Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Saint Paul

SAINT PAUL, the capital of Minnesota. It is on the Mississippi river, and on the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, St. Paul, the Minneapolis and Omaha, the Rock Island, Burlington, Great Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, the Minneapolis and St. Louis, and other railroads. The city is most attractively situated on the banks of the Mississippi. The business portion is built on a foundation of solid rock. Trolley lines radiate in all directions, leading to the suburbs, and scores of lakes lie within a short drive from the heart of the city. The city is provided with good arterial highways running into the country, as well as paved streets within the city itself. There are nearly 100 miles of paved streets and over 45 miles of macadamized streets. Travel and trade from without the city are facilitated by 12 important national highways which pass through it.

There are within the city limits 52 improved parkways with an area of over 1,600 acres, 21 unimproved parks, 12 boulevards, and 10 public playgrounds. The largest of the parks is Phalen Park; with an area of 487 acres, 247 of which are taken up by a lake which has a bathing beach. Como Park is 427 acres in extent. In it are located the botanical gardens of the city, as well as game preserves of elk, buffalo, and deer. The most notable public buildings of the city are the State Capitol, which is conceded to be one of the finest and most artistic administration buildings in the world, the city hall, Federal buildings, post office, public library, the James J. Hill Reference Library, and the Municipal Auditorium. The latter building was built by popular subscription of the citizens. In its upper floors is housed the St. Paul Institute, which maintains a free art gallery and a museum, and is the center of the educational and intellectual activities of the city. The Minnesota State Art Society has its headquarters in the Old Capitol Building, and there it has an unusually large collection of pictures, sculpture, and craft work.

St. Paul is notable for its beautiful private residences. The principal residential street is Summit Avenue, but there are others scarcely less notable. The hills on which the city is built make the residential portions particularly attractive, and in every direction from its center lie attractive suburbs. Among the suburbs lying S. along the river is South Saint Paul, where are located the great stock yards.

The city has an excellent school system comprising public and high schools. There were in 1920, 62 public grade and high schools, with a teaching and supervising staff of 750, and an enrollment of over 35,000 pupils. In addition there are 46 private and parochial schools with an attendance of about 13,000. There are six colleges and universities, including the State College of Agriculture. The State University is within ten minutes ride from the city limits. There are 11 business and trade schools, 8 schools of music, and 3 art schools.

St. Paul has facilities for large river traffic. The municipal dock is equipped with the most modern facilities. Four railroads have direct access to the river front on different portions of the harbor. There is an adequate supply of power derived from water power developments in the neighborhood of the city. There is also available a supply of gas for those industries which require this commodity for a source of energy.

There were in 1919 849 manufacturing establishments, with 41,248 wage-earners, a capital investment of $155,685,000, and a product valued at $215,000,000. The most important industries are boots and shoes, the manufacture of butter, cheese and condensed milk, railroad repair shops, foundry and machine shop products, fur goods, and meat packing. It is also one of the most important milling centers of the United States. St. Paul is a wholesale jobbing center for the surrounding country.

There were in 1920, 32 banks with an aggregate capital of $10,040,373, and surplus and undivided profits of $5,776,480. The bank clearings at the close of 1919 amounted to $961,376,325. The assessed value of property on December 31, 1919, was $135,804,277, of which $99,300,903 was in real estate. The net bonded debt was $8,300,941. Pop. (1900) 163,065; (1910) 214,744; (1920) 234,698.

History.—A French Canadian settled on the site of the city in 1838. Three years later Father Gaultier, a French Catholic priest, founded the first church here, and named it St. Paul, from which the city derived its name. It received its city charter in 1854, and united the suburb of West St. Paul in 1874. Since the latter year there has been such a rapid growth that the outskirts of the city reach those of Minneapolis. These two cities are known as “The Twin Cities of the West.”