Minneapolis

Introduction

Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, once heated rivals, are known today as the Twin Cities and are the nexus of a thriving 11-county metropolitan area. Home to the largest of the four campuses of the University of Minnesota, the area has rich cultural resources and a reputation for civic involvement by ordinary citizens and by its business community. It is home to numerous major corporations, which draw on a well-educated labor pool. In the decades since World War II (1939–45), the region's population has become increasingly a suburban one, but urban redevelopment has kept its central cities vital and safe.