Minneapolis St Paul history

The mighty Mississippi River was the key to the area's growth. Populated by immigrants from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and northern Germany, Minneapolis was founded on the west bank in 1855, opposite St Anthony Falls. The falls provided power for sawmills and flourmills, which by 1870, made Minneapolis the flour milling capital of the world. The mills are gone but food processing remains a leading industry.

In 1837, the state capital, St Paul, was established on the east bank. First named Pig's Eye, after a saloonkeeper, it took four years before a chapel was erected and the town took the respectable name of St Paul.