Minneapolis, << `mihn` ee AP uh lihs, >> is the largest city in Minnesota and a major Midwestern center of finance, industry, trade, and transportation. The city also is the home of the University of Minnesota, one of the nation’s largest universities. Minneapolis lies in southeastern Minnesota, just west of St. Paul. Minneapolis and St. Paul are called the Twin Cities.
The name Minneapolis comes from the Indian word minne, meaning water, and the Greek word polis, which means city. Minneapolis got its name because of the 22 natural lakes that lie within the city limits. It has the nickname City of Lakes.
In the late 1840’s, farmers and lumberjacks settled the area that is now Minneapolis. They chose the area because of its broad farmlands and hardwood forests. In addition, the nearby Falls of St. Anthony, on the Mississippi River, supplied water power for their flour mills and sawmills. In 1849, a village called Saint Anthony was established on the east side of the falls. In 1852, settlers on the west side of the falls chose the name Minneapolis for their growing community. Saint Anthony became a city in 1855, and Minneapolis did so in 1867. In 1872, the two cities merged under the name Minneapolis.
From 1882 to 1930, Minneapolis led the world in flour production. After World War II ended in 1945, the city became an important producer of computers, electronic equipment, and farm machinery. Today, service industries, especially education, finance, and retail trade, are the most important economic activities.
Metropolitan Minneapolis
The city.
The Mississippi River divides the city into two areas, the larger of which is west of the river. Most of the huge University of Minnesota campus lies on the east bank, but part of the campus is on the west bank.
Downtown Minneapolis, on the west bank, faces the Falls of St. Anthony. Nicollet Avenue, the chief shopping street, features a twelve-block-long shopping center called Nicollet Mall. The law permits cabs and buses—but not automobiles—to drive on the mall. The Investors Diversified Services (IDS) Center faces Nicollet Mall. It includes the 57-story IDS Tower, the tallest building in Minnesota. The IDS Tower and many buildings near it are connected by the Skyway System. The system consists of enclosed elevated passageways between the buildings. Heated in winter and air-conditioned in summer, the Skyway System provides comfort for people moving about in the area. The city’s main financial district is on Marquette Avenue, a block southeast of Nicollet Avenue.
The metropolitan area
spreads over 13 counties in Minnesota and 2 in Wisconsin. Communities in this area include St. Paul, Minnesota’s capital and second largest city, and Bloomington, Minnesota’s fourth largest city. The Minnesota part of the metropolitan area has over 3 1/2 million people—about 60 percent of the state’s population. The Minneapolis and St. Paul business districts are connected by the Interstate 94 expressway.
The people
About 60 percent of Minneapolis’s people are of European origin. Major population groups include people of English German, Irish, Norwegian, or Swedish descent. African Americans make up nearly 20 percent of the city’s population. Hispanic Americans, who may be of any race, account for about 10 percent. Asians, a fast-growing segment of the population, make up about 6 percent of the city’s people. About 2 percent of the people are American Indians. Minneapolis has one of the largest American Indian populations of any U.S. city.
Economy
Commerce and industry.
Service industries, including wholesale and retail trade, employ the largest share of Minneapolis workers. Manufacturing also employs many of the city’s people. Several major wholesale and retail firms have their headquarters in the city.
Minneapolis is a major financial center. It is the headquarters of the Ninth Federal Reserve Bank District, which serves a six-state region.
The city is a center for commercial printing and flour milling. Other important economic activities include the production of medical devices and industrial machinery.
Transportation.
Airlines use the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Several railroad freight lines serve the city, and passenger trains use a terminal in St. Paul. Twenty bridges in Minneapolis cross the Mississippi River. Several major highways, including two interstate routes, pass through the city. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area ranks among the top trucking terminals in the United States.
Communication.
Minneapolis has one daily newspaper, the Star Tribune. Several television and radio stations broadcast in the area.
Education
The Minneapolis public school system has a diverse student body. African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics make up about two-thirds of the enrollment. The schools issue many of their communications in four languages—English, Hmong, Spanish, and Somali. The Hennepin County Library has branches throughout the city and suburbs.
The Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota has facilities in Minneapolis and St. Paul. It ranks as one of the nation’s largest university campuses. Other institutions of higher learning in the Minneapolis area include Augsburg University, North Central University, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the University of St. Thomas. See Minnesota, University of.
Cultural life
The arts.
The Minnesota Orchestra has its headquarters at Orchestra Hall near Nicollet Mall. The Guthrie Theater is the home of one of the best-known theater groups in the United States. In addition, Minneapolis is known for its numerous small theater companies and dance groups.
Museums.
The Walker Art Center owns one of the country’s finest collections of modern art. The Minneapolis Institute of Art displays masterpieces dating from 2000 B.C. to modern times.
Recreation
Minneapolis has been called the Vacation Capital because it serves as the gateway to the lake region of northern Minnesota. The Minneapolis Aquatennial, held every July, features boat races, a sand castle contest, a parade, and other events. The annual Minnesota State Fair takes place in early fall at the State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. The highlights of the fair include carnival shows and agricultural and industrial exhibits. The Mall of America, a major retail and recreation center in Bloomington, has hundreds of stores and an indoor amusement park.
Parks.
Minneapolis has numerous public parks. Most of the parks line the shores of the Mississippi River or surround the many small lakes within the city. Theodore Wirth Park, the largest park in Minneapolis, covers almost 740 acres (300 hectares) and has a wooded area for hiking.
Minnehaha Park includes Minnehaha Falls, which is 53 feet (16 meters) high. The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made Minnehaha Falls famous in his long poem The Song of Hiawatha. See Minnehaha Falls.
Summer vacationers enjoy boating and swimming at Lake Minnetonka, which is 12 miles (19 kilometers) long and lies 12 miles southwest of Minneapolis. Many of the city’s tourists visit Fort Snelling, the center of the first permanent European settlement in what is now the Minneapolis area.
Sports.
A number of professional sports teams play in Minneapolis. These teams include the Minnesota Twins baseball team of the American League, the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, and the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association. The Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League play in neighboring St. Paul.
Government
Minneapolis has a mayor-council form of government. The voters elect the mayor and 13 council members to four-year terms. Property taxes, state aid, and municipal fees provide the city’s most important sources of revenue.
In 1967, Minnesota established the Metropolitan Council for the Twin Cities area. This governmental agency has the power to tax and to sell bonds. It deals with such areawide concerns as health, housing, land use, sewer construction, transportation, waste disposal, and water pollution. It consists of a chairperson and 16 other members, all appointed by the governor of Minnesota.
History
Early days.
Sioux Indians once farmed and hunted in what is now the Minneapolis area. In 1680, a Belgian explorer and missionary named Louis Hennepin became the first European to visit the site (see Hennepin, Louis). In 1819, the U.S. Army established Fort St. Anthony in a temporary building there. From 1820 to 1822, American soldiers serving under Colonel Josiah Snelling built Fort St. Anthony as a permanent fort. The fort was renamed Fort Snelling in 1825. Fort Snelling served for more than 30 years as a trading center and a gateway to the northern wilderness and the western prairies.
Industrial development.
During the 1840’s, the great forests of the area attracted lumberjacks from Maine. The lumberjacks built sawmills near the Falls of St. Anthony. In 1849, the village of St. Anthony was established on the east side of the falls. Another community developed on the west side of the falls. In 1852, the settlers chose the name Minneapolis for the village on the west side. St. Anthony became a city in 1855. Minneapolis was incorporated as a city in 1867. In 1872, the two cities merged under the name Minneapolis.
In 1854, grain millers built a large flour mill in Minneapolis to take advantage of the area’s rich wheat fields. Flour milling soon became a major industry of Minneapolis. By 1870, Minneapolis ranked as the state’s principal lumbering center.
In the 1870’s, a flour-sifting device called the purifier was perfected in Minneapolis. It enabled millers to produce high-quality flour from inexpensive spring wheat. Large flour mills helped the city grow. By 1880, Minneapolis had 46,887 people.
In 1882, Minneapolis became the world’s leading flour-milling center. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul developed into important transportation centers about this time. But Minneapolis grew faster than St. Paul because it had greater industrial development. By 1890, Minneapolis had a population of 164,738.
The increased use of steam-powered machinery during the late 1800’s led to rapid growth of the city’s lumber industry. From 1899 to 1905, Minneapolis led the world in lumber production. But by 1906, most of the nearby forests had been cut down, and the city’s lumber trade declined sharply. The population of Minneapolis grew from 202,718 in 1900 to 301,408 in 1910.
By 1916, General Mills, the Pillsbury Company, and other local firms produced such huge quantities of flour that Minneapolis became known as Mill City. But a large increase in freight rates during the 1920’s caused the grain companies to establish milling centers in other parts of the country. In 1930, Buffalo, New York, replaced Minneapolis as the world’s leading center of flour production. That year, Minneapolis had 464,356 people.
Following World War II (1939-1945), Minneapolis became a leader in the manufacture of computers, electronic equipment, and farm machinery. By 1950, the downtown area had become old and shabby. People and industry began moving from the city to the suburbs during the 1950’s. The population fell from 521,718 in 1950 to 482,872 in 1960. Beginning in the 1960’s, the population of the Minneapolis metropolitan area increased, but the number of people living in the city fell. During the 1980’s, the rate of decline decreased.
Downtown redevelopment.
Since the 1950’s, private investors have spent large sums of money to redevelop the downtown area. The Gateway District renewal project, begun in 1958, was largely completed in the mid-1970’s. It featured apartment and office buildings and covered 18 blocks in the heart of the city. The Nicollet Mall was completed in 1968, and the IDS Center in 1972.
In the late 1980’s, the Nicollet Mall underwent a major renovation, and several new department stores opened, giving a needed boost to declining retail trade. In addition, the entertainment district along Hennepin Avenue was revitalized.
In the 1990’s, attention turned to redeveloping the riverfront. Some projects included the remodeling of old commercial buildings for residential use and the construction of new residential buildings.
Recent developments.
Voters elected Sharon Sayles Belton mayor in 1993. Sayles Belton became the city’s first African American mayor and first female mayor. Her term as mayor ended in 2002.
In 2004, the state’s first light rail system began operating in Minneapolis. It carries passengers between downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America in the suburb of Bloomington. In 2006, the new Minneapolis Central Library opened downtown. The new Guthrie Theater was completed on the city’s riverfront.
On Aug. 1, 2007, a section of the Interstate 35W bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed, sending dozens of cars falling into the river or on top of bridge debris. At least 13 people were killed, and about 100 were injured. Officials said the 40-year-old steel-truss bridge likely collapsed because of a number of factors, including corrosion, vibrations, weathering, and weight. In November 2008, however, investigators said that a design flaw in the bridge had led to its collapse. A replacement bridge was completed in September 2008. Target Field, a new ballpark for the Minnesota Twins, opened in downtown Minneapolis in 2010. 
In May 2020, demonstrators against police brutality gathered in South Minneapolis to protest the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, in police custody. Graphic video footage had shown a white police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck following the man’s arrest for alleged forgery. The officer and other officers present were soon fired. Protests, while initially peaceful, turned violent and destructive as some participants looted stores and set fire to buildings, including a police station. In April 2021, a Minneapolis jury found the officer guilty of second-degree murder and two other charges. 
