Witness to History: 2006

In 2006 Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union having failed to meet the new definition of a planet. Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto had been classified as the ninth planet from the Sun.

Also in 2006, Farrish Johnson Law Office moved from its downtown Union Square location to its new building at 1907 Excel Drive.

Pluto

Once considered the ninth and most distant planet from the sun, Pluto is now the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system. In August 2006 the International Astronomical Union downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet, specifically that it has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects. This means Pluto has not become gravitationally dominant as it is a member of group of objects that orbit in a disc-like zone beyond the orbit of Neptune called the Kuiper Belt.

Pluto in true color, imaged by New Horizons

The question of Pluto’s planet status attracted controversy and stirred debate in the scientific community and among the general public. NASA’s New Horizons mission was the first probe to study Pluto, its moons, and other worlds within the Kuiper Belt, launching in January 2006 and making its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, and taking some of the first high resolution images of Pluto. In 2017, a science group, including members of the New Horizon mission proposed a new definition of planethood based on “round objects in space smaller than stars.”

1907 Excel Drive

Farrish Johnson Law Office has held several offices in Mankato since its inception in 1893. Brothers Harrison L. Schmitt and John W. Schmitt officed out of the I.O.O. F. Building.

Gallagher, Farrish, Sheran & Zimmerman were located in the National Citizens Bank Building, Mankato.

Farrish, Zimmerman, Johnson & Manahan were located in the Ridgely Building at the corner of Main and Broad Streets in downtown Mankato.

Farrish, Johnson, Maschka & Hottinger moved its offices to the Northwestern Office Building at 209 South Second Street, Suite 300, effective August 16, 1976.

The 1997 merger of Farrish, Johnson & Maschka and The McLean Peterson Law Firm saw the offices located in the Union Square Business Center at 201 North Broad Street, Suite 107, in downtown Mankato. Effective September 1, 1999, the office officially became known as Farrish Johnson Law Office P.L.L.P. and continued to office out of Union Square.

From Union Square, Farrish Johnson Law Office made the great leap uptown, designing and building their new office in the Eastwood Industrial Park at 1907 Excel Drive, located just north of Highway 14 and two miles from Highway 169. Farrish Johnson Law Office would become neighbors to R.W. Carlstrom Co., Eide Bailly and Bolton & Menk. This conveniently located office features spacious meeting space and ample parking, making your appointment with a Farrish Johnson attorney near other Mankato amenities including shopping and restaurants.

In 2013, Farrish Johnson expanded to a second location in Madelia, after merging with the Murphy & Young Law Office. This office is located at 110 West Main Street in Madelia.

With our offices in Mankato and Madelia, Farrish Johnson Law Office serves the entire state of Minnesota, including Albert Lea, Austin, Blue Earth, Fairmont, Madelia, Mankato, Minneapolis, New Ulm, North Mankato, Owatonna, Rochester, St. James, St. Paul, St. Peter, Waseca and more!

At a Glance: 2006

February 10, 2006: The 20th Winter Olympic Games open in Turin, Italy. Luciano Pavarotti sings Nessun Dorma in his last ever performance.

Pavarotti’s final public performance before his death

February 23, 2006: The one billionth song is purchased from Apple iTunes.

April 27, 2006: Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.

April 28, 2006: The Guthrie Theatre opens. The new $125 million theater building, stationed along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis, features the theater’s signature thrust stage seating 1,100, a 700-seat proscenium stage and a black-box studio with flexible seating. It also has a 178-foot cantilevered bridge, “The Endless Bridge” to the Mississippi River.

The Guthrie Theater

September 8, 2006: In Minneapolis ground is broken for the new Masjid An-Nur mosque, the first mosque in Minnesota.

The Masjid An-Nur mosque on Lyndale Avenue North in Minneapolis

October 9, 2006: It is announced that Google will purchase YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.

November 7, 2006: Keith Ellison, a Democratic state lawmaker from Minnesota, became the first Muslim elected to Congress.

December 5, 2006: Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy little black dress from film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” auctioned for charity for record $923,187 at Christie’s, London.

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

December 15, 2006: B.B. King is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.

President Bush bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom to blues musician B.B. King during a ceremony at the White House

Popular films that premiered in 2006 include Ice Age: The Meltdown, Mission Impossible III, The da Vinci Code, Little Miss Sunshine, Idiocracy, The Departed, and Borat! On television, Hannah Montana, America’s Got Talent, Heroes, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, and 30 Rock premier.