Saint Paul often abbreviated St. Paul is the capital of the U. One of the oldest cities in Minnesota, Saint Paul has several historic neighborhoods and landmarks, such as the Summit Avenue Neighborhood , the James J. Hill House , and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. According to census estimates, in the city's population was ,, making it the 67th-most populous city in the United States, the 12th-most populous in the Midwest , and the second-most populous in Minnesota.
Minneapolis is mostly across the Mississippi River to the west. Together, they are known as the "Twin Cities" and make up the core of the MinneapolisβSaint Paul metropolitan area , the third most populous metropolitan area in the Midwest. The Dakota name for where Saint Paul is situated is "Imnizaska" for the "white rock" bluffs along the river. Saint Paul has a mayorβcouncil government. Burial mounds in present-day Indian Mounds Park suggest the area was inhabited by the Hopewell Native Americans about 2, years ago.
The explorer Jonathan Carver documented the historic Wakan Tipi in the bluff below the burial mounds in After the Louisiana Purchase , U. Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike negotiated approximately , acres 40, ha; sq mi of land from the indigenous Dakota in to establish a fort. A military reservation was intended for the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers on both sides of the Mississippi up to Saint Anthony Falls.
All of what is now the Highland Park neighborhood was included in this. Pike planned a second military reservation at the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. The Treaty with the Sioux ceded all tribal lands east of the Mississippi to the U.
Many were French-Canadians who predated American pioneers by some time. A whiskey trade flourished among the squatters and the fort's commander evicted them all from the fort's reservation.
