Saint Paul (, abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital and second most populous city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies on the north bank of the Mississippi River, downstream of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city. Known as the Twin Cities, these two cities form the core of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.2 million residents. The city's population at the 2000 census was 287,151. Saint Paul serves as the county seat of Ramsey County, the smallest and most densely populated county in Minnesota.^[1]

Founded near historic Native American settlements as a trading and transportation center, the city rose to prominence when it was named the capital of the Minnesota Territory in 1849. Though Minneapolis is more nationally recognized, Saint Paul contains important institutions and the state's political activity.^[2] Regionally, the city is popular for the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild,^[3] and for the Science Museum of Minnesota.^[4][5] As a business hub of the Upper Midwest, it is headquarters for companies such as The Travelers Companies and Lawson Software.^[6]

The settlement originally began at present-day Lambert's Landing but was referred to as Pig's Eye's Landing, when Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant established a popular tavern there. When Minnesota became a territory in 1849, the town's leadership realized that a place called Pig's Eye might not inspire civic confidence, and incorporated the city's name as Saint Paul after the former Saint Paul's Chapel.^[7]

History

Burial mounds in present-day Indian Mounds Park suggest the area was originally inhabited by the Hopewell Native Americans about 2000 years ago.^[8][9] From the early 17th century until 1837 the Mdewakanton Dakota, a tribe of the Sioux, lived near the mounds after fleeing their ancestral home of Mille Lacs Lake from advancing Ojibwe.^[10][8] They called the area I-mni-za ska dan ("little white rock") from the exposed white sandstone cliffs.^[11][12]

Indian Mounds at Indian Mounds Park on Dayton's Bluff overlook downtown Saint Paul.

Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, a U.S. Army officer named Zebulon Pike negotiated for approximately of land from the local Dakota tribes in 1805 for the establishment of a fort. The territory was located on both banks of the Mississippi River starting from Saint Anthony Falls in present-day Minneapolis to the confluence with the Saint Croix River.^[13] Fort Snelling was built on the territory in 1819 at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, which formed a natural barrier to both Native American nations. The 1837 Treaty with the Sioux ceded all local tribal land east of the Mississippi to the U.S. Government.^[14] Taoyateduta (Chief Little Crow V) moved his band at Kaposia across the river to the south.^[15][16] Fur traders, explorers, and missionaries came to the area for the fort's protection. Many of the settlers were French Canadians and lived nearby. However, as a whiskey trade flourished, military officers banned settlers from the fort-controlled lands. Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, a retired fur trader-turned-bootlegger who particularly irritated officials,^[7] set up his tavern, the Pig's Eye, near present-day Lambert's Landing.^[12] By the early 1840s, the community had become important as a trading center and a destination for settlers heading west. Locals called the area Pig's Eye (French: L'?il du Cochon) or Pig's Eye Landing after Parrant's popular tavern.^[7]

In 1841, Father Lucien Galtier was sent to minister to the Catholic French Canadians and established a chapel on the bluffs above Lambert's Landing named for his favorite saint, Paul the Apostle.^[17][18] Galtier intended for the settlement to adopt the name Saint Paul in honor of the new chapel.^[7] In 1847 a New York educator named Harriet Bishop moved to the area and opened the city's first school.^[19] The Minnesota Territory was formalized in 1849 and Saint Paul named as capital. In 1857, the territorial legislature voted to move the capital to Saint Peter. However, Joe Rolette, a territorial legislator, stole the physical text of the approved bill and went into hiding, thus preventing the move.^[20] On May 11, 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the union as the thirty-second state with Saint Paul as the capital.

Steamboats docked in 1858, likely at Lambert's Landing.

On August 20, 1904, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes damaged hundreds of downtown buildings causing USD $1.78 million (1904) in damages in the city and ripping spans from the High Bridge.^[22] In the 1960s during urban renewal, Saint Paul razed western neighborhoods close to downtown.^[23] The city also contended with creation of the interstate freeway system in a fully built landscape.^[24] From 1959 to 1961, the western Rondo neighborhood was obliterated by the construction of Interstate 94 and brought attention to racial segregation and unequal housing in northern cities.^[25][26] The Rondo Days celebration annually commemorates the African American community.^[27]

Downtown had short skyscraper booms beginning in the 1970s. The tallest buildings were constructed in the late 1980s such as Galtier Plaza (Jackson and Sibley Towers), The Pointe of Saint Paul condominiums, and the city's tallest building Wells Fargo Place (formerly Minnesota World Trade Center).^[28] The 1990s to 2000s continued the tradition of ushering in new immigrant groups. As of 2004, nearly 10% of the city's population were recent Hmong immigrants from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar.^[29]

Geography

The Meeker Island Lock and Dam was the first lock and dam on the Mississippi River in 1902.

The Mississippi River forms a municipal boundary on part of the city's west, southwest and southeast sides. Minneapolis, the state's largest city lies to the west; Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Roseville, and Maplewood are north; Maplewood is also to the east; the cities of West Saint Paul and South Saint Paul are to the south; and Lilydale, Mendota and Mendota Heights lie across the river from the city to the south. The city's largest lakes are Pig's Eye Lake, in the river, Lake Phalen, and Lake Como. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.2 square miles (145.5 km²). 52.8 square miles (136.7 km²) of it is land and 3.4 square miles (8.8 km²) of it (6.07%) is water.^[31]

Neighborhoods

Saint Paul's Department of Planning and Economic Development divides Saint Paul into 17 Planning Districts, created in 1979 to allow neighborhoods to participate in governance and utilize Community Development Block Grants. With a funding agreement directly from the city, the councils share a pool of funds.^[32] The councils have significant land-use control, a voice in guiding development, and they organize residents.^[33] The boundaries are adjusted depending on population changes, as such, they sometimes overlap established neighborhoods.^[34]

The city's seventeen Planning Districts are:

• 1. Sunray-Battlecreek-Highwood
• 2. Greater East Side
• 3. West Side
• 4. Dayton's Bluff
• 5. Payne-Phalen
• 6. North End
• 7. Thomas Dale (Frogtown)
• 8. Summit-University
• 9. West Seventh
• 10. Como
• 11. Hamline-Midway
• 12. Saint Anthony Park
• 13. Union Park
• 14. Macalester-Groveland
• 15. Highland (Highland Park)
• 16. Summit Hill
• 17. Downtown

Climate

The city skyline from the southwest in the winter.

Due to its northerly location in the United States and lack of large bodies of water to moderate the air, Saint Paul is sometimes subjected to cold Arctic air masses, especially during late December, January and February. The average annual temperature of 45.4 °F (7 °C) gives the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area the coldest annual mean temperature of any major metropolitan area in the continental U.S.^[35]

Demographics

Cinco De Mayo festival in 2007. The Latin and Hispanic communities (though primarily Mexican) have focused on Saint Paul's West Side

By 1800, French Canadian explorers came through the region and attracted fur traders to the area. Fort Snelling and nearby Pig's Eye Tavern also brought the first Yankees from New England and English, Irish, and Scottish immigrants who had enlisted in the army and settled nearby after discharge. These early settlers and entrepreneurs built houses on the heights north of the river. The first wave of immigration came with the Irish who settled at Connemara Patch along the Mississippi, named for their home in Connemara Ireland. The Irish would become prolific in politics, city governance, and public safety much to the chagrin of the Germans and French who had grown into the majority. In 1850, the first of many waves of Swedish immigrants passed through Saint Paul on their way to farming communities in northern and western regions of the territory. A large group settled in Swede Hollow which would later become home to Poles, Italians and Mexicans. The last Swedish presence had moved up Saint Paul's East Side along Payne Avenue in the 1950s.^[36] In terms of people who specified European ancestry in the 2000 Census, the city was 21.5% (73,265) German, 10.8% (36,699) Irish and 7.0% (24,035) Norwegian ancestry with almost all other European ancestries represented.^[37]

By the 1980s, the Thomas Dale area, once a Austro-Hungarian enclave known as Frogtown (German: Froschburg), became home to Vietnamese who left their war-torn country. Soon after a settlement program for the Hmong diaspora came and by 2000, the Saint Paul Hmong were the largest urban contingent in the United States.^[38][39][40] Mexican immigrants have settled in Saint Paul's West Side since the 1930s, and have grown enough that Mexico opened a foreign consulate in the 2005.^[41][42]

The majority of residents claiming religious affiliation are Christian, split between the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations. The Roman Catholic presence comes from Irish, German, Scottish, and French Canadian settlers who in time would be bolstered by Hispanic immigrants. There are Jewish synagogues such as Mount Zion Temple and relatively small populations of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Pagans.

As of the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 287,151 people, 112,109 households, and 60,987 families residing in the city.^[43] The racial makeup of the city was 67.02% White, 11.71% African American, 1.13% Native American, 12.36% Asian (mostly Hmong and Vietnamese), 0.07% Pacific Islander, 3.84% from other races, and 3.87% from two or more races.^[43] Hispanic or Latino of any race (incl. white) were 7.91% of the population. The median income for a household in the city was $38,774. About 15.6% of the population were living below the poverty line.^[43]

Economy

A merging of the St. Paul Companies and Travelers of Hartford, The Travelers Companies operates in every U.S. state and is 93 on the Fortune 500 as of 2008.

Major corporations headquartered in Saint Paul include The Travelers Companies, a major insurance firm,^[45] Ecolab, a chemical and cleaning product company^[46] which was named in 2008 by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal as the eighth best place to work in the Twin Cites for companies with 1,000 full-time Minnesota employees,^[47] Securian Financial Group Inc.,^[48] Lawson Software, a business software and support company,^[49] and Gander Mountain, a retailer of sporting goods which operates 115 stores in 23 states.^[50]

The 3M Company is often cited as one of Saint Paul's companies though it is located in adjacent Maplewood, Minnesota. 3M employees 16,000 people throughout Minnesota.^[51] St. Jude Medical, a manufacturer of medical devices, is directly across the municipal border of Saint Paul in Little Canada^[52] though the companies address is listed in Saint Paul.^[53] Patterson Dental, a dental supply company, also has a Saint Paul mailing address,^[54] but it is located in Mendota Heights.^[55]

The city is home to the Ford Motor Company which opened the Twin Cities Assembly Plant in 1924. Recently slated for closing, Ford now expects the plant to remain open through at least 2011 despite massive corporate losses.^[56] The site is located in Highland Park on the Mississippi River adjacent to a company-owned dam, which generates hydroelectric power.^[57]

Culture

Como Park, Zoo, and Conservatory is a free public greenhouse and urban zoo open year round.

The city is associated with the Minnesota State Fair located in nearby Falcon Heights as the fair grounds are just north of the Midway neighborhood and southeast of the University of Minnesota Saint Paul Campus. Though Fort Snelling is on the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi River bluff, the area including Fort Snelling State Park and Pike Island is managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources headquartered in the city.^[59]

Saint Paul is the birthplace of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts) who lived in Merriam Park from infancy until early 1960.^[60] Schulz' Snoopy cartoon inspired decorated giant Peanuts sculptures around the city, a chamber of commerce promotion in the late 1990s.^[61] Other notables include playwright August Wilson who lived in the city from 1978 until 1990. He wrote much of his decalogue of plays about the African-American experience in the 20th century during this time, premiering at the Penumbra Theatre. Other 20th century notables include renowned painter LeRoy Neiman and photographer John Vachon.^[62]

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Saint Paul hosts a number of museums including the University of Minnesota's Goldstein Museum of Design;^[68] The Minnesota Children's Museum;^[69] The Schubert Club Museum of Musical Instruments;^[70][71] The Minnesota Museum of American Art;^[72][73] The Traces Center for History and Culture;^[74] The Minnesota History Center; The Alexander Ramsey House; The James J. Hill House; The Minnesota Transportation Museum; The Science Museum of Minnesota; and The Twin City Model Railroad Museum.

Media

Minnesota Public Radio headquarters in downtown Saint Paul

Saint Paul is home to Minnesota Public Radio, a three-format system that broadcasts on nearly 40 stations^[75] around the Midwest. MPR locally delivers news and information, classical, and The Current (which plays a wide variety of music). The station regionally has 94,000 members and more than 800,000 listeners each week throughout the Upper Midwest, the largest audience of any regional public radio network.^[76] Also operating as part of American Public Media, MPR's programming reaches 5 million listeners, most notably through A Prairie Home Companion hosted by Garrison Keillor, who also lives in the city.^[76] The Fitzgerald Theater, renamed in 1994 for Irish native and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald is home to the show.^[77]

Sports

The Xcel Energy Center, configured for professional hockey. The arena also supports other professional sports, concerts and other event. The Center hosted the 2008 Republican National Convention in September 2008.

Saint Paul hosts a number of professional, semi-professional and amateur sports teams. The Minnesota Wild^[3] and the Minnesota Swarm both play their home game in downtown Saint Paul's Xcel Energy Center, which was built for the Wild in 2000. The Wild brought the NHL back to Minnesota for the first time since 1993, when the Minnesota North Stars left the city for Dallas, Texas.^[3] Citing the history of hockey in the Twin Cities and teams at all levels, Sports Illustrated affectionately called Saint Paul the new Hockeytown U.S.A. in 2007.^[80]

The Xcel Energy Center, a multi-purpose entertainment and sports venue, can be converted to host concerts and accommodate nearly all sporting events. The Xcel Energy Center is located on the site of the demolished Saint Paul Civic Center. The Xcel Energy Center hosts the Minnesota high school boys hockey tournament and concerts though out the year. In 2004, it was named the best overall sports venue in the U.S. by ESPN.^[81] Previously, the Minnesota Fighting Saints had played in Saint Paul from 1972 to 1977.

The St. Paul Saints is the city's semi-professional baseball team. Originally founded in 1884, they were shut down in 1961 after the Minnesota Twins moved to Minneapolis. The St. Paul Saints were brought back in 1993 as an independent baseball team in the Northern League of the American Association. Their home games are played at open-air Midway Stadium in Energy Park in the northwest section of the city.^[82] Four noted Major League All Star baseball players are natives of Saint Paul: Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield, Hall of Fame infielder Paul Molitor, pitcher Jack Morris and catcher Joe Mauer. The all black St. Paul Colored Gophers played four seasons in Saint Paul from 1907 to 1911.^[83]

The St. Paul Twin Stars of the National Premier Soccer League play their home games at James Griffin Stadium.^[84] The first curling club in Saint Paul was founded in 1888. The current club, the Saint Paul Curling Club, was founded in 1912 and is the largest curling club in the United States.^[85] The Minnesota RollerGirls are a flat-track roller derby league that is based in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. Minnesota's oldest athletic organization, the Minnesota Boat Club resides in the Mississippi River on Raspberry Island. The club has produced world-class rowers for over a century.^[86]

The Minnesota Timberwolves, Twins, and Vikings all play in Minneapolis.

Government and politics

Vision of Peace by Carl Milles inside City Hall.

Saint Paul is governed via a variation of the strong mayor-council form of government.^[87] The mayor is the chief executive and chief administrative officer for the city and the seven member city council is the legislative body.^[88][89] The mayor is elected by the entire city, while members of the city council are elected from seven different geographic wards, which have approximately equal populations.^[90][91] Both the mayor and council members serve four-year terms.^[92] The current mayor is Chris Coleman (DFL), who is unrelated to former mayor Norm Coleman. Coleman follows a long line of Irish mayors and he is the ninth since 1900. Aside from Norm Coleman (1994-2002) who became a Republican in his second term, Saint Paul has not elected a Republican mayor since 1952.^[93]

Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse

State and federal

Saint Paul is the capital of the state of Minnesota. The city hosts the capitol building, designed by Saint Paul resident Cass Gilbert, and the House and Senate office buildings. The Minnesota Governor's Residence, which is used for some state functions, is on Summit Avenue. Minnesota's two major political parties are headquartered in Saint Paul. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, affiliated with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Minnesota. Many state departments and services are headquartered throughout Saint Paul such as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The city is represented by 12 people in the Minnesota Legislature.^[96][97] The latest biannual election was in 2006. At the Federal level, the city is in Minnesota's 4th congressional district, represented by Betty McCollum, a Democrat. In the Senate, Minnesota is represented by Norm Coleman, now a Republican but formerly a Democratic Saint Paul mayor, and Amy Klobuchar, a former Hennepin County Attorney, a Democrat.

Note: Ellen Anderson and Alice Hausman also represent Falcon Heights.

Education

Saint Paul Public Library

Saint Paul is second in the United States in the number of higher education institutions per capita.^[98] Higher education institutions that call Saint Paul home include three public and eight private colleges and universities, and five post-secondary institutions. Well-known colleges and universities include: the College of Saint Catherine, Concordia University, Hamline University, Macalester College, and the University of St. Thomas. Metropolitan State University and Saint Paul College, which focus on non-traditional students, are based in Saint Paul, as well as two law schools, William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University School of Law.^[99]

The Saint Paul Public Schools district is the state's second largest school district and serves approximately 42,000 students. The district is extremely diverse with students from families speaking 70 different languages, although only four languages are used for most school communication. Those languages are English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali. The district runs 67 different schools including 48 elementary schools, eight middle schools, seven high schools, three alternative schools and one special education school, employing over 6,500 teachers and staff. The school district also oversees community education programs for pre-K and adult learners, including Early Childhood Family Education, GED Diploma, language programs and various learning opportunities for community members of all ages. In 2006, Saint Paul Public Schools celebrated its 150th anniversary.^[100]

A variety of K-12 private, parochial and public charter schools are also represented in the city. In 1992, Saint Paul became the first city in the U.S. to sponsor and open a charter school, now found in most states across the nation.^[101] Saint Paul is currently home to 21 charter schools as well as 38 private schools.^[102]

Transportation

I-94 as it enters downtown Saint Paul from the west.

Resident utilize Interstate 35E running north-south, and Interstate 94 running east-west. Trunk highways include U.S. Highway 52, Minnesota State Highway 280, and Minnesota State Highway 5. Saint Paul has several unique roads such as Ayd Mill Road and Shepard Road/Warner Road, which diagonally follow particular geographic features in the city. Metro Transit provides bus service and connects the city to the existing Hiawatha Line light rail via dedicated bus routes but will not have its own line, the Central Line along University Avenue until 2014.^[103] Downtown Saint Paul has a five mile (8 km) enclosed skyway system over twenty-five city blocks.^[104] Biking is also gaining popularity due to paved bike lanes which connect to other bike routes throughout the metropolitan area.^[105]

The layout of city streets and roads has often drawn complaints. Jesse Ventura brought up the city's roadways during an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman while Governor of Minnesota.^[106] Ventura later apologized for his remark that the streets had been designed by "drunken Irishmen," although people had already been complaining about the fractured grid system for more than a century by that point.^[107] Some of the city road design is the result of the curve of the Mississippi River, hilly topography, conflicts between developers of different neighborhoods in the early city, and grand plans only half-realized. Outside of downtown, the roads are less confusing, but most roads are named, rather than numbered, increasing the difficulty for non-natives to navigate.^[108] Due to neighborhood autonomy, some roads suddenly change names without warning.

Amtrak's Empire Builder between Chicago and Seattle stops once daily in each direction at nearby Midway Station.^[109] Ridership on the train is increasing, about 6% from 2005 to over 505,000 in fiscal year 2007.^[110] Increased ridership has prompted southern Minnesota leaders to plan for an expansion of Amtrak's service in the area, including an overhaul of Saint Paul's Union Station.^[110] Saint Paul is the site of the Pig's Eye Yard, a major freight Classification yard for Canadian Pacific Railway.^[111] As of 2003, the yard handled over 1,000 freight cars per day.^[111] Both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe run trains through yard, though they are not classified at Pig's Eye.^[111] Burlington Northern Santa Fe operates the large Northtown Yard in Minneapolis, which handles about 600 cars per day.^[112] There are several other small yards located around the city.

Saint Paul Downtown Airport (Holman Field)

Sister cities

Saint Paul has ten sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:^[117]

• Changsha (China)
• Ciudad Romero (El Salvador)
• Culiacan (Mexico)
• Hadera (Israel)
• Lawaaikamp (South Africa)
• Manzanillo (Mexico)
• Nagasaki (Japan)
• Neuss (Germany)
• Novosibirsk (Russia)
• Tiberias (Israel)

Neighboring communities

Footnotes

External links

• City of Saint Paul ? Official site
• Saint Paul Public Library site
• City of Saint Paul ? Department of Parks and Recreation, a list of city parks, programming, recreation centers, opening hours and other information.
• Official Tourism site ? Visitor Information

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