Homes for Sale in St Paul MN

Saint Paul (St. Paul) is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2018, the city’s estimated population was 307,695.^[5] Saint Paul is the county seat of Ramsey County, the smallest and most densely populated county in Minnesota.^[6] The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state’s largest city. Known as the “Twin Cities”, the two form the core of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.6 million residents.^[7]

Founded near historic Native American settlements as a trading and transportation center, the city rose to prominence when it was named the capital of the Minnesota Territory in 1849. The Dakota name for Saint Paul is “Imnizaska”. Regionally, the city is known for the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild,^[8] and for the Science Museum of Minnesota.^[9][10] As a business hub of the Upper Midwest, it is the headquarters of companies such as Ecolab.^[11] Saint Paul, along with its twin city, Minneapolis, is known for its high literacy rate.^[12]

The settlement originally began at present-day Lambert’s Landing, but was known as Pig’s Eye after Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant established a popular tavern there. When Lucien Galtier, the first Catholic pastor of the region, established the Log Chapel of Saint Paul (shortly thereafter to become the first location of the Cathedral of Saint Paul), he made it known that the settlement was now to be called by that name, as “Saint Paul as applied to a town or city was well appropriated, this monosyllable is short, sounds good, it is understood by all Christian denominations”.^[13]

Culture

Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is a free public greenhouse and urban zoo open year-round.

In winter months, Saint Paul hosts the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, a tradition that began in 1886 when a New York reporter called Saint Paul “another Siberia.” Attended by 350,000 visitors annually, the event showcases ice sculpting, an annual treasure hunt, winter food, activities, and an ice palace.^[73] The Como Zoo and Conservatory and adjoining Japanese Garden are popular year-round. The historic Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul hosts cultural and arts organizations. The city’s notable recreation locations include Indian Mounds Park, Battle Creek Regional Park, Harriet Island Regional Park, Highland Park, the Wabasha Street Caves, Lake Como, Lake Phalen, and Rice Park, as well as several areas abutting the Mississippi River. The Irish Fair of Minnesota is also held annually at the Harriet Island Pavilion area. And the country’s largest Hmong American sports festival, the Freedom Festival, is held the first weekend of July at McMurray Field near Como Park.

The city is associated with the Minnesota State Fair in nearby Falcon Heights just west of Saint Paul’s Como Park neighborhood and southeast of the University of Minnesota Saint Paul Campus. Though Fort Snelling is on the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi River bluff, the area including Fort Snelling State Park and Pike Island is managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources headquartered in the city.^[74]

The Minnesota Centennial Showboat was anchored in the Mississippi River along Harriet Island.

Saint Paul is the birthplace of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts), who lived in Merriam Park from infancy until 1960.^[75] Schulz’s Snoopy cartoon inspired giant, decorated Peanuts sculptures around the city, a Chamber of Commerce promotion in the late 1990s.^[76] Other notable residents include writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, playwright August Wilson, who premiered many of the ten plays in his Pittsburgh Cycle at the local Penumbra Theater.^[77]

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts hosts theater productions and the Minnesota Opera is a founding tenant.^[78] RiverCentre, attached to Xcel Energy Center, serves as the city’s convention center. The city has contributed to the music of Minnesota and the Twin Cities music scene through various venues. Great jazz musicians have passed through the influential Artists’ Quarter, first established in the 1970s in Whittier, Minneapolis, and moved to downtown Saint Paul in 1994.^[79] Artists’ Quarter also hosts the Soapboxing Poetry Slam, home of the 2009 National Poetry Slam Champions. At The Black Dog, in Lowertown, many French or European jazz musicians (Evan Parker, Tony Hymas, Benoît Delbecq, François Corneloup) have met Twin Cities musicians and started new groups touring in Europe. Groups and performers such as Fantastic Merlins, Dean Magraw/Davu Seru, Merciless Ghosts, and Willie Murphy are regulars. The Turf Club in Midway has been a music scene landmark since the 1940s.^[80] Saint Paul is also the home base of the internationally acclaimed Rose Ensemble.^[81] As an Irish stronghold, the city boasts popular Irish pubs with live music, such as Shamrocks, The Dubliner, and O’Gara’s. The internationally acclaimed Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is the nation’s only full-time professional chamber orchestra.^[82] The Minnesota Centennial Showboat on the Mississippi River began in 1958 with Minnesota’s first centennial celebration.^[83]