by Jacob Dalland
Total solar eclipses are always an amazing and memorable phenomenon to witness, and millions travel to see them. Some of you are most likely traveling to see the one coming soon on April 8th. However, Scott County residents and many other Minnesotans did not have to travel at all to see the one that happened on June 30th, 1954, and perhaps some of you remember that one.
That day, the Moon’s shadow started its race across the globe in Nebraska, where the Sun rose dark. Indeed, all who were living in the American part of the path had to get up early to see the eclipse at totality (that is, when the Moon covered the entire Sun). The Moon’s shadow moved northeast across parts of South Dakota and Iowa before entering Minnesota.
This photo featured in Shakopee Valley News shows a sequence of images from the solar eclipse.
Many Scott County residents did indeed get up early to see the eclipse. It was a clear and comfortably cool morning (Minneapolis was at 62 °F at the time, according to weather almanacs). Some got in their cars and went to high ground to get a good view of the Sun low on the horizon. Smoked glass and negative film were apparently the most common materials people used to observe the eclipse’s progress. Lots of photographers brought out their cameras as well to capture the moment in both black-and-white and color photos as well as some movies.
A photo of a solar eclipse from Leroy Lebens' collection. Unless Leroy traveled for a different eclipse, this photo is likely from the June 30, 1954 solar eclipse.
Totality lasted around two minutes. Some observers in Jordan even timed the length of totality with a stopwatch. Overall, Scott County residents got to experience “nature’s top show”, as the New Prague Times put it. As happens today, visitors from far outside the eclipse path came to see the event.
The total solar eclipse of 1954 was the first “since the white man came to Shakopee”, as the Shakopee Tribune put it. Indeed, the last total solar eclipse in today’s Scott County that happened before 1954 would have been in 1205, which indigenous peoples would have seen assuming the sky was clear. The next total solar eclipse in Scott County will be in 2099; perhaps some young readers will see that one.
Shakopee residents watch the eclipse in progress through smoked glass and other methods of sunlight filtration, while others pose for the camera.
In general, the total solar eclipse of June 30, 1954 was observed under great conditions and became a fun memory for all who saw it. So went the first total solar eclipse in this area’s recorded history.
References
Espenak, Fred. “JavaScript Solar Eclipse Explorer for North America”. Eclipsewise.com: Predictions for Solar and Lunar Eclipses. Last modified January 17, 2015. https://eclipsewise.com/solar/JSEX/JSEX-NA.html.
Espenak, Fred. “Solar Eclipse Prime Page: Solar Eclipse of 1954 Jun 30”. Eclipsewise.com: Predictions for Solar and Lunar Eclipses. Last modified March 3, 2022. https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/1901-2000/SE1954Jun30Tprime.html.
“Fort Snelling, MN Weather History”. Weather Underground. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/mn/minneapolis/KMSP/date/1954-6-30.
Lebens, Leroy. “Solar Eclipse Copy” (photograph). Negative film. 2017.020.8697.
“Perfect Weather at Jordan for Great Solar Eclipse”. Jordan Independent, July 1, 1954, p. 1.
“This Area Treated to Total Eclipse Yesterday Morning”. New Prague Times, July 1, 1954, p. 1.
“This Is What They Saw”. Shakopee Valley News, July 1, 1954, p. 1.