|
About Minneapolis
Sister cities growing up on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, Minneapolis and St. Paul are fraternal, rather than identical twins. Though products of much the same history, the two cities have stubbornly retained distinctive personalities.
Chrome, steel and glass skyscrapers seem to sprout daily in Minneapolis, while St. Paul proudly protects the stately brick and stone mansions of days gone by. Even from a distance the cities' skylines demonstrate their differences. The 57-story IDS skyscraper, a symbol of industrial and corporate strength, dominates Minneapolis. In contrast, St. Paul's Cathedral and the State Capitol dome vie for center stage in St. Paul. However, both cities share an ethnic diversity, home to large numbers of Germans, Irish, Polish, Italians, Scandinavians and American Indians along with newer communities of Southeast Asians and Hispanics.
St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota, but it had humble beginnings as a settlement known as Pig's Eye. In 1807 the forks of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers were selected as the site for Fort Snelling, and the nearby lands were set aside as government reservations. Soon, though, settlers drifted into the reserved lands, and in 1840 an irate federal government drove them from the area.
|
|