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Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Historically a major railroad and commercial center for the Upper Midwest, the decline of those industries in the last half of the 20th century has changed the local economy and cultural identity of the city. One of the oldest cities in Minnesota, Saint Paul is a grouping of urban villages and historic neighborhoods along the Mississippi River.

As of 2020, its population was 311,527, making it the 63rd-largest city in the United States and the 11th-most populous in the Midwest. Most of the city lies east of the Mississippi River at the confluence with the Minnesota River. Minneapolis, the state’s largest city, is across the river to the west. Together, they are known as the “Twin Cities”. They are the core of Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, home to over 3.6 million and the third-largest in the Midwest.

The Legislative Assembly of the Minnesota Territory established the Town of St. Paul as its capital near existing Dakota Sioux settlements in November 1849. It remained a town until 1854. The Dakota name for where Saint Paul is situated is “Imnizaska” for the “white rock” bluffs along the river. The city is known for the Xcel Energy Center, home to the Minnesota Wild, and Allianz Field, which is the home of the Minnesota United. Regionally, it is known for the Science Museum of Minnesota. As a business area of the Upper Midwest, it is the headquarters of companies such as Ecolab. Saint Paul and Minneapolis are also known for their high literacy rate.

The first structure in what became St. Paul was constructed in 1838 at the entrance to Fountain Cave overlooking the Mississippi. It was a tavern belonging to Pigs Eye Parrant near where Randolph Avenue today meets the river bluff. Parrant’s tavern was well known and the surrounding area came to be known as Pigs Eye. That lasted until the Catholic missionary Lucien Galtier arrived in 1840. He did not care for Parrant, his tavern, or the name “Pigseye”. Galtier’s arrival coincided with Parrant’s eviction from Fountain Cave and the building of a log chapel near where steamboats had an easy landing. Galtier named the chapel St. Paul’s, making it known that the settlement was then 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”. While “Pigs Eye” was no longer the settlement’s name, it came to refer to wetlands and two islands south of the city’s center. The original town was laid out on two plats covering 240 acres. The first plat was filed in the Territory of Wisconsin, the second in the Territory of Minnesota. The boundaries were Elm Street, 7th Street, Wacouta Street, and the river. Between 1849 and 1887, the boundaries were expanded 14 times to their present extent. As the region grew the city became the seat of an archdiocese that built St. Paul’s Cathedral, overlooking the downtown.