"Saint Paul" Top 5 Page for this destination Minnesota Favorite Tip by traveldave

Favorite thing: The settlement that was to become Saint Paul was established in the 1840s by French-Canadian voyageurs at a location where two clefts in an 80-foot (24-meter) bluff created a convenient landing.

A retired fur trader named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant established a saloon in the new settlement, which took the name of Pig's Eye Landing. However, Father Lucien Galtier arrived in 1841 and built a chapel dedicated to Saint Paul. He asked that the settlement's name be changed to Saint Paul, which it was.

In 1849, Minnesota became a territory, and Saint Paul was named its capital. When Minnesota became a state in 1858, the city remained its capital. Due to its strategic location on the Mississippi River, Saint Paul became an important center for trade and commerce, especially the fur trade.

Saint Paul continued to prosper and grow, and now, along with its twin city, Minneapolis, forms the center of a metropolitan area of 3,570,000 inhabitants known as the Twin Cities.