The Minnesota State Board of Control was created in 1901, under the theory that management of the state institutions should be coordinated under a single governing body. It succeeded the former State Board of Corrections and Charities and the governing boards of the individual state charitable, correctional, and penal institutions. Its members, all appointed by the governor, varied from three to five over the years it was active.
The board appointed superintendents of the state institutions, as well as county welfare boards, and had advisory supervision over county tuberculosis sanitoria. It was also in charge of all building construction done at state expense, made monthly visits to the institutions under its control, and periodically inspected jails, poorhouses, and infirmaries. Other duties included: promoting the enforcement of laws for the prevention of cruelty and the protection of dependent citizens; licensing maternity hospitals and child care facilities; acting as legal guardian of children committed to its care; and carrying out various services or administrative duties for criminals, the blind, and veterans. Until 1905, it also managed the financial affairs of the state normal schools and the University of Minnesota (see Laws of Minnesota 1905, chapter 119).
In 1925, responsibility for state building construction was transferred to the Commissioner of Administration and Finance, and responsibility for the State Sanatorium for Consumptives was transferred to the Department of Public Institutions (see Laws of Minn. 1925, chap. 426). The Control Board was abolished in 1939 and its functions were transferred to the Social Security Department's Divison of Public Institutions and Division of Social Welfare (see Laws of Minn. 1939, chap. 431, sec. 4).
(History adapted from MNHS.)