Owing to westward migration, vast regional resources, and local opportunity, its population grew exponentially.
Second, in the post-war period, Civil War veterans who had fought for the Union had formed local units of the Grand Army of the Republic, or GAR.
In Minnesota, state leaders appealed to the GAR for support when architectural plans were being drafted for the capitol building in St. Paul.
,[4][5] In his design, Burnham devoted a significant portion of the main floor of the new courthouse to the Soldiers Memorial Room.
[6] It comprised a library, stage, auditorium, dining room, and kitchen, and was furnished in a style consistent with the courthouse as a whole.
The blueprints for the structure, drafted on oversized sheets of linen, are displayed at the Saint Louis County Courthouse.
Veteran activity at Memorial Hall was still significant, and the Joshua Culvar GAR Post decided to install a new flagpole outside the courthouse.
In the 1990s, a movement to combine Veterans' Memorial Hall with the Saint Louis County Historical Society began, and VMH took on the identity that it has today.
[8] Sustained by the Saint Louis County Historical Society and military service veterans from the "Arrowhead" region of northeastern Minnesota, VMH has, since that time, enhanced its role.
In addition, the site features articles about the history of military units based in northeastern Minnesota.