When driving through the Twin Cities, it's sometimes hard to discern which city you are actually in. There is no visible dividing line; the cities really do blend into one another. Despite this, some say that the differences are vast. St. Paul is a bit smaller than Minneapolis, lending it more of a hometown feel. Minneapolis is considered more cosmopolitan, and is certainly larger. Some people from St. Paul may say that Minneapolis is a den of vice, whereas people from Minneapolis may think of St. Paul as being too quiet, with its empty nighttime sidewalks. Of course, neither of these is a completely accurate picture. Most visitors flit back and forth between the two cities to enjoy the charms of each.

Minneapolis

Downtown/Theater District/Nicollet Mall Minneapolis is known as "The City of Lakes." Famous for its beautiful chain of lakes and annual summertime Aquatennial festival, the city also boasts a thriving downtown with a world-class theater district. Remember that scene at the beginning of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," when Mary flings her hat into the air with careless abandon? That took place on Nicollet Mall, the bustling shopping corridor that runs parallel to the Hennepin Avenue theater district. From its grubby, tough beginnings as a lumber and grain mill town, Minneapolis has changed into the Crystal City.

Mill Area On the riverfront end of the city, renovation is underway on the Milwaukee Road Depot, a project that includes restaurants, a hotel and a skating rink. Many old mills still stand along the river, and they are slowly being remodeled for other uses. Across Washington Avenue, many old warehouses are also being renovated to revitalize the area. Open Book is a literary center in the area housing four major book-oriented organizations. The Metrodome is just a couple blocks further in.

Warehouse District Follow Washington Avenue across Hennepin Avenue, and you come to the Warehouse District, a hot spot for nightlife. Rosen's , South Beach, or Chez Bananas might be the spot for your next night out.

Uptown A little south of downtown on Hennepin Avenue is the district known as Uptown. Uptown is the Minneapolis equivalent of Greenwich Village. Dotted with coffee shops and vintage clothing stores, it is a throbbing blend of bohemian and cosmopolitan. At the corner of Hennepin and Lake is Calhoun Square, full of shops and restaurants. Don't miss Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que , where the atmosphere replicates the experience of being under the El in Chicago, complete with a train going over every few minutes. Head left on Lake and you can hit Cheapo for a vast selection of used CD's and a backroom full of pressed vinyl.

The Lakes and Linden Hills As Hennepin Avenue winds away from Uptown, it hits 36th Street. Take a right here, and follow it directly to one of the favored recreational lakes in the area, Lake Calhoun. Hop on a trolley aound the lake, or join one of the many people skating, running, or biking on the path around it. Calhoun is just one in the chain of lakes that lies south of downtown. To the south of Lake Calhoun is the Linden Hills neighborhood. Linden Hills is full of little antique and gift shops, and don't miss the Turtle Bread Company. Their chocolate bread will melt in your mouth!

Nordeast On the opposite side of downtown, take the Hennepin Avenue bridge to the other side of the river where there is an assortment of restaurants and nightspots. You will find some of the best Eastern European food in the cities, along with Mexican, Mediterranean, Asian, and American. Polish and Ukrainian immigrants made this area their home early in the 20th century. The area is known as Nordeast (being northeast of downtown), and it is popular with the University crowd.

Dinkytown The University crowd is so pervasive, in fact, that they have created their own little city, called Dinkytown. In this area, crowned by the Dinkydome, you can find many bastions of college life: bookstores (try Cummings Books , a great little nook with tons of gems), coffee houses, sports bars, clothing stores, fast food, music stores, restaurants, and copy centers. The streets resemble a little village, in an area that's only about four square blocks. Frat houses line University Avenue, along with the imposing castle buttresses of the ROTC.

Cedar/Riverside On the other side of the river is the West Bank campus, which abuts the Cedar/Riverside area. If you want international, authentic and direct, try Cedar Avenue. African, Asian, Indian are all represented here. Intercontinental Video offers a wide selection of international films. This street is also the scene of Cedarfest, an annual August music festival that draws a diverse crowd. If it's pierced or tattooed, you'll see it at Cedarfest. The bars along this little strip are hot music venues, and what they lack in elegance they make up for in sound.

St. Paul

Midway/Frogtown University Avenue continues on past the frat houses, over Highway 280, and into St. Paul, running parallel with I-94. On this main drag, you can pull up in your car for a chilidog at Porky's. Classic car buffs still bring their showy vehicles here on summer evenings. The area from Cretin to around Lexington is known as the Midway. Many of the establishments along this strip date from the 50s: the Turf Club , Christiansens , and Midway Bank. You will find a few places to while away an afternoon. Midway Used and Rare Books, with three floors of books, is prominent on the corner of Snelling and University Avenue. Further down University Avenue, past Lexington, is what is known as Frogtown. The area is fast becoming a center of Asian businesses, with a variety of markets, restaurants and services.

Como Between Snelling and Lexington north of University Avenue is the Como area, containing the green jewel of Como Park. Como Park is home to Como Park Zoo , Como Park Conservatory , Como Golf Course , the Como Lake Pavillion, and acres of green space for picnics, games and outings. To the west of the Como area, across Snelling, are the Minnesota State Fair Grounds. Events are held on the grounds year-round. Just north, across Highway 36, is Rosedale Shopping Center .

Downtown St. Paul The downtown St. Paul interchange was dubbed "Spaghetti Junction" some time ago, but it has vastly improved in recent years. Across the freeway from the Capitol is the heart of downtown, with the Minnesota History Center easily visible from the freeway. The St. Paul riverfront has undergone a facelift over the last few years, just like Minneapolis. Recently renovated co-op loft apartments, the brand new Science Museum built into the bluff, and the new arena, RiverCentre, all line Kellogg Blvd along the river. The Ordway Center for Performing Arts , Heartthrob Cafe, and the Children's Museum are all located downtown as well. Each January the century-old Winter Carnival is celebrated in St. Paul. Many of the events take place downtown in Rice Park, in front of the Landmark Center .

Cross the river on the Robert Street Bridge, and you will find Harriet Island to your right. This is the home of the Covington Inn and the No Wake Café. Take a riverboat ride on one of the boats of the Padelford Packet Company .

Cathedral Hill to Highland Park Overlooking downtown on the west is the St. Paul Cathedral , which is open to visitors. The area there is aptly known as Cathedral Hill, and business and government workers from downtown gather for lunch in the bars and restaurants in the neighborhood's Victorian-era buildings. The popular Costello's and W A Frost on Selby Avenue offer tasty food and a solid selections of beverages. Further west from downtown between I-94 and Ford Parkway, from Cretin to Snelling, are three private colleges. This concentration of college students makes for many energetic neighborhoods: Highland Park, Macalester-Groveland, Merriam Park, and Crocus Hill. Grand Avenue is lined with shops, restaurants, and bars. This area is heaven for those who like to browse, drink and eat. Get here early on a Friday, or be prepared to walk a few blocks; parking isn't easy. One block up from Grand is Summit Avenue, one of the greatest extant neighborhoods of Victorian architecture in the country. Starting at the James J. Hill House as a two-lane street, Summit turns into a broad, sweeping parkway, separated down the middle by a parklike island that is frequented by joggers and strollers. Summit Avenue house tours are offered Saturdays during the summer and other tours, such as Garden Tours, are offered throughout the year. James J. Hill House tours are also available year-round.

West Seventh Street The West 7th St corridor still holds some vestiges of the good old days. Here you can still find the traditional supper club, such as Mancini's Char House or Parrish's Supper Club. Famous Dave's has a location on this stretch. Although the Pearson's Salted Nut Rolls plant recently retired their trademark giant candy bar sign, Mickey's Diner is still staying put, in all its neon splendor. You can find the other Mickey's Diner downtown, across from the Greyhound Bus Depot. This 1930s dining car is on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been featured in many movies. West Seventh Street eventually runs into Highway 5, which runs directly to the airport.

There is so much to see and do in the Twin Cities that it's hard to know where to start. The best advice is to just get started. Spend a few days meandering. No matter where you hit, you are bound to find what you're looking for, even if it's just a bit of relaxation.

is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. The 12th-largest state by area in the U.S., it is the 21^st most populous, with just over five million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 32^nd state on May 11, 1858. The state is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", and those lakes and the other waters for which the state is named, together with state and national forests and parks, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.
Nearly 60% of Minnesota's residents live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities, the center of transportation, business, and industry, and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state, often referred to as "Greater Minnesota" or "Outstate Minnesota", consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; eastern deciduous forests, also heavily farmed and settled; and the less populated northern boreal forest. The state's image of being populated by whites of Nordic and German descent has some truth, but diversity is increasing; substantial influxes of African, Asian, and Latin American immigrants have joined the descendants of European immigrants and of the original Native American inhabitants.
The extremes of the climate contrast with the moderation of Minnesota’s people. The state is known for its moderate-to- progressive politics and social policies, its civic involvement, and high voter turnout. It ranks among the healthiest states by a number of measures, and has one of the most highly educated and literate populations.

Etymology

The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota language name for the Minnesota River: Mnisota. The root Mni (also spelled mini or minne) means, "water". Mnisota can be translated as sky-tinted water or somewhat clouded water. Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mnisota. Many locations in the state have similar names, such as Minnehaha Falls ("waterfall", not "laughing waters" as is commonly thought), Minneiska ("white water"), Minnetonka ("big water"), Minnetrista ("crooked water"), and Minneapolis, which is a combination of mni and polis, the Greek word for "city."

Geography

Minnesota is the northernmost state outside of Alaska; its isolated Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods is the only part of the 48 contiguous states lying north of the 49^th Parallel. Minnesota is in the U.S. region known as the Upper Midwest. The state shares a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and Wisconsin on the northeast; the remainder of the eastern border is with Wisconsin. Iowa is to the south, North Dakota and South Dakota are west, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are north. With 87,014 square miles (225,365 km²), or approximately 2.25% of the United States,
Minnesota is the 12^th largest state.

Geology and terrain

Minnesota contains some of the oldest rocks found on earth, gneisses some 3.6 billion years old, or 80% as old as the planet. About 2.7 billion years ago, basaltic lava poured out of cracks in the floor of the primordial ocean; the remains of this volcanic rock formed the Canadian Shield in northeast Minnesota. The roots of these volcanic mountains and the action of Precambrian seas formed the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Following a period of volcanism 1.1 billion years ago, Minnesota's geological activity has been more subdued, with no volcanism or mountain formation, but with repeated incursions of the sea which left behind multiple strata of sedimentary rock.
In more recent times, massive ice sheets at least one kilometer thick ravaged the landscape of the state and sculpted its current terrain. Much of the remainder of the state outside of the northeast has 50 feet (15 m) or more of glacial till left behind as the last glaciers retreated. 13,000 years ago gigantic Lake Agassiz formed in the northwest; the lake's outflow, the glacial River Warren, carved the valley of the Minnesota River, and its bottom created the fertile lands of the Red River valley.
The state's high point is Eagle Mountain at 2,301 feet (701 m), which is only 13 miles (20.9 km) away from the low of 602 feet (183 m) at the shore of Lake Superior. Notwithstanding dramatic local differences in elevation, much of the state is a gently rolling peneplain.
Two continental divides meet in the northeastern part of Minnesota in rural Hibbing, forming a triple watershed. Precipitation can follow the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, the St. Lawrence Seaway east to the Atlantic Ocean, or the Hudson Bay watershed to the Arctic Ocean.
The state's nickname, The Land of 10,000 Lakes, is no exaggeration; there are 11,842 lakes over 10 acres (.04 km²) in size. The Minnesota portion of Lake Superior is the largest at 962,700 acres (3,896 km²) and deepest (at 1,290 ft, 393 m) body of water in the state.

Flora and fauna

Three of North America's biomes converge in Minnesota: prairie grasslands in the southwestern and western parts of the state, the Big Woods deciduous forest of the southeast and east-central, and the northern boreal forest. The northern coniferous forests are a vast wilderness of pine and spruce trees mixed with patchy stands of birch and poplar. Much of Minnesota's northern forest has been logged, leaving only a few patches of old growth forest today in areas such as in the Chippewa National Forest and the Superior National Forest where the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has some 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) of unlogged land. Although logging continues, regrowth keeps about one third of the state forested. Nearly all of Minnesota's prairies and oak savannas have been destroyed or fragmented because of farming, grazing, logging, and suburban development.
While loss of habitat has affected native animals such as the pine marten, elk, and bison, whitetail deer and bobcat thrive. The state has the nation's largest population of timber wolves outside Alaska,
and supports healthy populations of black bear and moose. Located on the Mississippi Flyway, Minnesota hosts migratory waterfowl such as geese and ducks, and game birds such as grouse, pheasants, and turkeys. It is home to birds of prey including the bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, and snowy owl. The lakes teem with the sport fish such as walleye, bass, muskellunge, and northern pike, and streams in the southeast are populated by brook, brown, and rainbow trout.

Climate

Minnesota endures temperature extremes characteristic of its continental climate; with cold winters and hot summers, the record high and low span 174 degrees Fahrenheit (96.6 °C). Meteorological events include rain, snow, hail, blizzards, polar fronts, tornadoes, thunderstorms, and high-velocity straight-line winds. The growing season varies from 90 days per year in the Iron Range to 160 days in southeast Minnesota near the Mississippi River, and mean average temperatures range from 36 °F (2 °C) to 49 °F (9 °C). Average summer dewpoints range from about 58 °F (14.4 °C) in the south to about 48 °F (8.9 °C) in the north. Depending on location, average annual precipitation ranges from 19 in (48.3 cm) to 35 in (88.9 cm), and droughts occur every 10 to 50 years.

Protected lands

Minnesota is home to a variety of wilderness, park, and other open spaces. Minnesota's first state park, Itasca State Park, was established in 1891, and is the source of the Mississippi River. Today Minnesota has 72 state parks and recreation areas, 58 state forests covering about four million acres (16,000 km²), and numerous state wildlife preserves, all managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. There are 5.5 million acres (22,000 km²) in the Chippewa and Superior National Forests. The Superior National Forest in the northeast contains the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which encompasses over a million acres (4,000 km²) and a thousand lakes. To its west is Voyageurs National Park, the state's only national park.

History

Before European settlement, Minnesota was populated by the Anishinaabe, the Dakota, and other Native Americans. The first Europeans were French fur traders that arrived in the 1600s. Late that century, the Ojibwe Indians migrated westward to Minnesota, causing tensions with the Sioux. Explorers such as Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, Father Louis Hennepin, Jonathan Carver, Henry Schoolcraft, and Joseph Nicollet, among others, mapped out the state.
The portion of the state east of the Mississippi River became a part of the United States at the end of the American Revolutionary War, when the Second Treaty of Paris was signed. Land west of the Mississippi River was acquired with the Louisiana Purchase, although a portion of the Red River Valley was disputed until the Treaty of 1818. Its soldiers built a grist mill and a sawmill at Saint Anthony Falls, the first of the water-powered industries around which the city of Minneapolis later grew. Meanwhile, squatters, government officials, and tourists had settled near the fort. In 1839, the Army forced them to move downriver, and they settled in the area that became St. Paul. Minnesota Territory was formed on March 3, 1849. Thousands of people had come to build farms and cut timber, and Minnesota became the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858.
Treaties between whites and the Dakota and Ojibwe gradually forced the natives off their lands and onto smaller reservations. As conditions deteriorated for the Dakota, tensions rose, leading to the Dakota War of 1862. The result of the six-week war was the execution of 38 Dakota—the largest mass execution in United States history—and the exile of most of the rest of the Dakota to the Crow Creek Reservation in Nebraska.


Logging and farming were mainstays of Minnesota's early economy. The sawmills at Saint Anthony Falls, and logging centers like Marine on St. Croix, Stillwater, and Winona, processed high volumes of lumber. These cities were situated on rivers that were ideal for transportation. By 1900, Minnesota mills, led by Pillsbury and the Washburn-Crosby Company (a forerunner of General Mills), were grinding 14.1% of the nation's grain.
The state's iron-mining industry was established with the discovery of iron in the Vermilion Range and the Mesabi Range in the 1880s, and in the Cuyuna Range in the early 1900s. The ore was shipped by rail to Two Harbors and Duluth, then loaded onto ships and transported eastward over the Great Lakes.
Industrial development and the rise of manufacturing caused the population to shift gradually from rural areas to cities during the early 1900s. Nevertheless, farming remained prevalent. Minnesota's economy was hard-hit by the Great Depression, resulting in lower prices for farmers, layoffs among iron miners, and labor unrest. Compounding the adversity, western Minnesota and the Dakotas were hit by drought from 1931 to 1935. New Deal programs provided some economic turnaround. The Civilian Conservation Corps and other programs around the state established some jobs for Indians on their reservations, and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 provided the tribes with a mechanism of self-government. This provided natives a greater voice within the state, and promoted more respect for tribal customs because religious ceremonies and native languages were no longer suppressed.
After World War II, industrial development quickened. New technology increased farm productivity through automation of feedlots for hogs and cattle, machine milking at dairy farms, and raising chickens in large buildings. Planting became more specialized with hybridization of corn and wheat, and the use of farm machinery such as tractors and combines became the norm. University of Minnesota professor Norman Borlaug contributed to these developments as part of the Green Revolution. Suburban development accelerated due to increased postwar housing demand and convenient transportation. Increased mobility, in turn, enabled more specialized jobs.
Minnesota became a center of technology after the war. Engineering Research Associates was formed in 1946 to develop computers for the United States Navy. It later merged with Remington Rand, and then became Sperry Rand. William Norris left Sperry in 1957 to form Control Data Corporation (CDC). Cray Research was formed when Seymour Cray left CDC to form his own company. Medical device maker Medtronic also started business in the Twin Cities in 1949.

Cities and towns

Saint Paul, located in east-central Minnesota along the banks of the Mississippi River, has been Minnesota's capital city since 1849, first as capital of the Territory of Minnesota, and then as state capital since 1858.
Saint Paul is adjacent to Minnesota's most populous city, Minneapolis; they and their suburbs are known collectively as the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the 16^th largest metropolitan area in the United States and home to about 60% of the state's population (as of April 2005). The remainder of the state is known as "Greater Minnesota" or "Outstate Minnesota".
Minnesota has 17 cities with populations above fifty thousand (based on 2005 estimates). In descending order they are Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Rochester, Duluth, Bloomington, Plymouth, Brooklyn Park, Eagan, Coon Rapids, St. Cloud, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Woodbury, Blaine, Lakeville, and Minnetonka. Of these listed, only Rochester, Duluth, and St. Cloud are outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Minnesota's population continues to grow, primarily in the urban centers. The populations of metropolitan Sherburne and Scott Counties doubled between 1980 and 2000, while 40 of the state's 87 counties lost residents over the same decades.

Culture

Fine and performing arts

Minnesota's major fine art museums include the Weisman Art Museum, the Walker Art Center, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra are full-time professional musical ensembles that perform concerts and offer educational programs to the community. Attendance at theatrical, musical, and comedy events in the area is strong, which may be attributed to the cold winters, the large population of post-secondary students, and a generally vibrant economy. The Guthrie Theater moved into a new building in 2006, boasting three stages and overlooking the Mississippi River. In the U.S., the Twin Cities' number of theater seats per capita ranks behind only New York City; with some 2.3 million theater tickets sold annually. The Minneapolis Fringe Festival is an annual celebration of theatre, dance, improvisation, puppetry, kids' shows, visual art, and musicals. The summer festival consists of over 800 performances in 11 days, and is the largest non-juried performing arts festival in the United States.

Literature

The rigors and rewards of pioneer life on the prairie were the subject of Giants in the Earth by Ole Rolvaag and of the Little House series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Small-town life was savaged by Sinclair Lewis in the novel Main Street, and more gently and affectionately satirized by Garrison Keillor in his tales of Lake Wobegon. St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of the social insecurities and aspirations of the young city in stories such as Winter Dreams and The Ice Palace (published in Flappers and Philosophers). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous epic poem The Song of Hiawatha was inspired by Minnesota and many places and bodies of water in the state are named in the poem.

Entertainment

Minnesotan musicians of many genres include soul star Prince, harmony singers The Andrews Sisters, rockabilly star Eddie Cochran, folk musician Bob Dylan, garage rock band The Castaways, pop songwriters Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jonny Lang, and Soul Asylum. Minnesota has also produced cult favorites such as Hüsker Dü and The Replacements.
Minnesotans have made significant contributions to comedy, theater, and film. Ole and Lena jokes are best appreciated when delivered in the accent of Scandinavian Americans. Garrison Keillor is known around the country for resurrecting old-style radio comedy with A Prairie Home Companion, which has aired since the 1970s. Local television had the satirical show The Bedtime Nooz in the 1960s, while area natives Lizz Winstead and Craig Kilborn helped create the increasingly influential Daily Show decades later. Actors from the state include Richard Dean Anderson, Eddie Albert, Judy Garland, Jessica Lange, Winona Ryder, Vince Vaughn, Josh Hartnett, Jessica Biel, Melissa Peterman, and Jonny Lang. Joel and Ethan Coen, Terry Gilliam and Mike Todd contributed to the art of film, and others brought the offbeat cult shows Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Let's Bowl to national cable from the Twin Cities.

Popular culture

Stereotypical Minnesotan traits include manners known as "Minnesota nice," Lutheranism, a strong sense of community and shared culture, and a distinctive Upper Midwestern accent sprinkled with Scandinavian-sounding words such as uff da. Potlucks, usually with a variety of hotdish casseroles, are popular at community functions, especially church activities. Minnesota's Scandinavian heritage makes lutefisk a traditional holiday dish. Movies like Fargo, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men, the radio show A Prairie Home Companion and the book How to Talk Minnesotan lampoon (and celebrate) Minnesotan culture, speech and mannerisms.
The Minnesota State Fair, advertised as The Great Minnesota Get-Together, is an icon of state culture. In a state of 5.1 million people, there were nearly 1.7 million visitors to the fair in 2006. The fair covers the variety of life in Minnesota, including fine art, science, agriculture, food preparation, 4H displays, music, the midway, and corporate merchandising. It is known for its displays of seed art, butter sculptures of dairy princesses, the birthing barn, and dozens of varieties of food on a stick, such as Pronto Pups, cheese curds, and deep fried candy bars. On a smaller scale, these attractions are also offered at the state's many county fairs.
Other large annual festivals include the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, Minneapolis' Aquatennial and Mill City Music Festival, Moondance Jam in Walker, and Detroit Lakes' 10,000 Lakes Festival and WE Fest.

Health and education

Health

The people of Minnesota have a high rate of participation in outdoor activities; the state is ranked first in the percentage of residents who engage in regular exercise. Minnesotans have the nation's lowest premature death rate, third-lowest infant mortality rate, and the second-longest life expectancies. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 91% of Minnesotans have health insurance, more than in any other state. These and other measures have led one group to rank Minnesota as the second-healthiest state in the nation, and another to rank it fourth.
On 1 October 2007, Minnesota became the 17th state to enact a statewide smoking ban in restaurants and bars with the enactment of Freedom to Breathe Act of 2007.
Medical care is provided by a comprehensive network of hospitals and clinics, headed by two institutions with international reputations. The University of Minnesota Medical School is a highly rated teaching institution that has made a number of breakthroughs in treatment, and its research activities contribute significantly to the state's growing biotechnology industry. The Mayo Clinic, a world-renowned medical practice, is based in Rochester. Mayo and the University are partners in the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, a state-funded program that conducts research into cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart health, obesity, and other areas.

Education

One of the first acts of the Minnesota Legislature when it opened in 1858 was the creation of a normal school at Winona. More recently, the state ranked 13^th on the 2006–2007 Morgan Quitno Smartest State Award, and is first in the percentage of residents with at least a high school diploma. With an 84% graduation rate, Minnesota ranks 5^th in the nation in high school graduation and Minnesota students earn the highest average score in the nation on the ACT exam. While Minnesota has chosen not to implement school vouchers, it is home to the first charter school.
The state supports a network of public universities and colleges, currently comprised of 32 institutions in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, and five major campuses of the University of Minnesota. It is also home to more than 20 private colleges and universities, four of which rank among the top 100 liberal arts colleges, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Law and government

As with the federal government of the United States, power in Minnesota is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Executive

The executive branch is headed by the governor. The current governor is Tim Pawlenty, a Republican whose first term began January 6, 2003, and who was narrowly re-elected in 2006. The current Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota is Carol Molnau, who is also the head of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The offices of governor and lieutenant governor have four-year terms. The governor has a cabinet consisting of the leaders of various state government agencies, called commissioners. The other elected constitutional offices are secretary of state, attorney general, and state auditor.

Legislative

The Minnesota Legislature is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The state has 67 districts, each covering about 60,000 people. Each district has one senator and two representatives (each district being divided into A and B sections). Senators serve for four years and representatives for two years. In the November 2006 election, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) gained 19 house seats, giving them control of the House of Representatives by 85–49. The Senate is also controlled by the DFL. In early 2008, the DFL picked up an additional seat in a special election to expand their majority to 45–22. The DFL now controls a veto-proof majority in the Senate.

Judicial

Minnesota's court system has three levels. Most cases start in the district courts, which are courts of general jurisdiction. There are 272 district court judges in ten judicial districts. Appeals from the trial courts and challenges to certain governmental decisions are heard by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, consisting of sixteen judges who typically sit in three-judge panels. The seven-justice Minnesota Supreme Court hears all appeals from the Tax Court, the Worker's Compensation Court, first-degree murder convictions, and discretionary appeals from the Court of Appeals; it also has original jurisdiction over election disputes.
Two specialized courts within administrative agencies have been established: the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals, and the Tax Court, which deals with non-criminal tax cases.

Regional

Below the city and county levels of government found in the United States, Minnesota has other entities that provide governmental oversight and planning. Some actions in the Twin Cities metropolitan area are coordinated by the Metropolitan Council, and many lakes and rivers are overseen by watershed districts and soil and water conservation districts.
There are seven Anishinaabe reservations and four Dakota communities in Minnesota. These communities are self-governing.

Federal

Minnesota's two United States senators are Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Amy Klobuchar. The state has eight congressional districts; they are represented by Tim Walz (1st district), John Kline (2nd), Jim Ramstad (3rd), Betty McCollum (4th), Keith Ellison (5th), Michele Bachmann (6th), Collin Peterson (7th), and James Oberstar (8th).
Federal court cases are heard in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, which holds court in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, and Fergus Falls. Appeals are heard by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis, Missouri and St. Paul.

Politics

Minnesota is known for a politically active citizenry, and populism has been a longstanding force among the state's political parties. Minnesota has a consistently high voter turnout, due in part to its liberal voter registration laws. In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, 77.2% of eligible Minnesotans voted—the most of any U.S. state—versus the national average of 60.93%. Previously unregistered voters can register on election day at their polls with evidence of residency.
In 1922, three and a half years after women earned the vote in Minnesota, four women were elected to the Minnesota State House. Only two of those women, Hannah Kempfer and Mabeth Hurd Paige remained in office for more than one term. Rep. Kempfer served from Ottertail County until 1940, and Rep. Paige served from Hennepin County until 1942. In 1975 Nancy Brataas, a pro-choice Republican from Rochester, Minnesota was the first woman elected to the Minnesota State Senate. In 1994, Republican candidate Judi Dutcher was the first woman elected State Auditor.
In the 2004 United States presidential election, Minnesota was an important Battleground Swing State. The last time Minnesota had been a key swing state was in the 1972 United States presidential election. As a result President George W. Bush made eight unprecedented campaign visits to Minnesota, visiting St. Louis Park, Eden Prairie and Edina, Minnesota.
Hubert Humphrey brought national attention to the state with his address at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. Eugene McCarthy's anti-war stance and popularity before the 1968 Democratic National Convention likely convinced Lyndon B. Johnson to drop out of the presidential election. Minnesotans have consistently cast their Electoral College votes for Democratic presidential candidates since 1976, longer than any other state. Minnesota is the only state in the nation to have never voted for Ronald Reagan.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties have major party status in Minnesota, however, its state-level "Democratic" party is actually a separate party, officially known as the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). Formed out of a 1944 alliance of the Minnesota Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties, the DFL now serves as a de-facto proxy to the federal Democratic Party, and its distinction from the Democratic Party, while still official, is now a functional technicality.
The state has had active third party movements. The Reform Party, now the Independence Party, was able to elect former mayor of Brooklyn Park and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura to the governorship in 1998. The Independence Party has received enough support to keep major party status. The Green Party, while no longer having major party status, has a large presence in municipal government, notably in Minneapolis and Duluth, where it competes directly with the DFL party for local offices. Official "Major party" status in Minnesota (which grants state funding for elections) is reserved to parties, which receive 5% or more of the state's general vote in the U.S. Presidential election. Status is revised every four years.
Senator Norm Coleman (R-M) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002, defeating former Vice President and former U.S. Senator Walter Mondale (D-MN), who entered the race as the Democratic candidate after Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. Before his election to the U.S. Senate, Senator Coleman was the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota from 1994 to 2002 and served 17 years with the Minnesota Attorney General Office, holding the positions of Chief Prosecutor and Solicitor General of the State of Minnesota. In 1996, after becoming increasingly frustrated with the Democratic Party, Coleman joined the Republican Party, which more closely matched his values. In his 1997 mayoral campaign for re-election as a Republican, Coleman received 59 percent of the vote.
The state's U.S. Senate seats have generally been split since the early 1990s, and in the 108^th and 109^th Congresses, Minnesota's congressional delegation was split, with four representatives and one senator from each party. In the 2006 mid-term election, Democrats were elected to all state offices except for governor and lieutenant governor, where Republicans Tim Pawlenty and Carol Molnau narrowly won re-election. The DFL also posted double-digit gains in both houses of the legislature, elected Amy Klobuchar to the U.S. Senate, and increased the party's U.S. House caucus by one. Keith Ellison (DFL) was elected as the first African American U.S. Representative from Minnesota as well as the first Muslim elected to Congress nationwide. At the same time Michele Bachmann became the third woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota and the first Republican woman to represent the state on Capitol Hill.

Media

The Twin Cities area is the 15^th largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research. The state's other top markets are Fargo-Moorhead (118^th nationally), Duluth-Superior (137^th), Rochester-Mason City-Austin (152^nd), and Mankato
(200^th).
Broadcast television in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest started on April 27, 1948, when KSTP-TV began broadcasting. Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation, which owns KSTP, is now the only locally owned television company in Minnesota. There are currently 39 analog broadcast stations and 23 digital channels broadcast over Minnesota.
The Twin Cities metro area has the state's two largest newspapers: the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. Other weekly and monthly publications (most of which are fully supported by advertising) are also available. The most prominent of these is the alternative weekly City Pages, with competitor The Rake offering a free monthly.
Two of the largest public radio networks, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and Public Radio International (PRI), are based in the state. MPR has the largest audience of any regional public radio network in the nation, broadcasting on 37 radio stations. PRI weekly provides more than 400 hours of programming to almost 800 affiliates. The state's oldest radio station, KUOM-AM, was launched in 1922 and is among the 10 oldest radio stations in the United States. The University of Minnesota owned station is still on the air, and since 1993 broadcasts a college rock format.

Sports and recreation

Organized sports

Minnesota has professional men's teams in all major sports. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome is home to the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, and to the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball, winners of the 1987 and 1991 World Series. The Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association play in the Target Center. The National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild team has sold out more than 230 consecutive games in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.
Minor league baseball is represented both by major league-sponsored teams and independent teams such as the popular St. Paul Saints.
Professional women's sports include the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association, the Minnesota Vixen of the Women's Professional Football League, and the Minnesota Whitecaps of the National Women's Hockey League.
The Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I school, with sports teams competing in either the Big Ten Conference or the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Four additional schools in the state compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey: the University of Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State University, Bemidji State University, and Minnesota State University Mankato. There are ten NCAA Division II colleges represented by the North Central Conference and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in Minnesota, and sixteen NCAA Division III colleges represented by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
Winter Olympic Games medalists from the state include eleven of the twenty members of the gold medal 1980 ice hockey team (coached by Minnesota native Herb Brooks) and the bronze medalist U.S. men's curling team in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Swimmer Tom Malchow won an Olympic gold medal in the 2000 Summer games and a silver medal in 1996.
Grandma's Marathon is run every summer along the scenic North Shore of Lake Superior near Duluth, and the Twin Cities Marathon winds around lakes and the Mississippi River during the peak of the fall color season.

Outdoor recreation

Minnesotans participate in high levels of physical activity, and many of these activities are outdoors. The strong interest of Minnesotans in environmentalism has been attributed to the popularity of these pursuits.
In the warmer months, these activities often involve water. Weekend and longer trips to family cabins on Minnesota's numerous lakes are a way of life for many residents. Activities include water sports such as water skiing, which originated in the state, boating, canoeing, and fishing. More than 36% of Minnesotans fish, second only to Alaska.
Fishing does not cease when the lakes freeze; ice fishing has been around since the arrival of early Scandinavian immigrants. Minnesotans have learned to embrace their long, harsh winters in ice sports such as skating, hockey, curling, and broomball, and snow sports such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling.
State and national forests and the 71 state parks are used year-round for hunting, camping, and hiking. There are almost of snowmobile trails statewide. Minnesota has more miles of bike trails than any other state, and a growing network of hiking trails, including the Superior Hiking Trail in the northeast. Many hiking and bike trails are used for cross-country skiing during the winter.

State symbols

Minnesota's state symbols represent its history, diverse landscapes, and its people's love of the outdoors. The Common Loon, as state bird, is Minnesota's best-known symbol. Its distinctive cry is heard during the summer months in the northern part of the state, and on occasion the loon can be found as far south as the lakes of Minneapolis.
State symbols:

State bird: Common Loon

State butterfly: Monarch

State drink: Milk

State fish: Walleye

State flower: Pink and white lady slipper

State fruit: Honeycrisp apple, which was developed at the University of Minnesota; and was adopted as part of a school project on how a bill becomes law.

State gemstone: Lake Superior agate

State grain: Wild rice

Territory Motto (actual): Quo sursum velo videre ("I cover to see what is above" is the closest translation)

Territory Motto (intended): Quae sursum volo videre ("I wish to see what is above")

State motto: L'Étoile du Nord ("The Star of the North")

State muffin: Blueberry

State mushroom: Morel

State photograph: Grace

State song: "Hail! Minnesota"

State tree: Norway Pine, also known as Red Pine

Nicknames:

"Land of 10,000 Lakes"

"North Star State"

"Gopher State"

"Land of Sky-Blue Waters"

"Bread and Butter State"

"State of Hockey"

External links

Government

State of Minnesota Official site

Minnesota State Legislature

Minnesota Judicial Branch

Hyperlinked state constitution

Full text of state constitution

Tourism & recreation

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Minnesota DNR Outdoor Activities

Explore Minnesota

Culture & history

Minnesota Historical Society

Minnesota history timeline

Minnesota Historical Society's online timeline

A History of Minneapolis: Early History: Resources

Minnesota Place Names

Forests, Fields, and the Falls: Connecting Minnesota

Maps and Demographics

Minnesota State Demographic Center

Minnesota Health and Demographic Data

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Minnesota

Minnesota Demographics Facts

Minnesota State Highway Map

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

John R. Borchert Map Library

Minnesota Geological Survey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Duluth is a seaport city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. The city had a total population of 86,918 in the 2000 census and the metropolitan census including outer suburbs and villages was estimated to be roughly 184,000. At the westernmost point on the north shore of Lake Superior, Duluth is linked to the Atlantic Ocean away via the Great Lakes and Erie Canal/New York State Barge Canal or Saint Lawrence Seaway passages and is the Atlantic Ocean's westernmost deep-water port.
Duluth forms a metropolitan area with Superior, Wisconsin, Called the Twin Ports, these two cities share the Duluth-Superior Harbor and together are one of the most important ports on the Great Lakes, shipping coal, iron ore (taconite), and grain. As a tourist destination for the Midwest, Duluth features America's only all-freshwater aquarium, the Great Lakes Aquarium, the Aerial Lift Bridge which spans the short canal into Duluth's harbor, "Park Point", the world's second longest freshwater sandbar, spanning 6 miles, and is a launching point for the North Shore.
The city is named for Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, the first known European explorer of the area.

History

Pre-founding

Native American tribes had occupied the Duluth area for thousands of years. The original inhabitants are believed to have been members of Paleo-Indian cultures, followed by the "Old Copper" people, who hunted with spear points and knives and fished with metal hooks. Around two thousand years ago, the Woodlands people, known for their burial mounds and pottery, occupied the area. They also cultivated wild rice, a crop that continues to be harvested today by Ojibwa tribes in the region and is often seen being sold in the area, especially in Wisconsin. Duluth's name in the Ojibwe language is Onigamiinsing ("at the little portage") due to the small and easy portage across Minnesota Point between Lake Superior and western Superior Bay forming Duluth's harbor. According to Ojibwa Oral history, Spirit Island located near the Spirit Valley neighborhood was the "Sixth Stopping Place" where the northern and southern branches of the Ojibwa Nation came together and then proceeded to their "Seventh Stopping Place" near the present city of La Pointe, Wisconsin.
In 1659, Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers went searching for furs in the Lake Superior region, and visited the area that became today’s Duluth. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, the city's namesake, arrived in 1679 to settle rivalries between two Indian nations, the Dakota and the Ojibwa, and to advance fur trading missions in the area. His work allowed for this to occur, with the Ojibwa becoming middlemen between the French and the Dakota. As a result, the area prospered, and as early as 1692, the Hudson's Bay Company set up a small post at Fond du Lac.
It was not until 1792 that the next trading post, on the Wisconsin side of the St. Louis River, was opened by Jean Baptiste Cadotte of the North West Company. A fire destroyed the post in 1800, but a German émigré, John Jacob Astor, constructed a post on the river's Minnesota side. The store initially floundered as a result of the Indians' insistence in trading with established English and French partners. However, Astor managed to convince the United States Congress to ban foreigners from trading in American territory. His American Fur Company was re-formed in 1816-17. Hard times hit the post once again by 1839 due to fashionable Europeans choosing silk hats over those made from beaver pelts.
Two Treaties of Fond du Lac were signed in the present neighborhood of Fond du Lac in 1826 and 1847. As part of the Treaty of Washington (1854) with the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa, the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation was established upstream from Duluth near Cloquet, Minnesota, and the Ojibwa population was relocated there.

Permanent settlement

Interest in the area was piqued in the 1850s as rumors of copper mining began to circulate. A government land survey in 1852, followed by a treaty with local tribes in 1854, secured wilderness for gold-seeking explorers, sparked a "land rush," and led to the development of iron ore mining in the area.
Around the same time, newly-constructed channels and locks in the East permitted large ships to access the area. A road connecting Duluth to the Twin Cities was also constructed. Eleven small towns on both sides of the St. Louis River were formed, establishing Duluth's roots as a city.
By 1857, copper resources became scarce, and the area's economic focus shifted to timber harvesting. A nation-wide financial crisis led to nearly three quarters of the city's early pioneers leaving.
In the late 1860s, a financier Jay Cooke (after whom the Jay Cooke State Park is named), convinced the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad to create an extension from St. Paul to Duluth. The railroad opened areas due north and west of Lake Superior to iron ore mining. Duluth's population on New Year's Day, 1869 consisted of fourteen families; by the Fourth of July, 3,500 people were present to celebrate.

Twentieth century

The city thrived, and the area's hillside and downtown areas were populated by early residents. In the 1900s, the city's port passed New York City in gross tonnage handled, elevating it to being the leading port in the United States. Meanwhile, there were ten newspapers, six banks, and an eleven-story skyscraper, the Torrey Building, already present in the town. In 1907, U.S. Steel announced that a $5 – $6 million plant would be constructed in the area. Although it took eight years for steel to actually be produced, predictions held that Duluth's population would rise to 200,000 to 300,000. With the plant came Morgan Park, a once-independent company town that now stands as a city neighborhood.
In the early twentieth century, Duluth was home to one of the largest Finnish communities in the world outside of Finland. For decades, a Finnish-language daily newspaper taking the namesake of the old Grand Duchy of Finland's pro-independence leftist paper, Päivälehti, was published in the city. The area was also settled by Immigrants from England, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Croatia, Italy, and Russia.
On June 14, 1920 The Duluth lynchings took place on 1st Street and 2nd Avenue East.
During much of the twentieth century, the city was an industrial port town, with a cement plant, nail mill, wire mills, and the U.S. Steel plant. In 1916, during World War I, a shipbuilding plant on St. Louis River produced eight vessels simultaneously. A neighborhood was formed around this operation, today known as Riverside. Similar industrial operations were heightened during the Second World War. Population growth continued after the war, with a peak of 106,884 reached in 1960. The city experienced strong immigrant influx, and the Finnish IWW community published a widely read labor newspaper Industrialisti. From 1907 to 1941 the Finnish Socialist Federation, and then the IWW operated Work People's College, an educational institution that taught classes from a working class perspective.
Due to foreign competition, the steel plant closed in 1971, presenting a major blow to the city. Other industrial activity followed suit with more closures, including the Air Force base. Within a decade, unemployment rates surged to 15 percent, emptying local stores and creating long job application lines.
With the decline of the city's industrial core, the local economic focus shifted to tourism. The downtown was renewed with red brick streets and skywalks, and old warehouses along the waterfront were converted into cafés, shops, and restaurants, forming Canal Park as a largely tourism-oriented district.

The Untold Delights of Duluth

Early doubts about the potential of the Duluth area were voiced in the speech The Untold Delights of Duluth, made by former U.S. Representative J. Proctor Knott of Kentucky on January 27, 1871 in the U.S. House; the speech against the St. Croix and Superior Land Grant lampooned Western boosterism, portraying Duluth as an Eden in fantastically florid terms. The speech has been reprinted in collections of folklore and humorous speeches and is regarded as something of a classic. The nearby city of Proctor, Minnesota is named for Congressman Knott.
Duluth, Minnesota's unofficial sister city, Duluth, Georgia, was named by Evan P. Howell in humorous reference to Representative Knott's speech. Originally called Howell's Crossroads in honor of his grandfather Evan Howell, the town had in 1871 just finished getting a railroad to the town, and the 'Delights of Duluth' speech was still popular.
Proctor Knott is sometimes credited with characterizing Duluth as the "zenith city of the unsalted seas," but the honor for that coinage belongs to journalist Thomas Preston Foster, speaking at a Fourth of July picnic in 1868.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 87.3 square miles (226.2 km²). It is Minnesota's second largest city in terms of land area, surpassed only by Hibbing. Of its 87.3 square miles, 68.0 square miles (176.1 km²) or 77.89% is land and 19.3 square miles (50.0 km²) or 22.11% is water. Duluth's canal connects Lake Superior to the Duluth-Superior harbor and the St. Louis River. The Aerial Lift Bridge connects Canal Park with Minnesota Point ("Park Point").
Duluth's geography is dominated by a rather steep hill which represents a transition from the elevation of Lake Superior's beach to that of the inland. It is also known as the San Francisco of Minnesota. For example, the Sky Harbor airport's weather station, near the lake on the Park Point sandbar (at 6 miles (9.65 km) is the second longest freshwater sand bar in the world) has an elevation of 607 feet (185 m), while Duluth International Airport atop the hill is at 1,427 feet (435 m).
As a result, Duluth is primarily a southwest-northeast city. A considerable amount of development on the hill's upslope gives Duluth a reputation for steep streets. Some neighborhoods, such as Piedmont Heights and Bayview Heights, are atop the hill, at times giving scenic views of the city. The Goat Hill neighborhood overlooking the 'can of worms' freeway interchange around 18th Avenue West is an example of this; another is the skyline neighborhood above downtown from 5th to 10th Avenues West. Perhaps the most rapidly developing part of the city is a commercial mall and big-box retailer shopping strip "over the hill", the Miller Trunk corridor. Re-construction of U.S. 53 is scheduled within the next 5 years to alleviate congestion in this part of Duluth.

Climate

The city's climate is known for long, cold winters and cool summers. The nickname "The Air-Conditioned City" is given to Duluth due to the cooling effect that Lake Superior has on it during the summer months. During the winter months, temperatures often remain below freezing for periods of weeks. A normal winter brings consistent snow cover from December through March. Winter storms that pass south or east of Duluth can often set up easterly or northeasterly flow. Upslope lake-effect snow events can bring a foot (30 cm) or more of snow to the city while areas 50 miles (80 km) inland receive considerably less.
Summers are cool and comfortable, with daytime temperatures averaging in the 70s–80s °F range (20–30 °C) due to the cooling easterly winds of the lake (as opposed to occasional temperatures over 90 °F (32 °C) inland, although temperatures may remain below 50 °F (10 °C) during afternoons as late in the year as June along the Lake Superior shore, even when the inland temperature is in the 70s °F (mid-20s °C). The phrase "cooler by the lake" can be heard often in weather forecasts during the summer, especially on days when an easterly wind is expected. Due to the specific heat of the huge lake, seasons are substantially delayed, with November often much warmer than April. Great local variations are also common, due to the rapid change in elevation between the hill and shore-side. It can be snowing at the Miller Hill Mall and pouring rain in Canal Park at the same time.

Arts

Local attractions include a variety of arts opportunities. Museums include the Duluth Art Institute at the Duluth Depot, the Tweed Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and smaller local art galleries scattered around the city. See the List of Museums in Duluth. Duluth is also home to a professional ballet company, the Minnesota Ballet. Duluth shares a symphony orchestra with Superior, Wisconsin, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestr. In summer there are often free concerts held in Chester Park where local musicians play for crowds, and the Bayfront Blues Festival is held in early August. Beginning in 2004, Duluth has celebrated Gay Pride with a parade on Labor Day weekend. The city celebrates the Homegrown Music Festival the first week in May each year. Started in 1998, the festival features over 130 local musical acts performing across the city.

Sports

Professional sports history

Duluth once fielded a National Football League team called the Kelleys (officially the Kelley Duluths after the Kelley-Duluth Hardware Store) from 1923-1925 and the Eskimos (officially Ernie Nevers' Eskimos after the early NFL great, their star player) from 1926-1927. The Eskimos were then sold and became the (Orange, New Jersey) Orange Tornadoes.
The Duluth-Superior Dukes of the Northern League Independent Professional Baseball played in West Duluth's Wade Stadium from the League's inception in 1993 until 2002 when the team moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City T-Bones. The Dukes were Northern League Champions in 1997. The Northern League, based out of the midwest, was also in operation off and on from 1902 to 1971, with the longest stint from 1932-1971. The Dukes were a farm team for the Detroit Tigers from 1960-1964, and several other teams in later years, before the Northern League folded in 1971. The Dukes produced notable players such as Denny McClain, Al Kaline, Bill Freehan, Gates Brown, Ray Oyler, Jim Northrup, Mickey Stanley, John Hiller, and Willie Horton, all who were members of the 1968 world champion Detroit Tigers.

Amateur sports

The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog hockey games are a major event in town during the cold Duluth winter. Games used to be televised locally, and thousands watch the games in person at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC). Several Bulldogs have gone on to success in the National Hockey League, including hockey great Brett Hull. In addition, the UMD Women's ice hockey team has won three consecutive NCAA National Championships (2001-2003). The 2003 Women's Frozen Four was played at the DECC, where the Bulldogs defeated Harvard on a dramatic double-overtime goal by Nora Tallus in front of a sellout home crowd.
The Duluth Huskies are a college summer wood bat league baseball team which is based in Duluth and plays in the Northwoods League. The team plays its home games at Wade Stadium. They are made up from some of the top college baseball players in the country, playing 34 home games each summer between June and August.
The Duluth-Superior Shoremen are a semi-pro football team based in Duluth's Public Schools Stadium. They play for the Mid-American Football League, and placed second in that league's championship game in 2005.
The Duluth Xpress is an amateur baseball team that plays its games at the Ordean Middle School baseball field. The team is made up of current college baseball players, ex-college baseball players, and ex-professional baseball players. The Xpress compete in the Arrowhead league which is a class B league of Minnesota amateur baseball.

Parks and recreation

Since 1977, Duluth has played host to Grandma's Marathon (named after its original sponsor, Grandma's Restaurant), drawing runners from all over the world. Held annually in June, the course of the marathon starts just outside Two Harbors, Minnesota, runs down Old Highway 61, the former route for U.S. Highway 61, along the North Shore of Lake Superior and finishes in one of Duluth's tourism neighborhoods, Canal Park. The same route is also taken during the North Shore Inline Marathon, held in September, drawing racers from all over the world.
The Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is Duluth's annual sled dog race organized in February and named after John Beargrease, the son of the Anishinaabe Chief Makwabimidem and one of the first mail carriers between Two Harbors, Minnesota and Grand Marais, Minnesota. He and his brothers carried mail by sled dog, boat, and horse for almost twenty years between the two towns, where there was no road. Competitors can choose between two distances; the longer course takes a round trip from Duluth to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and the course departs from Duluth and ends in Tofte, Minnesota. The marathon was first held in 1980 and is acknowledged as a training ground for the larger and more elite Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
The city is home to the Duluth Curling Club and the Duluth Yacht Club.

Government

The current mayor of Duluth is Don Ness.
Duluth is located in Minnesota's 8th congressional district, represented by Jim Oberstar, a moderate DFLer, scoring 87% progressive on a range of issues.
In 2004, Duluth was center to a controversial legal battle between the City Council, local residents, and the ACLU. The debate and eventual lawsuit revolved around a marble fixture inscribed with the Ten Commandments which resided on the lawn of City Hall. The city eventually agreed to remove the fixture, and it now resides on private property near the Comfort Suites Hotel on Canal Park Drive.
The city was featured in the New York Times article "The Next Retirement Time Bomb", because Duluth recently conducted a financial study of the health care benefits it has promised its retired city workers. It turned out that its future health care obligations would bankrupt the city government. Duluth is held in the article to be considered representative of many local governments that have not kept tabs on its future health-care obligations promised to retired workers. Duluth's own newspaper, the News Tribune, portrays prior mayor John Fedo, who was acquitted in a 1988 corruption trial while mayor, in an unflattering respect with regard to responsibility in this. Decades of local politicians have a hand in the matter, including former mayor Gary Doty, as unions are powerful in the area and winning their favor is a major factor in being elected.
During the 2000 presidential election, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received over 6.9% of votes from Duluth residents, one of the highest in the country for a city with a population of at least 85,000.

Education

Colleges and universities include the University of Minnesota Duluth, The College of St. Scholastica, Lake Superior College, Duluth Business University and Cosmetology Careers Unlimited. The University of Wisconsin - Superior and Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College are in nearby Superior, Wisconsin.
Most public schools are administered by Duluth Public Schools.
There are several independent public charter schools in the Duluth area not administered by District 709 with open enrollment.

Media

On March 8, 2005 the sale of Duluth's CBS affiliate was announced to Malara Broadcast Group of Sarasota, Florida. The group agreed to pay Granite Broadcasting Group, which already runs the NBC affiliate KBJR, to take over the operations for KDLH. The majority of the news staff of KDLH was dismissed.
Local newspapers include the BusinessNorth monthly, the Duluth News Tribune, the Duluth Budgeteer News, and the free The Reader Weekly, the Transistor and the High Plain's Drifter.

Religion

Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth

Temple Israel - Union for Reform Judaism

Duluth Bible Church

First Lutheran Church

Sites of interest

The noted Glensheen Historic Estate, built by wealthy businessman Chester Adgate Congdon, can be found on the shore of Lake Superior and is open to tours year-round. The Aerial Lift Bridge, spanning the short canal into Duluth's harbor, is a vertical lift bridge. It was originally built as an exceedingly rare aerial transfer bridge. Historic Central High School towers over the harbor and features an 1890s classroom museum. The wreck of the Thomas Wilson, a classic early 20th century whaleback ore boat, lies underwater less than a mile outside the Duluth Harbor, the result of a collision. The USCGC Sundew (WLB-404) a former USCG Seagoing Buoy Tender is a museum ship along the Duluth waterfront, as is the 610' long William A Irvin

Sister cities

Duluth has four sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International (SCI):

Petrozavodsk, Russia

Växjö, Sweden

Ōhara, now Isumi, Japan

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

External links

City of Duluth - Official Website

VisitDuluth.com - Tourist Information

Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce website

Duluth Public Library website

Greater Downtown Council website

Duluth-Superior Dukes Tribute Page

Vintage Pictures of Duluth

PerfectDuluthDay.com website - A Community Blog

Northern Images Photography - Link - Contains scenic pictures of Duluth and surrounding areas.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bloomington is the largest suburb in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. With an estimated population of 84,347 in 2005, it is also the fourth largest city in the state, located in the southern metro area, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Minneapolis. The core metropolitan census area was revised as the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA in 2006 with the Metropolitan Council population estimate at 85,832.
A post-World War II housing boom suburb connected to the urban street grid and serviced by two major highways, Interstate 35W and Interstate 494, Bloomington is now home to a thriving economy of service, retail and industrial businesses and nationally recognized as home to the United States' largest enclosed shopping center, the Mall of America.
Early settlers named the town after Bloomington, Illinois.

History

In 1839, with renewed conflict with the Ojibwa nation, Chief Cloud Man relocated his band of the Mdewankaton Dakota from Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis to an area called Oak Grove in southern Bloomington, close to present day Portland Avenue. In 1843, Peter and Louisa Quinn, the first European settlers to live in Bloomington, built a cabin along the Minnesota River in this area. The government had sent them to teach farming methods to the Native Americans. Gideon Pond, a missionary, who had been following and recording the Dakota language from Cloud Man's band relocated later that year, establishing Oak Grove Mission, his log cabin. Pond and his family held church services and instructed schooling and farming to the Dakota in the area. Passage across the Minnesota River in Bloomington came in 1849 when William Chambers and Joseph Dean opened the Bloomington Ferry. The ferry remained operational until 1889, when the Bloomington Ferry Bridge was built.
Following the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, the territory west of the Mississippi, including Bloomington, was opened to settlers. A group of pioneers settled Bloomington which included the families of Goodrich, Whalon, and Ames. They named the area Bloomington after the city they were from, Bloomington, Illinois, which means flowering field. During this time, most early jobs were in farming, blacksmithing, and flour milling. The Oxborough family, who came from Canada, built a trading center on Lyndale Avenue and called it Oxborough-Heath. Today, the Cloverleaf Shopping Center rests on the old trading center site and the nearby Oxboro Clinic is named after them. The Baliff family opened a grocery and general store at what is today Penn Avenue and Old Shakopee Road, and Hector Chadwick, after moving to the settlement, opened a blacksmith shop near the Bloomington Ferry. In 1855, the first public school for all children was opened in Miss Harrison’s house with the first school, Gibson House, built in 1859. In 1892 the first town hall was built at Penn and Old Shakopee Road. By then the closest Dakota to Minneapolis in the late 19th century lived at the residence of Gideon Pond.

1900s to 1930s

The population surpassed a thousand after 1900 and Bloomington began to transform from a small village to a city. With the rising population came conflict among citizens over certain social issues. Among the major issues during this period were the parents unwillingness to dissolve the individual schools for a larger, consolidated school, and the fear of mounting taxes. By 1900 there were already six rural schools spread throughout the territory with over 200 students enrolled in grades first through eighth. By 1917, the school consolidation issue had been settled. That year voters approved the consolidation of the schools and a year later secondary education and school bus transportation began throughout the city. Telephone service and automobiles appeared.

1940s to 1950s

During the twenty years from 1940 to 1960, the city's population increased to nine times that of the population at the turn of the century. During the 1940s the city's development vision was low-cost, low-density housing, each with their own well and septic system. This was in part due to the post World War II boom and subsequent birth of the baby boomer generation. In 1947 the first fire station was constructed and equipped at a cost of $24,000 and the Bloomington Volunteer Fire Department was established with 25 members.
The 1950s saw a considerable expansion to the city and its infrastructure, with the city shifting away from its small town atmosphere and feel. In 1950, because of the increasing population, the first elementary school, Cedarcrest, was built. It was evident that one consolidated school could no longer serve the growing population, and ten new schools would be built in this decade as the school system expanded to meet the needs of the citizens. In 1952 the first large business, Toro Manufacturing Company, moved to Bloomington. The significance of this can be seen in Bloomington today, which is home to hundreds of businesses of all types.
In 1953, Bloomington changed from a township to village form of government. This more professional approach to government was accompanied by open council meetings, land use plans and published budgets. The effects of this new form of government began immediately, first with the formation of the city police department (at a cost of $2 per taxpayer) and secondly with the first park land acquisition. Both Bush Lake Beach and Moir Park were established at a cost of one dollar to each residence. Today, about 1/2 of the city's land area is devoted to city and regional parks playgrounds, and open space. In 1956 the first city land use plan was initiated with the construction of Interstate 35W and Metropolitan Stadium.
In 1958, the city changed from a village government to a council-manager form. One of the first council adopted policies was the encouragement of commercial and industrial development, low-cost housing, and shopping centers. Due to the rapid population increase during this time, police and fire departments changed to a 24-hour dispatching system, and the fire department (now made up of 46 members) converted a garage into the second fire station.

1960s to 1970s

The 1960s saw accelerated school and business growth throughout the city. On November 8, 1960, Bloomington officially became a city as voters approved the city's organizing document, the City Charter. The city charter provides for a Council-Manager form of government in which the city council exercises the legislative power of the city and determines all city policies (see City of Bloomington Government). In 1967, a second and third official fire station were approved and built to more effectively combat fires in the increasing population. In 1968, Normandale Junior College opened with an initial enrollment of 1,358 students. It would not be until 1974 that the college would change to its present name, Normandale Community College, to reflect expanded courses of study.
From 1961 to 1982, the city of Bloomington was home to all the major sports teams of Minnesota. In 1961, after the completion of Metropolitan Stadium in 1956, both the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings began regular season play. Although Metropolitan Stadium was originally built for the American Association Minneapolis Millers, a minor league baseball team, Metropolitan stadium was renovated and expanded for Major League Baseball and Football. The first Twins game was held on April 21 (Twins 3, Washington 5) and the first Vikings game was held on September 17 (Vikings 37, Chicago Bears 13). In 1967, with the expansion of the National Hockey League, the Metropolitan Sports Center was built near the site of the Metropolitan Stadium and the Minnesota North Stars began play later that year.
A number of new city buildings were constructed in the 1970s. In 1970 Jefferson High School, Bloomington Ice Garden rink one and a fourth fire station were built. In 1971, school enrollment peaked with 26,000 students, and the fire department had grown to a force of 105 men. It was not until 1974, after a six hour city council meeting, were women allowed to join the Bloomington Fire Department (the city's first female firefighter, Ann Majerus, would not join the department until 1984). In 1975 a second rink was added to the Bloomington Ice Garden and fifth fire station, and subsequent sixth in 1979, were also built.

1980s to present

The 1980s brought a radical change to Bloomington with the departure of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. In 1982, the last baseball game was played at Metropolitan stadium (Twins 2, Kansas City Royals 5) as the Twins and Vikings moved to the newly constructed Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. In 1985, the Bloomington Port Authority purchased the 86-acre Met Stadium site and in less than two years approved first site plans for the Mall of America. Two years later, ground breaking took place for the new megamall, and in 1992 it was opened to the public. Today, tenants of Mall of America, when combined, constitute the largest private sector employer in Bloomington, employing about 13,000 people. In 1993, the Minnesota North Stars hockey team moved to Dallas and a year later the Metropolitan Sports Center was demolished. In 2004, an IKEA store opened on the west end of the former Met Center site. The remainder of the property is planned to be the site for Mall of America Phase II. In May 2006 the Water Park of America opened, the ninth largest indoor waterpark in the United States.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 38.4 square miles (99.4 km²), of which, 35.5 square miles (91.9 km²) of it is land and 2.9 square miles (7.5 km²) of it (7.53%) is water.
There are three primary land types in the city. The northeastern part of the city is a sand plain, low hills dominate the western portion of the city, and the far south lies within the valley of the Minnesota River.
About 1/3 of the city is permanently reserved for park purposes, including two large natural areas -- the Minnesota Valley's wetlands (controlled by the City and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Hyland Lake Park Reserve (controlled by the Three Rivers Park District).
Water bodies within the city include Bush Lake, Long Meadow Lake, Lake Normandale, Marsh Lake (Hennepin), Nine Mile Creek, Penn Lake and about 100 small lakes and ponds with their wetland habitats.
Locally, the city is divided into two areas by Interstate 35W into "West Bloomington" and "East Bloomington." West Bloomington is mostly residential with newer housing stock, along with multi-story office high-rises along Interstate Highway 494 in the north whereas East Bloomington contains more industry, destination retail centers, and the majority of Bloomington's lower-income housing. Many locals will refer to themselves as either from "East" or "West" Bloomington. The dividing line may be placed as far west as France Avenue where the high school attendance boundaries meet.

City government

Bloomington, Minnesota is governed by a seven member part-time City Council. Members include the mayor and six Council members, four of whom are elected from districts and two who are elected at-large. Members are elected to four year terms, except during redistricting when all district council members have a two year term. Elections are non-partisan.
City operations are controlled by three interrelated entities - the City itself, the Port Authority, and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA). The Port Authority is responsible for managing development in the Airport South district, in which the Mall of America is located. The HRA handles low income housing in the city and manages the city's redevelopment activities. Membership on the boards of the Port Authority and HRA are controlled by the City Council.
The city's organizing document, the City Charter, was approved by voters on November 8, 1960.

for a list of city mayors (past and present) see List of mayors of Bloomington, Minnesota

for a list of city council members (past and present) see List of councilmembers of Bloomington, Minnesota

Government services

Fire Protection: Bloomington has one of the largest volunteer fire departments in the country with 150 firefighters. They provide fire protection that has resulted in a Class 3 fire rating. The department operates six fire stations and utilizes the latest in fire fighting equipment. The department has a total of 30 fire fighting vehicles including pumpers, hook and ladder and specialty units (one vehicle compact enough to navigate the Mall of America's parking ramps), all of which are equipped with Opticom System equipment, which automatically switches traffic signals to expedite emergency runs. The average response time is four minutes.

Police Protection: Public safety is protected by Bloomington's 110 officer police force. The officers have very sophisticated squad cars which help aid them in their round-the-clock patrol. Each squad car contains a computer-assisted dispatching center that contains a computerized records system, mobile digital terminals, which allow officers direct access to warrant information and state motor vehicle and drivers license records, and Opticom System equipment, which automatically switches traffic signals. The police force is also supported by three canine teams, a fully equipped bomb squad, and highly trained SWAT team.

Bloomington Public Health Division

Bloomington Parks and Recreation

Human Services: Bloomington Human Services helps to improve the lives of residents by identifying needs and problems. They provide services that are accessible to youth, families, older adults and people with disabilities.

Politics

Bloomington is located in Minnesota's 3rd congressional district, represented by Jim Ramstad, a moderate Republican, scoring 21% progressive on a range of issues and 68% conservative based on 2006 House votes.

Education

Bloomington Public Schools, ISD 271 has served the K-12 education of the city since the 1960s with an operating fund revenue of $94.6 million in 2007. 15 public schools in Bloomington are operated by the district and is governed by a seven member elected school board, appointing current Superintendent Les Fujitake in 2006. The previous Superintendent Gary Prest won the Superintendent of The Year for 2005 in Minnesota. The city's first public charter school, Seven Hills Classical Academy, opened in 2006. As many families remain or continue to move into the city, there has been support for levy increases. In 1999 they approved the then largest school bond issue in Minnesota history, funding a $107 million school expansion and renovation project.
The two high schools are John F. Kennedy High School in the east and Thomas Jefferson High School in the west. The determining boundary for high school attendance runs near the center of Bloomington on France and Xerxes Avenues, though both schools have open enrollment.
Bloomington's third high school, Lincoln High School (originally Bloomington High School), was sold to the Control Data Corporation in the mid 1980s. Now controlled by General Dynamics, it is used primarily for defense contracting work, although Bloomington Public Schools is a tenant. The stadium, named Bloomington Stadium, there is still used by both Kennedy High School and Jefferson High School for home football, lacrosse and soccer games.

Private schools

Nativity of Mary School is located on Lyndale Ave. It is associated with the Nativity of Mary Catholic Church and community.

Bloomington Lutheran School is located near Bloomington Ferry Road and Old Shakopee Road.

Minnehaha Academy operates a K-5 school at 102nd and Xerxes.

Bethany Academy operates a K-12 school just west of France Avenue on 98th Street.

Concordia Academy-Bloomington (formerly Lutheran High School) located at 82nd and Park.

Higher education

Normandale Community College is a two-year college, with 8,500 full and part-time students, that has been in Bloomington since 1968. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system.

Northwestern Health Sciences University focuses on natural health care and patient research, in the areas of chiropractic, acupuncture, oriental medicine, and massage.

Bethany College of Missions is a small Christian school focused on missionary preparation.

Arts and media

Comcast provides access to four Bloomington cable television stations for public, education and government (PEG) programming. They include The Bloomington Channel 14 link, a comprehensive source of Bloomington information and programming. The channel features City Council and school board meetings, a weekly news magazine show called "Bloomington Today", "Roll Call", a weekly update on public safety news produced by the Bloomington Police Department, arts events, and sports. Bloomington Educational Cable Television (BEC-TV highlights educational and school-based programs from the Bloomington's public and private schools. Programming on this channel includes educational content, concerts, choir shows, graduations, and sporting events. Two student produced shows are also on BEC-TV. Tomorrow's Voices Today (TVT) is a teen news show that highlights the good things teens are doing around the city and talks about teen related issues. YRU-Up is a late night call-in talk show. Skits for the show are produced by students and the show is live every Friday night (Sat. Morning) at 12:30am on TBC (Channel 14). A third channel, BCAT, (Bloomington Cable Access Television is a public access channel that allows individuals and organizations to learn video production and create television shows. The city's website can also be accessed via a cable channel called the B.R.A.I.N. The B.R.A.I.N. allows users to call a server and navigate on the cable channel using a touch-tone phone. The cable access channels are funded by cable franchise fees collected in the city.

Notable Residents

Tony Oliva Former Minnesota Twins resides in Bloomington.

Kent Hrbek Former Minnesota Twins is from Bloomington.

NHL player Ben Clymer of the Washington Capitals is from Bloomington.

NHL player Mark Parrish of the Minnesota Wild is from Bloomington.

NHL player Erik Johnson the 1st overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft is from Bloomington.

NHL player Tom Gilbert of the Edmonton Oilers is from Bloomington.

NHL player Peter Mueller of the Phoenix Coyotes is from Bloomington.

Tom Burnett One of the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 is from Bloomington.

Lane Kiffin Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders is from Bloomington.

Former Sports Illustrated columnist Steve Rushin is from Bloomington.

Former Minnesota Attorney General Warren Spannaus resides in Bloomington.

External links

City of Bloomington Website

Bloomington Sister City Organization Website

Nine Mile Creek Metro Watershed District (MWD)

South Metro Public Safety Training Facility, of which Bloomington is a founding partner

Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fargo is a city in Cass County, North Dakota in the United States. It is the county seat of Cass County, located in the Red River Valley region. The population was 90,599 at the 2000 census (2004 city estimate: 98,084), which makes it the largest city in North Dakota. Along with West Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota, it forms the center of the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Area. The metropolitan area has a population of 174,367 and encompasses a large physical area of Cass County in southeastern North Dakota and Clay County in northwestern Minnesota.
The city of Fargo is the crossroads and economic center of a large portion of eastern North Dakota and a portion of northwestern Minnesota. Fargo is a retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and educational hub for the region. Fargo is home to North Dakota State University. The local newspaper is The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. The city motto is "Gateway to the West". Fargo was founded in 1871.

History

Early history

The area that is present-day Fargo was an early stopping point for steamboats floating down the Red River during the 1870s and 1880s. The city of Fargo was originally named "Centralia," but was later renamed to "Fargo" in honor of Northern Pacific Railway director and Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo. Fargo was founded in 1871. The area started to flourish after the arrival of the railroad and the city became known as the "Gateway to the West".
During the 1880s, Fargo became the "divorce capital" of the Midwest due to very lenient divorce laws.
A major fire struck the city on June 7, 1893 when the proprietor of a grocery store accidentally started the blaze as she emptied ashes behind her store on a windy day. The fire destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses. However, Fargo was quickly rebuilt with new buildings made of brick, new streets, and a water system. The North Dakota State Agricultural College was founded in 1890 as North Dakota's land-grant university, becoming first accredited by the North Central Association in 1915. In 1960, NDAC became known as North Dakota State University.

The 20th Century

Fargo-Moorhead boomed after World War II and the city grew rapidly despite being hit by a violent tornado in 1957. The tornado destroyed a large portion of the north end of the city. The coming of the two interstates (I-29 and I-94) revolutionized travel in the region and pushed growth of Fargo to the south and west of the city limits. In 1972, the West Acres Shopping Center was constructed near the intersection of the two Interstates. This mall would become the catalyst for retail growth in the area. It would also spell the beginning of a time of decline for the downtown area of Fargo.

Recent history

In recent years, Fargo has seen relatively strong growth both in population and economic activity. Several businesses now have major operations in the community including Microsoft, Alien Technology, Navteq and PRACS Institute. The city's major retail districts on the southwest side have seen rapid expansion as has the downtown area due, at least in part, to investments made by the city and private developers in the Renaissance Zone. City leaders would like to see an addition of five-hundred new housing units in the downtown area within the next five years. Planning agencies have also been active in promoting housing rehabilitation in older sections of the city such as the Roosevelt neighborhood to stem blight and strengthen the core of the city. Indeed, during the 1990s most inner city neighborhoods such as Hawthorne, Jefferson, and Horace Mann actually lost population even as rapid growth occurred along the edges of the city in sprawling new developments. As Fargo has grown and matured, however, the city has placed a growing emphasis on long-range urban planning. Furthermore, several developers desiring to bring in additional "big box" retail stores on the far south end of Fargo have been rebuffed by planning officials and nearby residents alike arguing that the developments do not conform to new long-range planning guidelines. These instances might speak to the increasing bargaining power and leverage that Fargo has over private developers due to its stronger position within the regional economy after years of considerable growth. Many urban scholars argue that this is a preferred and advantageous position for cities to be in as they do not have to "bend over backwards" to accommodate business interests.
Since the late 1990s, the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Statistical Area has consistently had one of the lowest unemployment rates among MSAs in the United States. This, coupled with Fargo's low crime rate and the decent supply of affordable housing in the community, has prompted Money magazine to rank the city near the top of its annual list of America's most livable cities throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Fargo was also awarded in 2006 for having some of the cleanest air in the United States, for a city of its size.
Nevertheless, Fargo in the early 21st century faces some challenges. Articles published in the summer of 2006 by The Forum, have noted that the supply of affordable housing in the city is shrinking due to area wages and incomes not rising as fast as housing costs in the city.
Moreover, research conducted by the North Dakota State Data Center and the U.S. Census Bureau document that the city's population growth may be stalling after decades of steady growth. In fact, 2005 census estimates showed a decrease in the population of Fargo proper, albeit an increase in the metro area as a whole. These numbers, however, have been disputed by city officials as the Census Bureau in recent years has been faulted for significantly underestimating the population of some North Dakota cities. Be this as it may, Richard Rathge, the state demographer, has warned that Fargo may very well be losing its primary pool of new migrants as outlying areas of North Dakota, traditionally the geographic area upon which Fargo draws for new migrants, have been rapidly declining in population for decades. In fact, Fargo, for the last two decades, has relied upon international migration for a very large proportion of its new in-migration. Overall, the population of Fargo has been estimated at 90,934 (2006 estimate), but city officials believe the number is closer to 96,000 or 97,000 people.

Geography

Fargo is located at (46.871414, -96.808658).
Fargo sits on the western bank of the Red River of the North in a very flat region known as the Red River Valley. The Red River Valley was once a part of glacial Lake Agassiz, which drained away about 9,300 years ago. The lake sediments deposited from Lake Agassiz made the land around Fargo some of the richest in the world for agricultural uses. Early settlers sometimes called the Red River Valley a new "Garden of Eden".
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 98.3 km² (37.9 mi²), all land.

Climate

Due to its location in the Great Plains and its distance from both mountains and oceans, the city has an extreme continental climate. The city is known for its long, cold and snowy winters. In sharp contrast summers are warm to hot, and often quite humid with frequent thunderstorms. Spring and autumn are short and highly variable seasons.

Law and government

Fargo uses the city commission style of local government. Four commissioners and a mayor are elected at large. The current mayor of Fargo is Dennis Walaker, who was elected on June 13, 2006. The Fargo City Commission meets every two weeks in its chambers above the Fargo Civic Center. The meetings are broadcast on a local cable channel.
Although diverse politically, Fargo is by and large a Republican-leaning area. Democrats tend to do well in state elections in the older and established areas of Fargo (Districts 11 and 21), but Republicans dominate throughout much of the newer areas of the city. George W. Bush carried Fargo as well as the rest Cass County in the 2004 presidential election, with nearly 60 percent of the vote in both areas. Although less Democratic-leaning than Grand Forks, Fargo is considerably more moderate/liberal than Bismarck where Democrats hold not a single seat in the state legislature. In the 2006 elections, several Fargo-area Republican incumbents to the state legislature were defeated.

Education

K-12

The Fargo Public Schools system operates fifteen elementary schools, three middle schools, two high schools (Fargo North High School and Fargo South High School), and an alternative high school (Woodrow Wilson). South Fargo ninth graders are temporarily going to South Campus II (former Agassiz Middle School) until another new high school is built in South Fargo. The West Fargo Public Schools system serves much of the southwest part of the city.
Fargo is also home to six parochial schools, including two private high schools (Oak Grove Lutheran School and Shanley High School).

Higher education

Fargo is home to North Dakota State University (NDSU) which has over 12,500 students. NDSU was founded in 1890 primarily as an agricultural school, but has since branched out to cover many other fields of study. NDSU is also a major research institute. Together, NDSU and the University of North Dakota make up the Red River Valley Research Corridor.
Fargo is also home to several private institutions, including Aakers Business College, a branch location of the University of Mary, and Masters Baptist College operated by Fargo Baptist Church.

Culture

Fargo offers a relatively wide variety of cultural opportunities for a city of its size. This is likely due, in part, to the presence of three universities in the metropolitan area. Most theatre and events are either promoted or produced by the universities, although there are a few private theatre companies in the city including Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre (FMCT), Theatre 'B' in downtown Fargo, Ursa Major Theatre Company, and The Entertainment Company. Music organizations in the metropolitan area include the Fargo-Moorhead Opera, the Jazz Arts Group, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, and the Fargo-Moorhead Youth Symphony.
The Fargo Theatre is a restored 1926 Art Deco movie house that features first-run movies, film festivals, and other community events. The Fargodome routinely hosts concerts, Broadway musicals, dance performances, sporting events, as well as fairs and other gatherings.
The Plains Art Museum is the largest museum of art in the state. It is located in downtown Fargo and features regional and national exhibits. It also houses a large permanent collection of art. There are several other museums in Fargo including The Children's Museum at Yunker Farm, The Fargo Air Museum, The Courthouse Museum, The Roger Maris Museum in West Acres Shopping Center, and the North Dakota State University Wall of Fame in the Scheels All Sports store.
The Fargo Public Library was established in 1900 and for many years was housed in a Carnegie-funded building. In 1968, the library moved into a new facility as part of urban renewal efforts in the downtown area. In 2002, the Fargo Public Library established the first branch library in North Dakota with the opening of the Southpointe Branch. In 2004, voters passed an 18-month sales tax measure for new library facilities with 62% of voters in favor. The new Northport Branch opened in 2006 and serves the north side of Fargo. The Dr. James Carlson Library, which replaced the earlier Southpointe Branch, opened to the public on November 16, 2007 and serves the south side of Fargo. The new main library downtown, designed by Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, will open in early 2009.

Recreation

The Fargo Park District operates many neighborhood parks throughout the city. The metropolitan area contains the following golf courses: Edgewood Golf Course (18-hole), Fargo Country Club (18-hole) Rose Creek Golf Course (18-hole), El Zagal (9-hole), Prairiewood Golf Course (9-hole), and the new Osgood Golf Course (9-hole). In the winter Edgewood serves as a warming house and rents skis out. Rose Creek has a restaurant called Seasons and also gives golfing lessons in the summer.

Sports

Fargo-Moorhead Jets of the North American Hockey League

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the Northern League

Fargo Post

2 of the North Dakota American Legion Baseball League

Fargo Marathon

Sister cities

Fargo has two sister cities:

Media

See also: Fargo-Moorhead media for a list of newspapers, radio, and television stations

The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead is the city's major newspaper. The High Plains Reader, an independent weekly tabloid, also operates in the community. North Dakota State University's student paper, The Spectrum, is printed twice weekly during the academic year.
Fargo is also home to several radio and television stations. Forum Communications, which also owns The Forum, owns WDAY-TV and WDAY radio. Local resident James Ingstad owns six radio stations under Radio Fargo-Moorhead, including KFGO. The main cable television provider in Fargo is CableOne.

Sites of interest

Arenas and auditoriums

Fargodome - (1800 North University Drive) An indoor arena located on the NDSU campus. It plays host to all NDSU home football games and is also used for concerts and trade shows. This is also where the high school wrestling national freestyle and greco-roman championships take place every year

Reineke Fine Arts Center - (12th Avenue North and Bolley Drive) Located on the NDSU campus. The University uses the center for concerts, theatrical presentations, and other events.

Fargo Civic Center - (207 4th Street North) An indoor arena used to host trade shows, sporting events, meetings, community events, concerts, and disaster relief.

John E. Carlson Coliseum - (807 17th Avenue North) This arena is host to the Fargo North High School and Fargo South High School hockey teams as well as the FM Jets hockey team. The arena was built in 1968 and has previously been home to the Fargo Blazers and NDSU Club hockey teams. The arena is also for figure skating. The Coliseum hosts the largest squirt hockey tournament in the world, the Fargo Flyers Squirt International Hockey Tournament.

Urban Plains Center - On June 27, 2007, Fargo held a groundbreaking for the Urban Plains Center ice hockey arena. The arena will be located in south Fargo and will cost about $34 Million to construct. The arena will be used for a USHL team as well as local youth and high school hockey teams.

Museums

Bonanzaville, USA - (1351 Main Avenue, West Fargo) A "village" made up of many historic buildings from the region. Includes a church, school building, and log cabins. It is named after the historic bonanza farms of the area. Open May-October.

The Children's Museum at Yunker Farm - (1201 28th Avenue North) Provides many exhibits and "hands-on" participation for children. Open year-round.

Fargo Air Museum - (1609 19th Avenue North) Features aircraft from World War II and beyond. Also hosts traveling exhibits.

Plains Art Museum - (704 1st Avenue North) A large art museum located in a historic downtown building. Features regional and national exhibits.

The Roger Maris Museum - (West Acres Shopping Center) A small museum dedicated to Roger Maris located in a wing of the mall. Features memorabilia and a video presentation about the New York Yankees player who lived in Fargo for a portion of his life.

Hjemkomst Center - (Downtown at 202 1st Ave. N, Moorhead MN) Displays and interprets the Hjemkmost replica Viking ship that was sailed to Norway. Also home of the Clay County Historical Society museum and archives.

Theatres

Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre - (333 4th Street South) FMCT presents comedies, dramas, youth shows, and musicals in a theatre located in Island Park south of downtown.

Fargo Theatre - (314 Broadway) A 1926 Art Deco movie theatre. Presents films (classic and current), live productions, and other events.

Main Avenue Theatre - (716 Main Avenue) Hosts live productions by local independent theater companies Theatre B and the Tin Roof Theatre Company and other events.

Trollwood Performing Arts School - Trollwood Performing Arts School is a summer theatre arts program for students of all ages. The school presents many different forms of performing arts every summer, the most prominent being a Broadway musical performed in front of up to 2,500 audience members per night at an outdoor ampitheatre. The school is noted for its numerous national arts awards.

Misc. attractions

Newman Outdoor Field - (1515 15th Avenue North) Home of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (an independent professional baseball team that is part of the Northern League).

North Dakota Horse Park - (5100 19th Avenue North) Features live racing and betting.

Red River Zoo - (4220 21st Avenue Southwest) A 30-acre zoo that features 80 species of animals. Also includes a restored 1928 carousel.

Fargo Outdoor Skate Park - (4th Street) Outdoor skate park located at the Dike West.

Fargo-Moorhead Jets Junior "A" Hockey - The Jets play in the North American Hockey League, a "Tier II" junior hockey league.

Notable residents

Henry Luke Bolley - plant pathologist and first NDSU football coach

James F. Buchli - (Colonel, USMC, Ret.) former NASA Space Shuttle astronaut born in New Rockford, North Dakota who later lived in Fargo

Chris Coste - Major League Baseball player

Shannon Curfman - blues guitarist and singer

CariDee English - winner of America's Next Top Model, Season 7

John Bernard Flannagan - sculptor

William H. Gass - writer

Paul Gaustad - National Hockey League player for the Buffalo Sabres

Chuck Klosterman - author, and journalist for Spin, Esquire, and ESPN

Charlie Korsmo - film actor

Jonny Lang - blues guitarist and singer

Gary Larsen - NFL football player, member of the "Purple People Eaters"

Roger Maris - former New York Yankees baseball player

Carey McWilliams - blind marksman, and author

Aloisius Joseph Muench - Bishop of Fargo

Collin Peterson - United States Representative for Minnesota

Kirstin Rudrud - actress, notable for her acting in the movie Fargo

Donny Schatz - World of Outlaws driver

Peter Schickele - Musical composer and alter ego of PDQ Bach

Ed Schultz - Progressive/Liberal radio talk show host syndicated by the Jones Radio Network

Frank Scott - musician, pianist and arranger with the Lawrence Welk orchestra

Burleigh F. Spalding - former United States Representative from North Dakota

Bobby Vee - pop music singer from 1960s

Brenda Weiler - singer/songwriter

Trivia

The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly died in a plane crash while bound for Fargo on February 3, 1959. Known as "The Day the Music Died", the crash was made famous in the song "American Pie" by Don McLean.

External links

City of Fargo official website

History of Fargo - website detailing history of Fargo

Downtown Fargo History - website devoted to the history of downtown Fargo

James Lileks' Fargo - website with many pictures of historic Fargo

Fargo Filmmaking Wiki - a wiki about moviemaking that originated in Fargo

Fargo, North Dakota Geology - website about the geology of the Fargo area

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Paul is the capital and the second most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city and the adjacent city of Minneapolis, form the core of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the fifteenth largest such area in the United States with a population of 3.5 million. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 287,151. Saint Paul serves as the county seat of Ramsey County, the most densely populated county in Minnesota. Residents of Saint Paul are referred to as Saint Paulites.
Saint Paul began as a tavern started by Pierre Parrant, known as "Pig's Eye", because he was blind in one eye, who sold liquor on the river flats below the current downtown area. The area around the tavern grew into a trading outpost known as Pig's Eye or Pig's Eye Landing, where Native Americans, European explorers, and American soldiers lived in close proximity. The city spans the Mississippi river, near the confluence of the Minnesota river. Later the city became a center for transportation and trading in Minnesota, as steamboats could not travel further upriver. In 1854, Saint Paul incorporated as a city and, in 1858, became the capital of Minnesota.

History

About 2000 years ago, the Hopewell culture Native Americans lived in the vicinity, burying their dead in mounds, now located in Indian Mounds Park. The Dakota Indians later used the same site to bury their dead. From about 1600 to 1837 the Dakota Indians lived near the site of the Mounds. In the early 1800s, a disparate group of fur traders, explorers, and missionaries came to the area for the protection that Fort Snelling offered. Many of these people had come south from Canada and were of French descent; others had come from the east after treaties with Native Americans officially opened the area.
In the early years, the settlers lived close to the fort along the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, but as a whiskey trade started to flourish, the military officers in Fort Snelling banned them from the lands the fort controlled, with one retired fur trader turned bootlegger, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant particularly irritating the officials. By the early 1820s the area had become important as a trading center, a destination for settlers heading west, and was known as Pig's Eye or Pig's Eye Landing. In 1837, a treaty between Henry Schoolcraft and about 200 Dakota Indians displaced the natives from the site. German-Jewish pioneers formed Saint Paul's first synagogue in 1856.
The Minnesota Territory was formalized in 1849 with Saint Paul named as its capital. In 1850, the city narrowly survived a proposed law to move the capital to Saint Peter when territorial legislator, Joe Rolette disappeared with the approved bill. In 1854, Saint Paul incorporated as a city and, in 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the union with Saint Paul becoming the 32nd state capital.
Natural geography played a role in the settlement and development of Saint Paul as a trade and transportation center. The Mississippi River valley in this area is defined by a series of stone bluffs that line both sides of the river. Saint Paul grew up also around Lambert's Landing, the last place to unload boats coming upriver at an easily accessible point, some fourteen river miles downstream from Saint Anthony Falls, the geographic feature that defined the location of Minneapolis and its prominence as the Mill City. This made Saint Paul a gateway to the Upper Midwest for westbound settlers heading for the Minnesota frontier or the Dakota Territory. In 1858 more than 1,000 steamboats unloaded cargo and passengers at Saint Paul.

Geography

Saint Paul is located in east-central Minnesota. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.2 square miles (145.5 km²). 52.8 square miles (136.7 km²) of it is land and 3.4 square miles (8.8 km²) of it (6.07%) is water. The Mississippi River runs through the city, and forms a municipal boundary on the city's west, southwest and southeast sides. Minneapolis, the state's larger city lies to the west; Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Roseville, and Maplewood are north; Maplewood is also to the east; the cities of West Saint Paul and South Saint Paul are to the south; and Lilydale, Mendota and Mendota Heights lie across the river from the city to the south. The city's largest lakes are Pig's Eye Lake, in the river, Lake Phalen, and Lake Como.

Neighborhoods

Saint Paul is noted for its neighborhoods; the city has been called "fifteen small towns with one mayor", owing to the neighborhood-based life of much of the city. But in fact Saint Paul is broken into not fifteen but seventeen City Districts. And while some City District boundaries perfectly overlap the boundaries of well-recognized neighborhoods, especially in wealthier areas, that's not the case throughout Saint Paul.
The city's seventeen City Districts include:
The "West" Side neighborhood seems oddly located to the south, but is so named because it is on the west bank of the Mississippi River. And the "East Side" conglomeration of neighborhoods actually includes the entire eastern third of the city and its populace.

Government and politics

City

Saint Paul is governed with a variation of the strong mayor-council form of government. The mayor is the chief executive and chief administrative officer for the city and the seven member city council is the legislative body. The mayor is elected from the entire city, while members of the city council are elected from seven different geographic wards, which are comprised of approximately equal populations.
In addition to the mayor-council system, Saint Paul is governed by a unique neighborhood system. Since 1975, the city has been split up into 17 City Districts, which are then governed by a District Council. The District Councils receive some funding from the city but are otherwise independently run. Most councils have significant power on land use issues.

State

Saint Paul is the capital of the state of Minnesota. The city hosts the capitol building, designed by Saint Paul resident Cass Gilbert, and the house and senate office buildings. The Minnesota Governor's Residence, which is used for some state functions, is on Summit Avenue. Saint Paul is also the county seat for Ramsey County.

Federal

Saint Paul is located in Minnesota's 4th congressional district, represented by Betty McCollum, a progressive Democrat, scoring 92% progressive by a progressive group and 4% conservative by a conservative group on a range of issues.

Education

Saint Paul is second in the United States in the number of higher education institutions per capita. Higher education institutions that call Saint Paul home include three public and eight private colleges and universities, and five post-secondary institutions. Well-known colleges and universities include: the College of Saint Catherine, Concordia University, Hamline University, Macalester College, and the University of St. Thomas. Metropolitan State University and Saint Paul College, which focus on non-traditional students, are based in Saint Paul, as well as two law schools, William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University School of Law.
The Saint Paul Public Schools district is the state's second largest school district and serves approximately 42,000 students. The district is extremely diverse with students from families speaking 70 different languages, although only four languages are used for most school communication. Those languages are English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali. The district runs 67 different schools including 48 elementary schools, eight middle schools, seven high schools, three alternative schools and one special education school. The district also employs over 6,500 teachers and staff. The school district also oversees community education programs for pre-K and adult learners, including Early Childhood Family Education, GED Diploma, language programs and various learning opportunities for community members of all ages. In 2006, Saint Paul Public Schools celebrated its 150th anniversary.
A variety of K-12 private, parochial and public charter schools are also represented in the city. In 1992, Saint Paul became the first city in the U.S. to sponsor and open a charter school, now found in most states across the nation. Saint Paul is currently home to 21 charter schools as well as 38 private schools.

Culture

Performing arts

Circus Juventas a youth performing arts circus school

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

RiverCentre, which serves as the city's civic center

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

The Fitzgerald Theater

SteppingStone Theatre

Park Square Theatre

Starting Gate Productions

Live music

Artists' Quarter, a jazz club in downtown.

Turf Club, a bar in the Midway.

Station 4, a bar downtown that has live music every night, mostly metal, and sometimes all-ages shows.

Shamrocks, an Irish pub on West 7th Street and Randolph Avenue occasionally has live music.

O'Garas, an Irish pub on Selby and Snelling has live shows.

Minnesota Music Cafe is a big venue with nightly live music.

City attractions

Additional attractions include the Mississippi River, Lake Como, the Como Zoo and Conservatory, Rice Park, Indian Mounds Park, Battle Creek Regional Park, Harriet Island Regional Park, Highland Park, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, the Landmark Center, the Wabasha Street Caves, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The historic Landmark Center is located at the heart of Saint Paul; it is home to SteppingStone Theatre, a youth theater company and the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, a high school located on the 5th floor of the building which is sponsored by the Ordway.

Nearby attractions

Nearby attractions include the Minnesota State Fair. The fair is open during the two weeks prior to and including Labor Day. It takes place in the suburb of Falcon Heights, just north of the Midway neighborhood. Immediately west of the state fairgrounds is the Saint Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. Historic Fort Snelling lies on the bluff above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. Just below the bluff is Fort Snelling State Park, which incorporates Pike Island named for the explorer Zebulon Pike. The Henry Hastings Sibley home, in Mendota is the oldest stone home in Minnesota. And Bloomington's Mall of America boasts 520 stores and an indoor amusement park.

The city's famed creators

Saint Paul is the birthplace of renowned author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as the childhood home of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts) who, while born in a Minneapolis hospital, lived from infancy until the early 1960s in the city. Because of the association with Schulz, Saint Paul regularly has events centering around the Snoopy family, such as distributing painted and decorated giant Peanuts sculptures around the city.
Playwright August Wilson lived in the city from 1978 until 1990, at the suggestion of his friend director Claude Purdy, who helped him secure a job writing educational scripts for the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Renowned painter LeRoy Neiman is also a native of Saint Paul and was born there in 1927. Born in Saint Paul, John Vachon photographed the United States for the Farm Security Administration and later Look and Life magazines.

Sports

The Saint Paul division of Parks and Recreation runs over 1,500 organized sports teams. In addition the Parks and Recreation department is responsible for 160 parks and 41 recreation centers. The first curling club in Saint Paul was founded in 1888. The current club, the Saint Paul Curling Club, was founded in 1912 and is the largest curling club in the United States. The Minnesota RollerGirls are a flat-track roller derby league that is based in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium.
The first baseball team established in Saint Paul were the St. Paul Saints in 1884. They folded in 1899. The all black St. Paul Colored Gophers came to town and played four seasons from 1907 to 1911. The current reincarnation of the St. Paul Saints are an independent baseball team that plays in the American Association. They play in the open air Midway Stadium. Two professional soccer teams play in James Griffin Stadium. The Minnesota Thunder play in the USL First Division and the St. Paul Twin Stars play in the National Premier Soccer League.
The Minnesota Wild brought ice hockey back to Minnesota for the first time since 1993, since the departure of the Minnesota North Stars. Previously, the Minnesota Fighting Saints had played in Saint Paul from 1972 to 1977. The Wild's first season began in 2000 in the new Xcel Energy Center. Another tenant of the Xcel Energy Center are the Minnesota Swarm, a box lacrosse team that plays in the National Lacrosse League. The Xcel Energy Center is located in downtown and was built over the demolished Saint Paul Civic Center. The “X” as it is sometimes called, hosts Minnesota high school boys hockey tournament and many concerts though out the year. In 2004 it was named the best overall sports venue in the U.S. by ESPN.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, Twins, and Vikings all play in Minneapolis.

Sister cities

Saint Paul has 11 sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:

External links

City of Saint Paul -- Official site

Official Tourism site -- Visitor Information

Saint Paul Public Library site

City of Saint Paul - Department of Parks and Recreation, a list of city parks, programming, recreation centers, opening hours and other information.

Saint Paul E-Democracy discussion list

Saint Paul Photo Blog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

La Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city, which lies alongside the Mississippi River, is known primarily as a college town and commercial center for the surrounding area.
The population of La Crosse was 51,818 at the 2000 census, which makes it the 12th largest city in Wisconsin by population (8th largest excluding cities which are part of the metropolitan areas of Milwaukee and Chicago). Together with surrounding communities, the La Crosse metropolitan area was, according to the 2000 census, home to 96,592 people. The city forms the core of, and is the principal city within the United States Census Bureau's La Crosse Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of La Crosse County in Wisconsin and Houston County, Minnesota (composite 2000 population: 126,838).

History

La Crosse was incorporated as a city in 1856, but its history goes back somewhat further. The first Europeans to see the site of La Crosse were French fur traders who traveled up and down the Mississippi River beginning in the late 17th century. Despite this, there is no written record of any visit to the site until 1765, when Lt. Zebulon Pike mounted an expedition up the Mississippi River for the United States. Pike recorded the location's name as "Prairie La Crosse". The name originated when he saw the Native Americans playing a game with sticks that resembled a bishop's crozier or la crosse in French.
The first white settlement at La Crosse came in 1841. That year, a New York native named Nathan Myrick had moved to the village at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin to work in the fur trade. However, once in Wisconsin, Myrick found that many fur traders were already well-entrenched in Prairie du Chien, and that there were no openings for him to become involved there. As a result, Myrick decided to establish a trading post upriver at the then still unsettled site of Prairie La Crosse. In 1841 Myrick built a temporary trading post on Barron Island, which lies just west of La Crosse's present downtown. In 1842 Myrick relocated the post to the mainland prairie, partnering with H.J.B Miller to run the outfit.
The spot Myrick chose to build his trading post proved ideal for settlement. It was near the junction of the Black, La Crosse, and Mississippi Rivers. In addition, the post was built at one of the very few points along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River where a broad plain ideal for development exist between the river's bank and the tall bluffs that line the river valley. As such, a small village grew around Myrick's trading post through the 1840s.
A small Mormon community settled at La Crosse in 1844, and built several dozen cabins a few miles south of Myrick's post. Although these settlers relocated away from the Midwest after just a year, the land they occupied near La Crosse continues to bear the name Mormon Coulee.
On June 23, Father James Lloyd Breck of the Episcopal Church said the first Christian liturgy (Episcopilian liturgy) on top of Grandad Bluff.
More permanent development took place closer to Myrick's trading post, where stores, a hotel, and a post office were constructed during the 1840s. Under the direction of Timothy Burns, lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, surveyor William Hood platted the village in 1851. This opened it up for further settlement, which was achieved rapidly thanks to promotion of the city in eastern newspapers. By 1855, La Crosse had grown in population to nearly two thousand residents, leading to its incorporation in 1856. The city grew even more rapidly after 1858 with the completion of the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railroad, the second railroad connecting Milwaukee to the Mississippi River.
During the second half of the 19th century, La Crosse grew to become one of the largest cities in Wisconsin. At that time, it was a major economic center in the state, especially of the lumber industry, for logs cut in the interior of the state could be rafted down the Black River toward sawmills built in the city. La Crosse also became a center for the brewing industry and other manufacturers that saw advantages in the city's location adjacent to major transportation arteries such as the Mississippi River and the railroad between Milwaukee and St. Paul, Minnesota. Around the turn of the 20th century, the city also became a center for education. Three colleges and universities were established in the city between 1890 and 1912.
La Crosse remains the largest city on Wisconsin's western border today, and the educational institutions in the city have recently led it toward becoming a regional technology and medical hub.

Geography

La Crosse is located in western Wisconsin, on a broad alluvial plain along the east side of the Mississippi River. The Black River empties into the Mississippi north of the city, and the La Crosse river flows into the Mississippi just north of the downtown area. Prior to its mouth, this river broadens into a marshland that splits the city into two distinct sections, north and south.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.2 square miles (57.4 km²), of which, 20.1 square miles (52.2 km²) of it is land and 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²) of it (9.12%) is water.
Surrounding the relatively flat prairie where La Crosse lies are towering bluffs, one of the most prominent of which is Grandad Bluff (mentioned in Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain). This feature typifies the topography of the Driftless Area in which La Crosse sits. This rugged region is composed of high ridges dissected by narrow valleys called coulees. As a result, the area around La Crosse is frequently referred to as the "Coulee Region".
Several cities are located in the immediate La Crosse Metro Area, including Onalaska, Wisconsin, Holmen, Wisconsin, West Salem, Wisconsin, and La Crescent, Minnesota, across the Mississippi River.

Climate

La Crosse's location in the United States' upper midwest gives the area a temperate, continental climate. The warmest month of the year is July, when the average high temperature is 85 °F (29 °C), with overnight low temperatures averaging 63 °F (18 °C). January is the coldest month, with high temperatures averaging 26 °F (-4 °C), with the overnight low temperatures around 6 °F (-14 °C).

Transportation

The La Crosse Municipal Airport provides scheduled passenger service to Minneapolis through Northwest Airlink and Mesaba Airlines, and to Chicago via American Eagle Airlines. American Airlines also provides two daily flights to and from Chicago. Lastly, Sun Country Airlines serves regular charter service to Laughlin, Nevada. The airport also serves general aviation for the La Crosse metro area.
On the Mississippi River, cargo is transported to and from the area using towboats, primarily moving dry bulk cargo barges for coal, grain, and other low-value bulk goods.
The Mississippi River Bridge, also known as the Cass St. bridge, also connects downtown La Crosse with La Crescent, Minnesota. These two bridges cross the Mississippi River.
Railroad tracks owned by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) pass through La Crosse providing freight service. The former Milwaukee and La Crosse Railroad/Milwaukee Road/Soo Line and now Canadian Pacific Railway runs through the city as well, and provides the track on which the La Crosse Amtrak station is located, and is a stop for the Empire Builder providing cross-country passenger rail service.
The city is served by several major highways, including Interstate 90, U.S. Highway 14, U.S. Highway 53, U.S. Highway 61,and Wisconsin State Highway 16.
Also, La Crosse boasts an efficient MTU bus service which has routes reaching out to the suburbs and mall areas.

Education

La Crosse is home to three regional colleges and universities. These include the public University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Western Technical College, as well as the Roman Catholic Viterbo University.
For primary and secondary education, the La Crosse area is served by the School District of La Crosse with 21 elementary, middle, high, and charter schools. La Crosse Central High School and Logan High School are the two public high schools serving the La Crosse area. With a total enrollment of 7,213 students in 2006, making it the 16th largest school district in the state. The La Crosse School District has 635 teachers of which 73% hold a master's degree or higher. The 2006 operating budget for the school district was $87,126,387; this was composed of 40.6% local funding, 53.4% state funding, and 5.9% federal funding.
Also, La Crosse is served by a Waldorf School, Three Rivers School.
In addition, La Crosse Coulee Catholic Schools, a Roman Catholic school district affiliated with the Diocese of La Crosse, is centered in the city and includes Aquinas High School, and Aquinas Middle School.
Another Roman Catholic school, the Providence Academy, is independent from Coulee Catholic Schools and has no affiliation with the Diocese of La Crosse.

Health and Medicine

Two major health care facilities are located in La Crosse, these being Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center which is ranked 33rd nationally, up from 35th in 2006, among more than 580 non-specialty networks in a rating system by Verispan, which issues an annual report evaluating performance and degree of integration. The rankings recently were published in Modern Healthcare Magazine and Franciscan Skemp Medical Center, which is an affiliate of the Mayo Clinic.
La Crosse’s tap drinking water, which is from an Artesian aquifer, won top billing in September of 2007 in a statewide tasting competition hosted by the Wisconsin Water Association. The city faced off against ground-water and surface-water utilities from Algoma, Appleton, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Pell Lake, Shawano, Shawano Lake and Watertown at the association’s annual meeting. La Crosse’s drinking water is pumped from the ground to a distribution center, and is treated with chlorine and fluoride; and some wells are treated with polyphosphate.

Awards & Rankings

2002 - National Trust for Historic Preservation Great American Main Street Award

2003 - Milken Institute Best Performing Cities (20th Overall)

2005 - Inc. Magazine 4th Best Small City

2005 - Inc. Magazine 15th Best City in America to Do Business

2005 - Forbes Best Places (25th)

2006 - 7th Safest Metropolitan Area in the Nation - Morgan Quinto Press

2006 - Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranked La Crosse - 16th "Smartest Place to Live in U.S.

Field & Stream

Religion

La Crosse is the episcopal see for the Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse. The Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman is the mother church of the Diocese.

St. Rose of Viterbo Convent is the mother house of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration is in La Crosse.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is in La Crosse.

Christ Church of La Crosse is the city's Episcopal church.

St.Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church is the city's Eastern Orthodox Church.

Congregation Sons of Abraham

Culture

La Crosse Public Library

Winding Rivers Library System

La Crosse County Historical Society

La Crosse Symphony Orchestra

Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps

Julia Belle Swain

Sports

La Crosse has supported several sports teams, including the Catbirds of the CBA, the Bobcats of the CBA, the La Crosse RiverRats of the IFL, the Night Train of the NIFL, and currently the Loggers of the Northwoods League, whose home field is at Copeland Park. La Crosse is also home to the two-time NCAA Division III national football championship winning University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles, where former NFL players Tom Newberry, Bill Schroeder, Joel Williams, and Mike Maslowski played during college. Mount La Crosse ski area is also located in La Crosse with 19 runs, 3 chair lifts, and beginner area. The New Orleans Saints football team also has held their summer practices at UWL's football stadium.

Annual Events

La Crosse Oktoberfest

RiverFest

Deke Slayton Airfest

Great River Jazzfest

Irish Fest

Downtown Mardi Gras

Downtown Farmers Market

Historic Downtown La Crosse Days

Sand On The Riverfront

Winter Rec Fest

New Years Eve Skyrockers

Hmong New Year Parade

Sister Cities

La Crosse has sister city relationships with six foreign cities:

Bantry, Ireland

Dubna, Russia

Epinal, France

Friedberg, Bavaria Germany

Førde Norway

Luoyang, China

External links

General

City of La Crosse

Coulee Region ONLINE - Community portal and social site for the La Crosse area

Gateway Area Council

Historic Downtown La Crosse

La Crosse Public Library System

La Crosse School District

Tourism

La Crosse Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

La Crosse Chamber of Commerce

La Crosse Area Visitor

La Crosse Visitor Guide

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rochester is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota. The city was estimated to have population of 101,764 as of January 1, 2008, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is perhaps best known as the home of the Mayo Clinic. The city is also home to one of IBM's largest facilities. The city has long been a fixture on Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" index, and is ranked number 67 on the 2006 list.
The Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area, consisting of Olmsted, Dodge, and Wabasha counties, had an estimated population of 179,573 in 2006.

History

The area was once occupied by nomadic Sioux, Ojibwa and Winnebago tribes of Native Americans. In 1851, the Sioux ceded the land to Minnesota Territory in the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota. In 1853, the treaties were concluded, opening the land for settlement. Rochester was founded by George Head in 1854, his claim part of what is now the city's business district. Originally from Rochester, New York, Head had settled in Waukesha, Wisconsin before moving west to Minnesota. He named the village on the South Fork of the Zumbro River after his New York hometown, and built a log cabin his family operated as Head's Tavern. By 1856, the population had grown to 50; and by 1858, it was 1,500. The Territorial Legislature created Olmstead County on February 20, 1855, with Rochester named county seat in 1857. In addition to farming, Rochester developed as a stagecoach stop between Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Dubuque, Iowa. When the railroad arrived in the 1860s, it brought new residents and business opportunities. In 1863, Dr. William W. Mayo arrived as the examining surgeon for draftees in the Civil War.
On August 21, 1883, the Great Tornado demolished much of Rochester, leaving thirty-seven dead and several thousand wounded. There was no medical facility at the time, so Dr. Mayo and his two sons worked together to care for the wounded. $60,000 in donations were collected and the Sisters of St. Francis, assisted by Dr. Mayo, opened a new facility named St. Marys Hospital in 1889. The Mayo practice grew and is today among the largest and most well-respected medical facilities in the world. Many famous people from around the world, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and King Hussein of Jordan, have visited Rochester as patients of the Mayo Clinic.

City flag

In 1980 a competition was held to design a flag for the city of Rochester. Nearly 200 flag proposal entries were submitted to the citizen flag selection committee. The design submitted by Laurie A. Muir, a fine arts student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, was selected for the official city flag by the Rochester City Council at a council meeting on June 16, 1980. Ms. Muir designed the flag with royal blue and a white circle as a historical reference to the original Flag of Minnesota. To represent the city's main industry, the flag design includes a city landscape in the background showing the main building of the Mayo Clinic, along with the Plummer Building, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Another major employer, IBM is represented by a computer-styled font for the lettering. In the foreground is a blue lake representing Rochester's Silver Lake, an artificial lake in Rochester created by a dam and used to cool the electrical generating power plant. Because the power plant produces enough heat to keep the lake from freezing in the winter, Canada geese stay in Rochester year round. This is represented by the three Canada geese flying over the city on the flag. The first official flag was presented to its designer in a ceremony held at the Rochester Public Library on August 19, 1980. Making the presentation was City Council President Dick Postier and Mayor Chuck Hazama. The center image from the flag is currently used as a logo in various renditions by city departments.

Geography

Rochester lies along the South Fork of the Zumbro River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 39.8 square miles (103.0 km²) - 39.6 square miles (102.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (0.35%) is water.
Rochester is in Olmsted County, one of only four counties in Minnesota without a natural lake. Artificial lakes exist in the area, including Silver Lake, a dammed portion of the South Fork Zumbro River just below the convergence with Silver Creek near the city center. The lake was used as a cooling pond for the nearby electrical power plant for many years, although the amount of water used for this purpose has been significantly reduced. Heated water in the lake generally prevents it from freezing over even during Minnesota winters, attracting migrating giant Canada geese, which have become symbols of the city.
A major flood in 1978 led the city to embark on an expensive flood-control project that involved altering many nearby rivers and streams.
Minnesota is in the Central Standard Time (CST -6:00 GMT) zone and central daylight time.

Climate

Below is a table of average high and low temperatures throughout the year in Rochester.

Government

The incumbent mayor of Rochester is Ardell Brede.

List of mayors of Rochester, Minnesota

Politics

Rochester is located in Minnesota's 1st congressional district, represented by Mankato educator Tim Walz, a Democrat.

Education

The city is home to University Center Rochester (UCR), a grouping of Rochester Community and Technical College, Winona State University's Rochester Center, and the University of Minnesota's Rochester campus and Cardinal Stritch University also has a branch in Rochester. Crossroads College, a four-year nondenominational Christian college, also is located in the city. The Minnesota School of Business opened a new campus in Rochester in 2006.
Graduate education is available through The Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, the research and education component of Mayo Clinic. The College of Medicine is comprised of Mayo Medical School, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo School of Continuing Medical Education, Mayo School of Health Sciences, and the Mayo Clinic Residency and Fellowship programs.

High Schools

There are eight high schools in Rochester:

Mayo High School

Century High School

Schaeffer Academy

John Marshall High School

Rochester Lourdes High School

Conrad Paulina Memorial Academy

Rochester Off Campus (ROC) High School

Studio Academy High School

Sites of Interest

A number of buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the former Chateau Theatre, which now houses a Barnes & Noble Bookstore and Cafe.

The longest running restaurant (1951) in rochester is Michaels, with the very popular bartender, Thomas Weisheipl. The greek restaurant is currently still in the family of original owner and run by Mike Pappas.

The city has three homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright: the A. H. Bulbulian Residence, the James McBean Residence, and the Thomas Keys Residence.

Rochester may also be home to the largest "ear of corn" in the world. Actually an inedible water tower, it is next to the Seneca Foods plant in the city.

Many of the tallest buildings in Rochester are owned by Mayo. The Gonda Building is the tallest building owned by the clinic, and it is attached to the cross-shaped Mayo Building. Mayo's Plummer Building is considered to be among the most architecturally significant in the city. The tallest building in Rochester is the newly constructed BridgeStreet Broadway Plaza, a residential dwelling catering to the many extended-stay visitors who frequent Mayo. Broadway Plaza is also the tallest residential building in a US Metropolitan Area of fewer than 200,000 people.

IBM Rochester is a 3.1 million square feet (290,000 m²) collection of connected buildings on a business campus in the northwest part of the city. It was initially designed by noted architect Eero Saarinen.

The brick motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota on the wooded hill of Assisi Heights, can be seen from many parts of the city.

Sports and recreation

Sports

The Med-City Aquatics Swim Club offers competitive youth and masters swimming. Swimmers from Med-City have competed at Division 1 Universities and at state and national competitions.

The Rochester A’s are a part of the American Legion Division I Baseball. In 2003, the A's became only the fourth team from Minnesota to win the National American League World Series in its 77-year history.

The Rochester Active Sports Club is a multi-sport club for enthusiasts of sports such as cycling (MTB and road) and Nordic skiing in South East Minnesota.

The Rochester Giants are a semi-professional football team formed in 2003.

The Rochester Honkers is a summer collegiate baseball league. Top college players from the Midwest and across the country participate. Home games are played at Mayo Field.

The Rochester Ice Hawks hockey team made Rochester their home in 2002 – 2003, moving from nearby Mankato, Minnesota. The Ice Hawks recruit players locally and nationally. They are a Junior B United States Hockey League team.

The Rochester Patriots is an amateur American Legion baseball team.

The Rochester Red Hawks baseball team is another American Legion club.

The Rochester Rowing Club is an all-volunteer 501(c)3 organization. The junior team (ages 12-18) trains indoors in the winter and on Silver Lake in the summer. High school students can earn varsity letters in the spring. Adult learn-to-row and competitive programs run throughout the summer.

The Rochester Royals are an amateur baseball team that has called Mayo Field home since 1924. They won the state tournament in 2006.

The Rochester Swim Club is a private swim club founded over 40 years ago, and is the largest swim team outside of the Twin Cities. Knows as the Orcas, the club has won the Division AAA State Meet for several years.

The Rochester Track Club is an all-ages, all-seasons running club.

The Rochester Fire is a new professional basketball team.

The Rochester Athletic Club is a source of recreation for many Rochester citizens, providing two swimming pools, a large exercise area, and eighteen tennis courts. The Club is extremely well known for its junior tennis program, which is one of the premier tennis programs in the Northern United States.

Parks and recreation

Biking/Hiking Trails - There are many opportunities to enjoy running, hiking, inline skating, biking or walking throughout the city of Rochester. The city offers more than of city trails, all paved.
The Root River and Douglas State Trails combine for nearly in the near Rochester area. Developed on historic railroad passages, the trails provide rural scenery, with a combination of paved and unpaved surfaces for wheels, hooves and shoes. The Douglas Trail gently travels through a mix of forest and rolling fields, while the Root River Trail gives views of the soaring limestone bluffs of the Root River Valley. The latter was newly paved in 1999 and features a choice of less and more challenging areas. The Harmony-Preston Valley State Trail contributes 18 additional miles of trail, connecting with the Root River system. All state trails have convenient parking lots with rest facilities.
Quarry Hill Nature Center offers more than five miles (8 km) of trails covering . Like the state trails, Quarry Hill’s system links with the City Trail System.
There is a large park system in Rochester, with more than 100 sites covering 5 square miles (13 km²). There are several golf courses, including 2 disc golf courses, among many other athletic facilities.

Arts and entertainment

Rochester Art Center - Opened in May 2004, the Rochester Art Center is a small art center with no permanent collection but a variety of temporary travelling collections. The outdoor Zumbro Gardens is a terraced park and sculpture lawn stepping down to the edge of the Zumbro River.

History Center of Olmsted County - The History Center of Olmsted County is located at 1195 West Circle Drive SW in Rochester. The History Center Museum also includes a History Library and Genealogy Center at that location. Mayowood Mansion is also nearby and is owned and operated by the History Center of Olmsted County.

SEMVA Art Gallery - The South East Minnesota Visual Artists Gallery is located in the Peace Plaza in downtown Rochester, offering a variety of works from southeastern Minnesota artists ranging from pottery, woods, clothing, fabrics and canvas.

Mayowood Galleries - Fine 18th and 19th century English antiques and garden accents can be found at Mayowood Galleries’ two locations, downtown and at the Mayowood Mansion.

Chorale Arts Ensemble - This 40-voice auditioned choir performs choral and orchestral masterworks and vocal jazz. The Choral Arts Ensembleis dedicated to the creation and performance of new music, as well as the presentation of masterworks from the Renaissance to the 20th century.

Masque Youth Theatre - With a mission to involve young people in the theater arts, the Masque Youth Theater presents a variety of children’s plays performed from October to June.

Rochester Civic Theatre - Offering nine performances a year, including dramas, comedies and musicals, the Rochester Civic Theatre has presented Fiddler on the Roof, It’s A Wonderful Life and The Adventures of Stuart Little.

Rochester Community Band - The Rochester Community Band offers quarterly performances with additional summer festivals. It is open to all, without an audition. It meets every Thursday from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. in the Lourdes High School Band Room (621 West Center Street).

Rochester Repertory Theatre - The Rochester Repertory Theatre offers classical and contemporary works by a variety of artists. Past performances have included Three Tall Women, The Foreigner and FoxFire.

Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale - The Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale performs a variety of works under music director and conductor Jere Lantz.

Southeast Minnesota Youth Orchestra - The Southeast Minnesota Youth Orchestra brings middle and high school students together to study music, learn to work together, and contribute to the cultural life of the community.

Swing Street - A group of musicians with a love of jazz. It plays at community events and private functions. The Swing Street repertoire extends from the early days of jazz to modern arrangements.

Rochester Civic Music, presented by the City of Rochester, features free live music in their “Down By the Riverside” outdoor summer concert series. Artists have included Joan Baez, Three Dog Night, Peter Fischer, The Marshall Tucker Band, J. Daniel Aderton, and local acts. Concerts are held Sunday evenings at Mayo Park behind Mayo Civic Center along the Zumbro River. RiversideLive! and Cabaret Riverside are also presented by the City as a ticketed indoor concert series held from September to May. Additional publicly funded music entertainment includes the annual Youth Concert featuring the Southeastern Minnesota Youth Orchestra and Honors Choir of Southeastern Minnesota.
Each August, the Olmsted County Fair features a variety of musical entertainment, and the 1st Avenue Street Market & Concert Series highlights local musicians throughout the summer season. Among other seasonal entertainment options, four gardens in the Hawthorn Hills Neighborhood host the Rochester Orchestra and Chorale’s Annual Musical Garden Tour presented by the Eden Garden Club, featuring local music ensembles.
A variety of Rochester nightspots, restaurants and other venues provide free music and entertainment. Dunn Bros Coffee, the Redwood Room historic lounge, Shar’s Country Palace & Bar, CJ’s Midtown Lounge, and Whistle Binkies Old World Pub regularly feature musicians and DJs with no cover charge. The Plummer Building in downtown Rochester, Michelson Franchising, Leo’s Pizza Palace, Philbrick Fillibuster, the Calvary Episcopal Church, the Chateau Theatre, the Rochester Public Library, and the VFW hall are also venues for free concerts, including bands, carillon bells, movies, magicians, Emily's Film Studios of Greed, John's left pectoral, and other performances.

Media

The city newspaper is the Post-Bulletin, an afternoon paper which publishes six days a week (no Sundays). Papers from the Twin Cities area are available as well. The city magazine is the monthly Rochester Magazine. There are two television stations based in Rochester, KTTC channel 10 (NBC) and KXLT channel 47 (FOX). Both TV stations share studios as part of a special agreement between Quincy Newspapers and Shockley Broadcasting. KAAL channel 6 (ABC) in Austin, Minnesota and KIMT channel 3 (CBS) in Mason City, Iowa are among the stations that serve the market.
Rochester is on the fringe of the broadcast area of many Twin Cities radio and television stations, and signals from Iowa and Wisconsin reach the area as well. Radio broadcasters in the local market include:

Radio

FM radio

88.7 KMSE Adult Album Alternative "The Current" (Minnesota Public Radio)

89.9 KRPR "Classic Rock Without The Talk"Classic rock (Rochester Public Radio,Inc.)

90.7 KZSE News & Talk (Minnesota Public Radio)

91.7 KLSE Classical music (Minnesota Public Radio)

92.9 KFS Christian

96.5 KWW "Quick country 96.5" Classic country

97.5 KNXR Easy Listening

98.9 KNLW Christian

101.7 KRC "Laser 101.7" Classic rock

102.5 KMF "102.5 The FOX" Country

105.3/104.9 KYB "Y105" Adult Contemporary

106.9/106.3 KRO Top 40

107.7/103.9 KLC Classic Hits

AM radio

1270 KWEB Sports/Sports Talk, The Fan (KFAN) network

1340 KRO News/Talk

1520 KOLM Sports/Sports Talk, ESPN Radio network

TV stations

3 KIMT (CBS) digital Ch. 42 - based in Mason City, Iowa

6 KAAL (ABC) digital Ch. 33 - based in Austin, Minnesota

10 KTTC (NBC) digital Ch. 36, CW broadcast on digital channel 10.2

15 KSMQ (PBS) digital Ch. 20 - based in Austin, Minnesota

24 KYIN (PBS) digital Ch. 18 - based in Mason City, Iowa

47 KXLT (Fox) digital Ch. 46

56 K56HW (TBN)

58 K58GC (3ABN)

Notable residents

Harry Blackmun, justice

Harry Bisel, physician

Sara C. Bisel, physical anthropologist

Arthur Bulbulian, medical inventor

Michael C. Burgess, congressman

Henry Cluney, musician

Gil Gutknecht, congressman

Frank B. Kellogg, secretary of state

Dick Kimball, Hall of Fame diver and diving coach

Bryce Lampman, hockey player

Mark S. Mannenbach, physician

Charles Horace Mayo, physician

William James Mayo, physician

William Worrall Mayo, physician

Matt Meyer, baseball player

Henry Stanley Plummer, physician

Shjon Podein, hockey player

Michael Restovich, baseball player

Steven Rogers, medical/computer inventor, over 100 patents

Augustus Stinchfield, physician

Eric Strobel, hockey player

Alec Tackmann, XFL running back

Darrell Thompson, football player

Lea Thompson, actress

Sheree J. Wilson, actress

Doug Zmolek, hockey player

People who died in Rochester

Richard S. Arnold, judge

Amos W. Barber, surgeon & politician

Joseph T. Bayly, author & publisher

Franklin W. Fort, congressman

Charles Eugene Fuller, congressman

Robert K. Goodwin, congressman

Daniel W. Hamilton, congressman

James F. Hughes, congressman

Bernhard M. Jacobsen, congressman

John Albert Johnson, politician

Abraham A. Low, psychiatrist

Walter O'Malley, sports executive

William James Mayo, physician

William Worrall Mayo, physician

Agnes Moorehead, actress

Elmer A. Morse, congressman

James William Murphy, politician

Floyd B. Olson, politician

Henry Stanley Plummer, physician

Francis A. Schaeffer, theologian

John R. Tyson, congressman

Walter Payton, NFL runningback

Accolades

“50 Best Places to Live & Play” – National Geographic Adventure 2007

“Great Then, Great Now” – Money Magazine 2007

“Cities on the Verge” – Fast Company Magazine 2007

“

3 Least Stressful Places in the U.S.” - Men’s Journal 2007

“

17 Smartest Places to Live” - Kiplinger’s Personal Finance 2006

“Highest Concentration of High-Tech Businesses in the U.S.” - Milken Institute’s Study of America’s High-Tech Economy 2006

“

2 Quality of Life Among U.S. Counties and Independent Cities” - American City Business Journal 2006

“

7 Best Small Places to Run a Business and Pursue a Career” and “

12 Places to Build Wealth” - Forbes Magazine 2006

“Best Communities in America for Children and Youth” - America’s Promise 2006

“Best Places to Live” - Money Magazine 2006

“

5 America’s Greatest Golf Home Towns in the Midwest” - Golf Digest 2006

“

5 Top Golf in Midwest Home Market” - Golf for Women 2006

“

7 Top Ten Places in the U.S. to Find a Rich, Single Man” - Teasley Ratings 2004

External links

City of Rochester, Minnesota -- Official site

Rochester, Minn. Convention and Visitors Bureau

Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce

Rochester Public Library, Minnesota

Rochester Post-Bulletin newspaper site

Rochester, Minn. Crime Statistics, Maps, and Reports

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 61,704 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County, although a small portion of the city lies in neighboring Chippewa County. Eau Claire is the principal city of and included in the Eau Claire, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Eau-Claire-Menomonie, Wisconsin Combined Statistical Area.
America's Promise named the city as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People in 2007. Eau Claire was among the first Tree Cities in Wisconsin, having been recognized as such since 1980.

Name

"Eau Claire" is the singularized form of the original French name, "Eaux Claires", meaning "Clear Waters", for the Eau Claire River. According to local legend, the river was so named because early French explorers journeying down the rain-muddied Chippewa River, happened upon the Eau Claire River, excitedly exclaiming "Voici l'eau claire!" ("Here clear water!").
It has been suggested by some residents that the city be renamed "Clearwater", because of the difficulty non-residents have in pronouncing the name . The recommendation has never been seriously considered, although a number of businesses and organizations have taken the name.

Government

Since switching from a mayoral system in 1948, Eau Claire has had a city manager-city council form of government. Discussion of changing the government back to a mayoral form has been ongoing since 1948, resulting in six unsuccessful referendums thus far. Most recently, a petition to this effect, with 3,126 signatures, was to have been presented to the City Council by February 21, 2006, in order for it to have appeared on the April 4, 2006 ballot. Since the petition was not presented in time, the issue is officially "dead" for now.
The Eau Claire City Council currently consists of five members elected from districts, five at-large from the entire city plus an elected city council president, who is also elected at-large from among all of the city's voters. City manager Don Norrell recently resigned (effective December 22, 2005), and was recently replaced by Mike Huggins, Norrell's former top assistant. Regarding the failure of the aforementioned petition, city council member Dave Duax has reportedly said that, his really clears the air. It removes this issue as a potential uncertainty," possibly implying that "uncertainty" over the future of the council-manager form of government has been slowing the selection process. The city council president is David Adler.

Geography

Eau Claire is located at (44.814627, -91.492677), approximately 90 miles (145 km) east of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The city is located on the northern fringes of the Driftless Zone.
The city was founded near the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers, as three separate settlements. The main section of the downtown is on the site of the original village of Eau Claire. Across the river was West Eau Claire, founded in 1856, near the site of the present day county courthouse. The city was incorporated in 1872. Between a mile and a half and two miles downstream, the Daniel Shaw & Co. lumber company founded a town, Shawtown, which was annexed to the city by the 1930s. By the 1950s, the unified city had spread far enough to the east to adjoin Altoona.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 32.4 square miles (83.8 km²), of which, 30.3 square miles (78.4 km²) of it is land and 2.1 square miles (5.4 km²) of it (6.46%) is water.
The terrain of the city is characterized by the river valleys, with steep slopes leading from the center to the eastern and southern sections of the city. The lands into which the urban area is currently expanding are increasingly hilly.
There are two lakes in the city, Dells Pond, and Half Moon Lake. Dells Pond is a reservoir created by a hydroelectric dam, and was formerly used as a holding pool for logs. Half Moon Lake is an oxbow lake created as part of the former course of the Chippewa River.

Religion

According to the Eau Claire telephone book and the Leader-Telegram Religious Directory the city is home to a large number of religious congregations, including:

Apostolic Faith - 1 congregation

Assemblies of God - 2 congregations

Baptist - 8 churches variously unaffiliated (including 1 SBC congregation)

Catholic - 5 parishes in the Diocese of La Crosse' & Eau Claire Deanery, which has 3 other parishes, one each in Altoona, Elk Mound and Brackett

Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science) - 1 congregation

Church of Christ - 2 congregations

Episcopalian - 1 congregation (The Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire has its see in Eau Claire.)

Hmong Christian Alliance - 1 congregation

Islam - 0 congregations, although there is 1 mosque in neighboring Altoona

Jehovah's Witness - 1 congregation

Judaism - 1 synagogue

Lutheran - about 20 churches representing 6 synods

Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America

Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS)

Church of the Lutheran Confession

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)

Methodist - 4 congregations (one of which is located in nearby Altoona)

Mennonite Church USA - 1 congregation meeting two Sundays per month

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - 1 congregation

Nazarene - 1 congregation

Pentecostal - about 10 variously affiliated congregations

Presbyterianism - 2 congregations

Society of Friends (Quakers) - 1 congregation

Salvation Army - 1 congregation

Seventh-day Adventist - 0 congregations, although neighboring Altoona and nearby Chippewa Falls each have 1 congregation

Unitarian Universalist - 1 congregation

United Church of Christ - 3 congregations

Unity School of Christianity - 1 congregation

Wesleyan Church - 1 congregation

Education

Eau Claire is home to several universities and colleges, including the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UW-EC), the private (Church of the Lutheran Confession Synod) Immanuel Lutheran College, and three campuses of the Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC).There are two private high schools in Eau Claire:

Regis High School is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Immanuel Lutheran High School is affiliated with Immanuel Lutheran College.

There are two public high schools in the Eau Claire Area School District:

Memorial High School (Old Abes)

North High School (Huskies)

There are also two charter high schools in Eau Claire:

McKinley Charter School, a non-traditional school serving 120 students. Student/teacher ratio: 20

Technology Charter School, a non-traditional school serving 193 students. Student/teacher ratio: 62.3

There are three public middle schools in the Eau Claire Area School District:

Delong Middle School (Knights)

Northstar Middle School (Polar Bears)

South Middle School (Falcons)

Sports

The Eau Claire Express is a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, an NCAA summer baseball league. Their home games are played at Carson Park in Eau Claire.
The Eau Claire Cavaliers, an amateur baseball team, also plays home games at Carson Park.
The Chippewa Valley Predators and the Eau Claire Crush, adult amateur football teams in the Northern Elite Football League, play their home games at Carson Park.
Eau Claire also has a Figure Skating club at Hobbs Ice Arena.

Media and entertainment

Print media

The local daily newspaper is the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram , with a daily circulation of 26,901 during the week and a circulation rate of 38,824 for the Sunday paper. There is also a twice monthly entertainment magazine titled - Volume One which raises awareness of city events; and a number of other smaller monthly or periodic publications created and distributed in the area.

Television

The TV stations in the Eau Claire area:

WEAU, Channel 13 (NBC)

WQOW, Channel 18 (ABC)

WHWC, Channel 28 (PBS; Menomonie)

WEUX, Channel 48 (FOX)

WEAU also serves the La Crosse area, and the Eau Claire area is served by La Crosse station WKBT (CBS).

Radio

There are two major radio groups in Eau Claire: Clear Channel Radio and Maverick Media.
Clear Channel Radio owns and operates seven stations: WQRB-FM (B-95) (Hot Country); WMEQ-FM (ROCK 92.1) (Classic Rock); WBIZ-FM (Z-100) (Contemporary Hits); WATQ-FM (MOOSE COUNTRY 106.7) (Classic Country); WISM-FM (MIX 98.1) (Soft Rock); WBIZ-AM (SPORTSRADIO 1400) (Sports Talk and play-by-play); and WMEQ-AM (NEWSTALK AM 880) (News/Talk)
Maverick Media owns six stations: WECL-FM; WAXX-FM; WIAL-FM; WDRK-FM; WEAQ-AM; and WAYY-AM.
Other commercial stations broadcasting in the area are: WCFW-FM 105.7; and WOGO-AM 680.
There also are two Wisconsin Public Radio affiliates that broadcast in the Eau Claire area: WHWC-FM 88.3 for the Ideas Network and WUEC-FM 89.7 for the NPR News & Classical Music network.
Three secular low-power FM stations broadcast in Eau Claire: 96.3 WHYS , (variety of music and social programming including Democracy Now!), 101.9 WRFP (local public access content), and 102.7 WIEC.
There are also several religious stations broadcasting from the Eau Claire area. These include: WVCF-FM 90.5; WHEM-FM 91.3; WJLM-LP-FM 96.9 (low-power); WWIB-FM 103.7; and WDVM-AM 1050.

Recreation

There are several large parks in the city, notably Putnam Park, which follows the course of Putnam Creek and Little Niagara Creek east from the UWEC campus, Phoenix Park, on the site of the old Phoenix Steel plant at the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa River. Phoenix park is the host of the weekly farmers market and weekly open air concerts during summer months. And Carson Park. Another important park is Owen Park, along the Chippewa River, home to a large bandshell where open air concerts are held throughout the summer. Lake Altoona has historically been a local swimming and water recreation site, however in recent years there have been issues regarding the high fecal content of the lake and swimming is no longer recommended. Riverview Park is also a common summer swimming destination, as well as one of the local boat landings. This park includes picnicing areas and grills, as well as public restrooms.
The City of Eau Claire also operates a public pool, Fairfax pool, during the summer months.
Eau Claire is at the head of the Chippewa River State Trail, a biking and recreation trail that follows the lower course of the Chippewa River.

Notable natives & residents

See Also

.

Notable UWEC Graduates.

General

Waldemar Ager, Norwegian-American newspaperman and author

Mary Brunner, girlfriend of Charles Manson

Alden Carter, ALA award winning author

Steve Gunderson, CEO of the Council on Foundations and a former Republican Congressman from Wisconsin

Lars Hanson, rock musician (drums, guitar) best known for work with Bad Boy.

Ben Katz, movie producer

Geoffrey Keezer, renowned jazz pianist -- the last to play with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers

Michael Koehn, the only Eau Claire resident to appear on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He won $100,000.00

Sarah Krueger, 2007 contestant on American Idol who made it to Hollywood week (fan site).

Beth Lacke, actress

Ann Landers, advice columnist (during her time in Eau Claire she served as chair of the Eau Claire County Democratic Party).

Howard Luedtke, also know as Howard "Guitar" Luedtke, the American blues guitarist and musician

John Menard, Jr., founder of Menards

John Myhers, actor

Julie Nelson, TV News anchor

Arthur Peabody, former state architect of Wisconsin

Einar Pedersen, educator, namesake of Pedersen Elementary in nearby Altoona, Wisconsin.

L. E. Phillips, philanthropist

Abigail van Buren, advice columnist

Sports

Hank Aaron, baseball great, played in Eau Claire for the Eau Claire Bears during his first professional baseball season in 1952. Aaron has returned to the city several times since, including in 1994 for the dedication of his statue at Carson Park, and again in 2006 as a campaign speaker for governor Jim Doyle's gubernatorial reëlection.

Mickey Crowe, Wisconsin high school basketball legend who played for John F. Kennedy Preparatory High School in the mid-1970s.

Jacob Dowell, NHL Chicago Blackhawks Drafted in 5th round of 2004 NHL draft.

Marv Harshman, former college men's basketball coach for Washington, Washington State, and Pacific Lutheran

Jeff Hazuga, defensive end for Minnesota Vikings (2001-2002) & Frankfurt Galaxy (2004), currently playing for the Eau Claire Crush, an adult amateur football team

Chandra Johnson, WNBA Center Los Angeles Sparks (2003-2005)

Herm Johnson, former CART / Indy 500 race car driver

Paul Menard, NASCAR driver

Ham Olive, longtime minor league player and umpire

Tom Poquette, MLB player for Kansas City Royals (1973, 1976-79, 1982), Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers

Brad Radke, MLB pitcher for the Minnesota Twins born in Eau Claire on October 27, 1972.

Bill Schroeder, NFL wide receiver (1994-2004)

Joe Torre, current New York Yankees manager, played and coached baseball for the Eau Claire Bears and Braves.

Herman White, Northern League president 1936-1957

Fictional

Bernice, the protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story Bernice Bobs Her Hair.

Warren R. Schmidt, the title character of Alexander Payne's movie About Schmidt starring Jack Nicholson.

Sister Cities

Eau Claire is sistered with Lismore, New South Wales, a rural town in Australia.
In July 2007, Eau Claire also sistered with Miramar, Costa Rica, a rural town in the Montes de Oro canton within the Puntarenas Province of Costa Rica.

External links

General

City of Eau Claire website

History

Eau Claire Historic Preservation Foundation

Eau Claire Landmarks Commission photo collection

Chippewa Valley Museum

Paul Bunyan Logging Camp

Metropolitan area

Eau Claire-Chippewa Falls Metropolitan Planning Organization website

Tourism and Entertainment

Chippewa Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau

Chippewa Guide - Chippewa Valley Web Portal

Chippewa Valley Buzz - Entertainment Guide

Eau Claire Visitors Guide

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Paul is the capital and the second most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city and the adjacent city of Minneapolis, form the core of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the fifteenth largest such area in the United States with a population of 3.5 million. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 287,151. Saint Paul serves as the county seat of Ramsey County, the most densely populated county in Minnesota. Residents of Saint Paul are referred to as Saint Paulites.
Saint Paul began as a tavern started by Pierre Parrant, known as "Pig's Eye", because he was blind in one eye, who sold liquor on the river flats below the current downtown area. The area around the tavern grew into a trading outpost known as Pig's Eye or Pig's Eye Landing, where Native Americans, European explorers, and American soldiers lived in close proximity. The city spans the Mississippi river, near the confluence of the Minnesota river. Later the city became a center for transportation and trading in Minnesota, as steamboats could not travel further upriver. In 1854, Saint Paul incorporated as a city and, in 1858, became the capital of Minnesota.

History

About 2000 years ago, the Hopewell culture Native Americans lived in the vicinity, burying their dead in mounds, now located in Indian Mounds Park. The Dakota Indians later used the same site to bury their dead. From about 1600 to 1837 the Dakota Indians lived near the site of the Mounds. In the early 1800s, a disparate group of fur traders, explorers, and missionaries came to the area for the protection that Fort Snelling offered. Many of these people had come south from Canada and were of French descent; others had come from the east after treaties with Native Americans officially opened the area.
In the early years, the settlers lived close to the fort along the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, but as a whiskey trade started to flourish, the military officers in Fort Snelling banned them from the lands the fort controlled, with one retired fur trader turned bootlegger, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant particularly irritating the officials. By the early 1820s the area had become important as a trading center, a destination for settlers heading west, and was known as Pig's Eye or Pig's Eye Landing. In 1837, a treaty between Henry Schoolcraft and about 200 Dakota Indians displaced the natives from the site. German-Jewish pioneers formed Saint Paul's first synagogue in 1856.
The Minnesota Territory was formalized in 1849 with Saint Paul named as its capital. In 1850, the city narrowly survived a proposed law to move the capital to Saint Peter when territorial legislator, Joe Rolette disappeared with the approved bill. In 1854, Saint Paul incorporated as a city and, in 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the union with Saint Paul becoming the 32nd state capital.
Natural geography played a role in the settlement and development of Saint Paul as a trade and transportation center. The Mississippi River valley in this area is defined by a series of stone bluffs that line both sides of the river. Saint Paul grew up also around Lambert's Landing, the last place to unload boats coming upriver at an easily accessible point, some fourteen river miles downstream from Saint Anthony Falls, the geographic feature that defined the location of Minneapolis and its prominence as the Mill City. This made Saint Paul a gateway to the Upper Midwest for westbound settlers heading for the Minnesota frontier or the Dakota Territory. In 1858 more than 1,000 steamboats unloaded cargo and passengers at Saint Paul.

Geography

Saint Paul is located in east-central Minnesota. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.2 square miles (145.5 km²). 52.8 square miles (136.7 km²) of it is land and 3.4 square miles (8.8 km²) of it (6.07%) is water. The Mississippi River runs through the city, and forms a municipal boundary on the city's west, southwest and southeast sides. Minneapolis, the state's larger city lies to the west; Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Roseville, and Maplewood are north; Maplewood is also to the east; the cities of West Saint Paul and South Saint Paul are to the south; and Lilydale, Mendota and Mendota Heights lie across the river from the city to the south. The city's largest lakes are Pig's Eye Lake, in the river, Lake Phalen, and Lake Como.

Neighborhoods

Saint Paul is noted for its neighborhoods; the city has been called "fifteen small towns with one mayor", owing to the neighborhood-based life of much of the city. But in fact Saint Paul is broken into not fifteen but seventeen City Districts. And while some City District boundaries perfectly overlap the boundaries of well-recognized neighborhoods, especially in wealthier areas, that's not the case throughout Saint Paul.
The city's seventeen City Districts include:
The "West" Side neighborhood seems oddly located to the south, but is so named because it is on the west bank of the Mississippi River. And the "East Side" conglomeration of neighborhoods actually includes the entire eastern third of the city and its populace.

Government and politics

City

Saint Paul is governed with a variation of the strong mayor-council form of government. The mayor is the chief executive and chief administrative officer for the city and the seven member city council is the legislative body. The mayor is elected from the entire city, while members of the city council are elected from seven different geographic wards, which are comprised of approximately equal populations.
In addition to the mayor-council system, Saint Paul is governed by a unique neighborhood system. Since 1975, the city has been split up into 17 City Districts, which are then governed by a District Council. The District Councils receive some funding from the city but are otherwise independently run. Most councils have significant power on land use issues.

State

Saint Paul is the capital of the state of Minnesota. The city hosts the capitol building, designed by Saint Paul resident Cass Gilbert, and the house and senate office buildings. The Minnesota Governor's Residence, which is used for some state functions, is on Summit Avenue. Saint Paul is also the county seat for Ramsey County.

Federal

Saint Paul is located in Minnesota's 4th congressional district, represented by Betty McCollum, a progressive Democrat, scoring 92% progressive by a progressive group and 4% conservative by a conservative group on a range of issues.

Education

Saint Paul is second in the United States in the number of higher education institutions per capita. Higher education institutions that call Saint Paul home include three public and eight private colleges and universities, and five post-secondary institutions. Well-known colleges and universities include: the College of Saint Catherine, Concordia University, Hamline University, Macalester College, and the University of St. Thomas. Metropolitan State University and Saint Paul College, which focus on non-traditional students, are based in Saint Paul, as well as two law schools, William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University School of Law.
The Saint Paul Public Schools district is the state's second largest school district and serves approximately 42,000 students. The district is extremely diverse with students from families speaking 70 different languages, although only four languages are used for most school communication. Those languages are English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali. The district runs 67 different schools including 48 elementary schools, eight middle schools, seven high schools, three alternative schools and one special education school. The district also employs over 6,500 teachers and staff. The school district also oversees community education programs for pre-K and adult learners, including Early Childhood Family Education, GED Diploma, language programs and various learning opportunities for community members of all ages. In 2006, Saint Paul Public Schools celebrated its 150th anniversary.
A variety of K-12 private, parochial and public charter schools are also represented in the city. In 1992, Saint Paul became the first city in the U.S. to sponsor and open a charter school, now found in most states across the nation. Saint Paul is currently home to 21 charter schools as well as 38 private schools.

Culture

Performing arts

Circus Juventas a youth performing arts circus school

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

RiverCentre, which serves as the city's civic center

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

The Fitzgerald Theater

SteppingStone Theatre

Park Square Theatre

Starting Gate Productions

Live music

Artists' Quarter, a jazz club in downtown.

Turf Club, a bar in the Midway.

Station 4, a bar downtown that has live music every night, mostly metal, and sometimes all-ages shows.

Shamrocks, an Irish pub on West 7th Street and Randolph Avenue occasionally has live music.

O'Garas, an Irish pub on Selby and Snelling has live shows.

Minnesota Music Cafe is a big venue with nightly live music.

City attractions

Additional attractions include the Mississippi River, Lake Como, the Como Zoo and Conservatory, Rice Park, Indian Mounds Park, Battle Creek Regional Park, Harriet Island Regional Park, Highland Park, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, the Landmark Center, the Wabasha Street Caves, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The historic Landmark Center is located at the heart of Saint Paul; it is home to SteppingStone Theatre, a youth theater company and the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, a high school located on the 5th floor of the building which is sponsored by the Ordway.

Nearby attractions

Nearby attractions include the Minnesota State Fair. The fair is open during the two weeks prior to and including Labor Day. It takes place in the suburb of Falcon Heights, just north of the Midway neighborhood. Immediately west of the state fairgrounds is the Saint Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. Historic Fort Snelling lies on the bluff above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. Just below the bluff is Fort Snelling State Park, which incorporates Pike Island named for the explorer Zebulon Pike. The Henry Hastings Sibley home, in Mendota is the oldest stone home in Minnesota. And Bloomington's Mall of America boasts 520 stores and an indoor amusement park.

The city's famed creators

Saint Paul is the birthplace of renowned author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as the childhood home of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts) who, while born in a Minneapolis hospital, lived from infancy until the early 1960s in the city. Because of the association with Schulz, Saint Paul regularly has events centering around the Snoopy family, such as distributing painted and decorated giant Peanuts sculptures around the city.
Playwright August Wilson lived in the city from 1978 until 1990, at the suggestion of his friend director Claude Purdy, who helped him secure a job writing educational scripts for the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Renowned painter LeRoy Neiman is also a native of Saint Paul and was born there in 1927. Born in Saint Paul, John Vachon photographed the United States for the Farm Security Administration and later Look and Life magazines.

Sports

The Saint Paul division of Parks and Recreation runs over 1,500 organized sports teams. In addition the Parks and Recreation department is responsible for 160 parks and 41 recreation centers. The first curling club in Saint Paul was founded in 1888. The current club, the Saint Paul Curling Club, was founded in 1912 and is the largest curling club in the United States. The Minnesota RollerGirls are a flat-track roller derby league that is based in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium.
The first baseball team established in Saint Paul were the St. Paul Saints in 1884. They folded in 1899. The all black St. Paul Colored Gophers came to town and played four seasons from 1907 to 1911. The current reincarnation of the St. Paul Saints are an independent baseball team that plays in the American Association. They play in the open air Midway Stadium. Two professional soccer teams play in James Griffin Stadium. The Minnesota Thunder play in the USL First Division and the St. Paul Twin Stars play in the National Premier Soccer League.
The Minnesota Wild brought ice hockey back to Minnesota for the first time since 1993, since the departure of the Minnesota North Stars. Previously, the Minnesota Fighting Saints had played in Saint Paul from 1972 to 1977. The Wild's first season began in 2000 in the new Xcel Energy Center. Another tenant of the Xcel Energy Center are the Minnesota Swarm, a box lacrosse team that plays in the National Lacrosse League. The Xcel Energy Center is located in downtown and was built over the demolished Saint Paul Civic Center. The “X” as it is sometimes called, hosts Minnesota high school boys hockey tournament and many concerts though out the year. In 2004 it was named the best overall sports venue in the U.S. by ESPN.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, Twins, and Vikings all play in Minneapolis.

Sister cities

Saint Paul has 11 sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:

External links

City of Saint Paul -- Official site

Official Tourism site -- Visitor Information

Saint Paul Public Library site

City of Saint Paul - Department of Parks and Recreation, a list of city parks, programming, recreation centers, opening hours and other information.

Saint Paul E-Democracy discussion list

Saint Paul Photo Blog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia