Saint Cloud (pop. 68,881; met. area pop. 199,671) is a center of commerce and education in central Minnesota. The city serves as a hub for wholesale and retail trade, shipping, and services. St. Cloud lies on the Mississippi river, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis.
St. Cloud’s industries produce appliances, buses, cabinetry, granite products, lenses, poultry products, and printed materials. Many residents work in health care, education, and other services. The city is the home of St. Cloud State University and of the Stearns History Museum.
Ole Bergeson, a Norwegian, staked a claim to the site of St. Cloud in the early 1850’s. In 1853, John L. Wilson, a pioneer from Maine, paid Bergeson $250 for the 325 acres (132 hectares) where the business district now stands. Wilson named the settlement St. Cloud after a suburb of Paris, France. St. Cloud was a terminal on the stagecoach line from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Winnipeg, Canada, and on the Pacific Northwest Railroad. The settlement grew rapidly, and it became a city in 1856. St. Cloud is the seat of Stearns County. It has a mayor-council government.
