St. Paul, Minnesota

St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota and one of two adjoining cities that make up the core of the bustling Twin Cities metropolitan area, the other being Minneapolis. Although St. Paul began its history as a rough-and-tumble frontier town, it has since grown into a bustling, wealthy city that is a major center for education and culture. St. Paul has the second most higher-educational institutions per capita, beaten only by Boston, Massachusetts. The city's official slogan, "The Most Livable City in America," reflects the pride residents feel in the quality of life their city offers.

Landscape

St. Paul has a total land area of about fifty-two square miles, situated in the southeastern portion of Minnesota. The city covers a stretch of gently rolling terrain next to a prominent curve in the Mississippi River, not far from where it converges with the Minnesota River. A full twenty-six miles of shoreline lies within the city's borders, as do eight lakes and more than 150 municipal parks. Minneapolis lies just to the west. St. Paul's major suburbs include Roseville, Maplewood, and Woodbury.

The city itself contains numerous neighborhoods divided into seventeen planning districts, including Dayton's Bluff, Payne-Phalen, and the Greater East Side to the east and Highland, Como, and St. Anthony to the west. Each neighborhood has its own distinct personality. The lively area known as District del Sol, in the West Side district, has a predominantly Latino population whose culture and history are reflected in the neighborhood's public art, restaurants, and businesses.

St. Paul as a whole is characterized by a feeling of elegant old-world charm, and well-preserved Victorian buildings are as likely to greet the visitor as are modern skyscrapers. The St. Paul skyway is a complex network of overhead walkways that connect many downtown buildings.

St. Paul has a temperate climate with large seasonal variations. Winters are extremely cold and lengthy, while summers are warm and pleasant. Thunderstorms and tornadoes are common in the St. Paul metro area during spring and summer. Because of the city's proximity to the river, flooding has occasionally been a problem.

Climate change in St. Paul and throughout Minnesota is causing increased temperatures and extreme precipitation. It is negatively affecting wildlife, waters, and plants.

People

According to the US Census Bureau the population of St. Paul was 303,176 in 2022. During this year, 51.3 percent of the population was White, Black or African Americans constituted an estimated 15.6 percent, and Asians made up 18.4 percent. Of the total population, 8.6 percent identified as Hispanic or Latino and 0.7 percent as American Indian or Alaskan Native. Local officials estimate that more than eighty different languages are spoken in St. Paul's public schools, a figure that reflects the growing diversity of the immigrant population. Between 2018 and 2022, 28.3 percent of St. Paul residents spoke a language other than English at home. In recent decades, small but thriving communities of Somalis as well as Hmong people from Laos have settled in St. Paul, making the city's Hmong population among the largest that can be found in any urban area in the United States.

The first waves of international immigration to Minnesota in the nineteenth century brought large numbers of Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes to the state. As a result, many Minnesotans still identify strongly with their German and Scandinavian heritage. The development of St. Paul, however, was perhaps most influenced by its large Irish immigrant population, more of whom settled in St. Paul than in any other part of the state.

The city celebrates its Irish roots each year with a huge St. Patrick's Day street party, as well as an annual three-day Irish Fair of Minnesota. Another important cultural celebration is the Rondo Days festival, an annual celebration of the African American community. The festival is named after Rondo Avenue, the center of an African American neighborhood that was split apart in the 1960s by the construction of a freeway. St. Paul also hosts the Festival of Nations, an educational festival hosted by the International Institute of Minnesota.

Economy

Industrial manufacturing served as the backbone of the local economy for much of St. Paul's history. By the early twenty-first century, the city had become largely driven by its service sector. The government is one of the largest employers, with around three thousand employees working for the city government alone. The education and health services sectors, the St. Paul Public School system, and the UnitedHealth Group are also large employers.

Manufacturing is still an important force in the St. Paul economy. While the Ford Motor Company's automobile assembly plant was demolished in 2013, the city still serves as the corporate headquarters for 3M, a large multinational technology company whose products include adhesives, abrasives, laminates, and electrical components. Nevertheless, both Ford and 3M were among the many businesses that were hit hard by the financial crisis of 2008–9, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs in the Twin Cities and the eventual closing of the Ford plant. Other major private employers include US Bancorp and Xcel Energy.

In 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Minneapolis area had an unemployment rate of 2.9 percent.

Landmarks

Summit Avenue, in downtown St. Paul, has the distinction of being the site of the world's longest unbroken stretch—five miles—of well-preserved Victorian-era homes, including the former residence of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the city's most famous residents. Not far from Summit Avenue is the historic Commodore Hotel, where Fitzgerald and his family lived for a time and where he wrote the manuscript for The Great Gatsby (1925). Other significant buildings on Summit Avenue include the Governor's Mansion, which was originally the home of St. Paul businessman Horace Hills Irvine, and the James J. Hill House, a private mansion that dates back to 1891.

One of St. Paul's most recognizable landmarks is the Cathedral of St. Paul. Designed by architect E. L. Masqueray and topped by a 306-foot high copper dome, twinned by the dome of the Minnesota State Capitol building just across the street, the cathedral boasts lavish stained-glass windows, marble walls, and two impressive organs. Up to three thousand people can attend services in its sanctuary.

St. Paul has no shortage of museums and other cultural attractions, including the Minnesota Children's Museum, the Minnesota Transportation Museum, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Twin City Model Railroad Museum, the latter of which houses a fully operational model railroad that covers over three thousand square feet. The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is St. Paul's major performing-arts venue, featuring regular performances both by visiting artists and by the Minnesota Opera and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The Twin Cities are also home to the Mall of America, which is located about ten miles southwest of downtown St. Paul, in the suburb of Bloomington. The mall's hundreds of retail outlets, fifty-plus restaurants, and numerous large family attractions make it the largest retail and entertainment complex in the country.

History

The earliest known settlements in the St. Paul area belonged to the Sioux and Ojibwa peoples. In the early nineteenth century, an unofficial treaty between the Sioux and an army lieutenant named Zebulon Montgomery Pike passed the area into American hands. Some decades later, the settlement received its first name, the unusual moniker Pig's Eye, from the first person to make a claim on the land, a French Canadian pub owner named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant. In 1841, a missionary stationed in the area built a modest chapel in dedication to the apostle Paul and renamed the city St. Paul. Eight years later, it was designated the capital of the territory of Minnesota. St. Paul remained the capital when Minnesota became a state in 1858.

Because of St. Paul's convenient location next to the Mississippi River, it served as an ideal distribution center for fur traders. The city became even more well connected to both the surrounding Midwest towns and more far-flung locales with the arrival of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the Great Northern Railway in the latter half of the nineteenth century. St. Paul gained a second major industry in 1886, when stockyards were constructed and the city became an important livestock and meatpacking center. After the decline of the meatpacking industry in the 1970s, the warehouses were transformed into studios and residences for a thriving community of artists.

The 1920s and 1930s represented an unusual time in St. Paul's history. Some time before, the city's then chief of police, John O'Connor, had implemented a policy of nonprosecution against organized-crime figures living in St. Paul as long as no laws were broken within city limits. As a result, numerous organized-crime members and bootleggers found safe harbor in St. Paul during the Prohibition years (1919–33), including such notorious and legendary criminals as John Dillinger, George "Baby Face" Nelson, George "Machine Gun Kelly" Barnes, and Katherine "Ma" Barker.

St. Paul's most significant period of population growth took place between 1900 and 1960, when the city reached a record high of 313,411 residents. Between 1960 and 1990, the population shrank slightly, even as the city underwent a major redevelopment of the downtown area, including both commercial and residential buildings.

In 2019, a Somali American became a city council member in St. Paul for the first time.

Bibliography

Brueggemann, Gary J. "Rendezvous at the Riverbend: Pike's Seven Days in the Land of Little Crow—the Wilderness That Later Became St. Paul." Ramsey County History, vol. 40, no. 2, 2005, pp. 4–16.

Diers, John W., and Aaron Isaacs. Twin Cities by Trolley: The Streetcar Era in Minneapolis and St. Paul. U of Minnesota P, 2007.

Fairbanks, Evelyn. The Days of Rondo. Minnesota Hist. Soc., 1990.

Johanneck, Elizabeth. Twin Cities Prohibition: Minnesota's Blind Pigs and Bootleggers. History, 2011.

Maccabee, Paul. John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920–1936. Minnesota Hist. Soc., 1995.

"Minneapolis-St. Paul Area Economic Summary." Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept. of Labor, 1 May 2019, www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/summary/blssummary‗minneapolis.pdf. Accessed 10 May 2019.

"Museums and History." Visit St. Paul, 2024, www.visitsaintpaul.com/things-to-do/museums-history/. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.

"QuickFacts: St. Paul City, Minnesota." United States Census Bureau, US Dept. of Commerce, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/stpaulcityminnesota/PST045222. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.