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BlueCross and BlueShield Minnesota recovers forgotten time capsules

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BlueCross and BlueShield Minnesota recovers forgotten time capsules


Sprawled out across several tables at the Minnesota History Center are documents and pictures from a time that history forgot.

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“We didn’t really know it existed,” said Monica Engel, the vice president of government markets at BlueCross and BlueShield Minnesota.

When BlueCross built its first major headquarters in St. Paul in 1950, its leaders buried a treasure without a map — at least in a spot no one remembered. But when leaders of the current BlueCross and BlueShield Minnesota decided to consolidate their present headquarters in Eagan and move across the street, they discovered a clue.

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“And what we found is a reference in some blueprints that we had recovered from our main building,” recalled Engel. “And the material really gave us a hint that there were some time capsules within the property of the main building.”

Masons chiseled out a cornerstone dated 1951 and found nothing. But when they chiseled free the adjacent 1970 cornerstone, their curiosity paid off.

“They actually found two-time capsules, one that was from the 1950s and one that was from the 1970s,” said Engel.

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What they contained was a long-lost buried treasure sealed in copper boxes. The team had to cut open the box from the 1950s. The lid sealing the box from the 1970s easily popped off. The contents revealed reports, pictures, a St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper, and an important marketing pamphlet that represents the founding of the insurance company.

“One of the pieces that I actually love is a piece here that references an artist’s rendition of this piece that refers to the Hospital Services Association,” said Engel as she held the picture from the time capsule.

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The Hospital Services Association was formed during the Great Depression as a collection of hospitals that conceived the idea of offering affordable insurance to pay for an injury or illness requiring a hospital stay. The picture sketched by the artist contained a blue cross. When patients started inquiring about the insurance from the organization with the “blue cross,” a brand was born.

“We had the opportunity to really provide coverage to members for less than a dollar a day. You could purchase 21 days in the hospital,” said Engel of the first policies. “And so the business evolved from there.”

What was born as an association of Minnesota hospitals to help patients pay their bills is now a network of BlueCross and BlueShield organizations across the United States.

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The documents from the time capsules are extensive. There is a picture of the groundbreaking for the 1950 St. Paul headquarters. There is also a key presumed to open that original building. And there’s even the handwritten ballots from the board of directors voting in 1970 to move the headquarters to Eagan.

But what stands out to curator Kate Hujda at the Minnesota Historical Society is a typewriter-composed annual report from 1950. Inside the report is a graph that shows how the majority of claims paid by BlueCross were to cover pregnancy and childbirth — a corporate documentation of the post-WWII baby boom.

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“And you can see how much of their cases were covering pregnancy-related issues and just how important health insurance is to mothers and families,” said Hujda.

Together, the documents in the time capsules capture a business promise of delivering more affordable health care that has remained consistent over 90 years. And the fascination about finding such timepieces is not lost on Hujda.

“We love time capsules because they are an embodiment of hope,” said Hujda, who explained that the enduring hope is that someone, someday, will find meaning inside the buried treasure.

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“I love seeing what an organization thought was important at the time, what really mattered to them so much that they wanted to bury it, in this sort of promise to the future,” said Hujda.



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Minnesota

An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota

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An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota


A small airport with a bigger claim to fame is closing in northern Minnesota after more than a half-century of operation. The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport is so named because its runway crosses the US-Canada border, reports Minnesota Public Radio. In fact, it’s been hailed as “the world’s first binational airport,” notes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Despite the bragging rights, however, the airport has been mostly used by hunters and fishermen, and the cost of maintenance has proven to be too much. The airport has a 3,297-foot runway, of which 2,350 feet are in Minnesota and the rest in Canada, per the Grand Forks Herald.

“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” says Ryan Gaug of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The airport opened in 1953 and is one of six now that straddle the border—but only Piney-Pinecreek has a paved runway. “It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” says Gaug. The agency has jointly owned the airport with the municipality of Piney, Manitoba, in Canada, but the town ended the arrangement because it was unable to meet the cost of maintenance. As such, “a colorful era in the history of Minnesota aviation” ends on Friday, per the Herald. (More Minnesota stories.)

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Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo

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Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo


Two St. Stephen residents were involved in an accident Christmas Eve morning.

The accident took place at roughly 7 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 55 and Highway 25 in Buffalo, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. Road conditions were listed as wet at the time of the accident.

St. Stephen’s Hunter Merten, 24, and Amber Burns, 25, were heading west on Highway 55 when their Ford F150 collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Jeep was heading east on Highway 55, and was allegedly turning northbound onto Highway 25 at the time of the accident.

The Jeep’s driver, 22-year-old Dakota Dimond of Maple Lake, was transported to Buffalo Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, according to the incident report. Burns was also taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

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All persons involved were wearing seatbelts.



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Blackhawks leave Minnesota empty-handed again entering holiday break

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Blackhawks leave Minnesota empty-handed again entering holiday break


ST. PAUL, Minn. — Most NHL arenas have been houses of horror for the Blackhawks in recent seasons, but none more so than the Xcel Energy Center.

The Hawks’ 4-3 loss Monday marked their eighth consecutive defeat in Minnesota, where they haven’t won since the 2018-19 season. The Hawks have lost 14 of 15 games against the Wild in any location since 2020.

Wild defenseman Brock Faber, who narrowly lost out on the Calder Trophy to Hawks star Connor Bedard last season, scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period. The Hawks weren’t able to penetrate the Wild’s 1-1-3 neutral-zone trap very often after that.

The Hawks enter the NHL’s three-day Christmas break with a 12-21-2 record, having dropped back-to-back games since their three-game winning streak.

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‘‘When the game is on the line . . . we’ve got to be willing to go and play offensively,’’ interim coach Anders Sorensen said. ‘‘We sat back a little bit too much there. I thought we did that in the home games we played, but these past two road games, not so much.’’

Sorensen’s system changes have made the Hawks more aggressive to start games, but he agreed that the team subconsciously tends to fall back on conservative habits at times in crucial later-game situations.

So how can they break those habits?

‘‘Talk about it, work on it, show it,’’ Sorensen responded. ‘‘It’s going to be a process, for sure.’’

One bright spot was young forward Frank Nazar bouncing back from a rough outing Saturday against the Flames with a strong performance. Sorensen gave Nazar a season-high 16œ minutes of ice time, and the Hawks generated an 11-5 advantage in scoring chances with him on the ice.

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Nazar also notched his first NHL point of the season with an assist on Nick Foligno’s goal in the second period, although the Wild responded within a minute to tie the score. That continued an ongoing Hawks problem with conceding quick-response goals.

‘‘[I] felt a lot better out there,’’ Nazar said. ‘‘I came back after that [Flames] game wanting to do better and not happy with myself, so [I tried] to do my best today.’’

Bedard, who scored the Hawks’ first goal, now has 11 points in nine games under Sorensen. He’s creeping back toward a point-per-game pace with 30 points in 35 games this season.

Swedish roots

Goalie Arvid Soderblom, the Hawks’ lone Swedish player at the moment, never crossed paths with Sorensen before joining the Hawks’ organization. Soderblom grew up in Gothenburg, which is on the west coast of the country, whereas Sorensen grew up and coached in Sodertalje, a city near Stockholm on the east coast. The cities are about a four-hour drive apart.

Nonetheless, Soderblom has heard that the hockey community throughout Sweden is excited about Sorensen becoming the NHL’s first Swedish-born head coach.

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‘‘Of course, you see it has been recognized at home, and people are happy for him,’’ Soderblom said. ‘‘It’s great for Swedish hockey . . . to show that it’s possible. There’s a lot of great coaches in Sweden, so hopefully he can show the way and we can have some more coaches over here.’’

Kubalik’s decline

Looking back at the 2020 Calder Trophy voting results is a mind-blowing exercise.

The top two finishers were Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar and Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, who since have won Norris Trophies. In third was ex-Hawks forward Dominik Kubalik, who now is playing in Switzerland. Behind Kubalik — in fourth place — was Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, who also has turned into a world-class star.

Kubalik’s fall out of the NHL has been as steep as his rise into it. He erupted for 30 goals in 68 games for the Hawks in 2019-20, but he was so awful on the Senators last season that he couldn’t even get an NHL contract as a 28-year-old this past summer.

Notes

The Hawks won’t play again until Friday at the Sabres, who finally snapped their 13-game losing streak with a 7-1 blowout Monday of the Islanders.

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• It seems likely the Hawks will keep Nazar and defenseman Kevin Korchinski in the NHL for the time being, rather than sending them back to the AHL.

Sorensen said Monday, with regard to Korchinski specifically, that he’s ‘‘playing well, so we’ll keep playing him here.’’





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