The New Student's Reference Work/St. Paul, Minn.

St. Paul, Minn., the capital of Minnesota, is on both banks of the Mississippi, of which it is the head of navigation.  The city is built on two high plains; the business portion is on the lower plain of limestone rock and the most of the best residences are on the upper plain of glacial drift overlooking the Mississippi, one of the finest streets of which is Summit Avenue.  Its buildings compare well with those of any city in the country, and include the state capitol, city-hall, postoffice, library, armory, Convent of the Good Shepherd, Auditorium, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., the Catholic cathedral and the Pioneer Press, Manhattan, Germania and New York Life-insurance buildings.  The manufacturing output amounts to $75,000,000 a year, and, the stockyards do a business of $50,000,000.  St. Paul is served by ten railroads, and electric cars carry passengers to all parts of the city.  Twenty-nine thousand pupils attend the public schools, which are maintained at an annual cost of $850,000.  There are three colleges: Macalester College (Presbyterian), Hamline University (Methodist) and St. Thomas College (Roman Catholic).  The city library has 460,000 volumes; and the library of the Minnesota Historical Society, in the capitol, 115,000 volumes.

The first log-huts were built in 1838 and 1839 on the site.  In 1849, when St. Paul was made the capital of newly organized Minnesota Territory, the town had 840 inhabitants.  Its population is 214,744, nearly four fifths of which is the growth of the last twenty-five years.  St. Paul and Minneapolis are known as The Twin Cities, and have been growing steadily toward each other, so that they are practically one city, with a combined population of 516,152.