City: Minneapolis, MN

Category: Getting Here, Getting Around

Telephone: St. Paul Service: (651) 777-11

Description: Minneapolis is nicknamed the “City of Lakes” and the “Mill City.” In stark contrast, St. Paul is the “Saintly City” and the “Capital City.” But there are more similarities than differences between the cities—and, in fact, St. Paul’s reputation as the relatively prudish half of the pair is a complete reversal from the Cities’ early history, when St. Paul was about big-city high life and Minneapolis was about a conservative, Puritan work ethic. Human habitation of the Twin Cities area dates back at least 11,500 years to the Paleo-Indians, who hunted big game such as woolly mammoths, then abundant in Minnesota. The Woodland Indians left a rich fossil record: Their burial mounds were scattered throughout Minnesota when the state was settled. Indian Mounds Park, overlooking downtown St. Paul, has some of the area’s finest examples of Hopewell and Dakota Indian mounds. The Mississippian cultures of the Dakotas and Ojibwes replaced these early peoples. Archaeologists posit that this occurred between a.d. 800 and 1000. The mounds and their human remains, tools, and other artifacts are protected as the historical record of the first known local residents.In the past, the Ojibwes, or Ojibwas, were often referred to as the Chippewas and had origins in the area near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The skilled hunters’ territories expanded to include parts of the northern metropolitan Twin Cities. While the Ojibwes’ origins were to the east and north, the Dakotas were western Plains Indians, who at the time of European exploration occupied the Twin Cities, western and southern Minnesota, and much of present-day North Dakota and South Dakota. The French referred to the Dakotas as Sioux, a meaningless abridgement of the Ojibwe term Nadouessioux. The word translates as “little viper” or “lesser enemy.” The derogatory name stuck for centuries, until recently when the tribe publicly assumed the proper, and more respectful, name Dakota. Both the Dakotas and Ojibwes were hunting societies, and they evolved tremendously by incorporating European tools, wares, and implements such as guns, hatchets, blankets, knives, and kettles. The contact and cultural exchange transformed the local American Indians and the Europeans. The Europeans rapidly pushed the less densely populated American Indians from their lands through treaties and warfare. Frequently internecine warfare occurred between the Dakotas, usually supported and supplied by the British, and the Ojibwes, supported by the French. However, the French voyageurs were the first Europeans to leave a mark on the area, even if they did not establish a permanent settlement.The names of French explorers and traders are found on the streets, avenues, counties, and institutions in the Twin Cities. Father Louis Hennepin, a Belgian, explored French territories—including the area that became the Twin Cities—in 1680 and three years later wrote the then-best-selling book Description of Louisiana, in which he exaggerated the splendor of the area’s natural wonders. During his visit he named the Falls of St. Anthony—which remain, as the only waterfall on the Mississippi River—after his patron saint. The town of St. Anthony, today a Minneapolis neighborhood, was located across the Mississippi River from the later birthplace of Minneapolis. In 1872 St. Anthony and Minneapolis merged. Hennepin’s name is commemorated in Minneapolis’s most famous thoroughfare, Hennepin Avenue, and the county of the same name. Fur trapping remained important in the area for well over a century, but a permanent settlement in the area did not occur until the United States won independence from England. Fort Snelling was the first site permanently settled in Minnesota. The federal government established the fort to protect the then-northwestern edge of the United States. Lt. Col. Henry Leavenworth came to the present site of Fort Snelling in 1819, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Today the fort adjoins Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. Leavenworth didn’t care for Minnesota winters, however, and he was reassigned to Florida in 1820. Command of the distant outpost went to Col. Josiah Snelling, and Snelling oversaw the construction of what was first known as Fort St. Anthony. The fort was completed in 1825 and was renamed in honor of its commander that same year. The fort sits on a cliff overlooking the rivers and remains one of the Twin Cities’ grandest overlooks. When Fort Snelling was constructed, civilians began squatting in the area to serve the needs of soldiers and take advantage of the protection of the U.S. military.The birth of St. Paul was a colorful page of Twin Cities history. Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, a 60-year-old former voyageur, was the liquor bootlegger for the soldiers and citizens in and around Fort Snelling. Parrant’s nickname was the result of his disfigured and blind eye; “Pig’s Eye” was the original name given to St. Paul. Not surprisingly, the porcine name for the city did not last. In 1840 a young Catholic priest, Lucian Galtier, arrived in Pig’s Eye, where he christened the Chapel of St. Paul. Afterward the city was generally referred to as St. Paul’s Landing. Following the arrival of the post office in 1846, the city’s name was shortened to St. Paul.Just up the Mississippi, the emergence of the other twin city, Minneapolis, was less colorful. The town of St. Anthony was founded in 1849 as a milling and lumbering center; settlers also inhabited the area that now comprises downtown Minneapolis in the 1840s, just across the Mississippi River from St. Anthony. The village of Minneapolis was not officially founded until 1856, four years after Congress rescinded 26,000 acres from Fort Snelling’s control. This allowed squatters such as Col. John H. Stevens to claim and develop the land that would become downtown Minneapolis. Minneapolis’s name has interesting origins. It is an amalgam of words from two languages, the Dakota word minne, meaning “waters,” and polis, the Greek word for “city.” Minneapolis was founded on the west bank of the Mississippi River and St. Anthony on the east bank. In the 21st century it is difficult to believe that St. Anthony’s importance early in its history eclipsed Minneapolis’s, which had a relatively late start and was not chartered as a city until 1867. But as time marched on, Minneapolis’s growth significantly outpaced St. Anthony’s. In 1855 a suspension bridge was constructed to link the two communities. It was the first permanent bridge across the Mississippi River, and it created extensive commercial and civic ties between the rapidly expanding urban centers. The two cities merged in 1872, which established a much larger Minneapolis. The Twin Cities’ growth had a significant impact on Minnesota, which became a territory in 1849 and the 32nd state in 1858.