St. Paul Real Estate
About the City
Named after a chapel dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul has earned a reputation as one of history’s most prosperous and progressive cities of its time. The city was settled predominately by French Canadian fur traders and merchants in the early 1800s. Long before it became the capital city in 1847, it had served as a central hub for lumber and fur trading due in large part to its central location on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Today, it is the second largest city in Minnesota. Because of its extreme proximity to Minneapolis, it is one-half of the popularly-named “Twin Cities”. A nickname used to describe the combined area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Twin Cities and the surrounding area are the most highly-populated area in Minnesota and the 15th-largest metropolitan area in the United States as of the 2000 census.
Since its humble beginnings, Saint Paul has been known as a city that welcomes its immigrants. In the early 1800s, the Swedes and Germans came to call the city home. Today, Somalis, Hispanics, and Asian immigrants have established active ethnic communities within several Saint Paul neighborhoods.
According to the 2000 Census, over 287,500 people call Saint Paul home. The three dominate racial groups in the city are Whites (67.02%), Asians (12.36%) and African-Americans (11.71%). Saint Paul also holds the distinction of having the world’s second largest urban Hmong population.