goods valued at $200 |
| 1819 | construction of Fort Coldwater (Fort Snelling) begins |
| 1823 | first steamboat comes up the River to Fort Snelling; stops at Dakota village site named Hoo-poo-hoo-d oo-ta(later Red Wing) |
| 1837 | U. S. government secures from Native Americans the triangle of land formed by the St. Croix and the Mississippi Rivers; logging commences with fervor |
| 1840 | white settlers pour into Minnesota |
| 1848 | Franklin Steele opens sawmill at St. Anthony Falls |
| 1849 | construction of Fort Gaines, renamed Fort Ripley, beginsfirst Minnesota newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer,is printed by James Goodhue in St. Paul |
| 1850 | 6000 white people living in Minnesota Territory; ten years later nearly 200,000 living in the new state trading post opens at Oliver's Grove, later called Hastings |
| 1851 | treaty signing at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, Dakota sell 24 million acres to U.S. government, all their land in southern and western Minnesota except for a small reservation set aside for them along the Minnesota River;price:about 12-1/2 cents an acre, to be paid in cash, food, seeds & tools; much of the money goes directly to white traders who claim the Indians owe them first permanent white settlers start new life in Winona |
| 1852 | lumber business starts up in Winona, an assembly point for logs floating down the River, city becomes major logging center |
| 1855 | river ferry links LaCrescent with LaCrosse,Wisconsin first sawmill commences business in Winona; railroad arrives founding of Hamline University at Red Wing |
| 1856 | the Anderson House opens in Wabasha; still operating in 1993 |
| 1858 | 1068 steamboats arrive in St. Paul, bringing hordes of immigrants Minnesota becomes a state |
| 1864 | Legislature approves Lake City as a grain marketing port |
| 1869 | 15 sawmills operating at or near St. Anthony Falls |
| 1870 | Red Wing becomes largest primary wheat market in the world |
| 1880 | bridge over River connects Fort Snelling and St. Paul |
| 1884 | Army Corps of Engineers construct six dams on the River |
| 1912 | in Minnesota to stabilize water levels downstream |
| 1890 | tornado capsizes steamboat "Sea Wing" near Red Wing; 98 of 203 drown, including many local residents |
| 1892 | wagon toll-bridge operates on River at Winona |
| 1900 | logging declining in Minnesota, River loses importance |
| 1930 | logging industry gives way to tourism |
| 1938 | idea of Great River Road Parkway along Mississippi conceived |
| 1946 | Fort Snelling closes as a military post |
| 1988 | Congress designates River, from Dayton to Hastings, as the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area |