Minneapolis
Minneapolis and St Paul, the Twin Cities on the upper course of the Mississippi, together form the largest city in Minnesota, but yet are very different from one another. While the larger city of Minneapolis is the quintessence of the glistening modern American
city, the more spaciously laid out St Paul, built on terraces above the Mississippi, has preserved something of the character of an old frontier town (e.g. in Summit Ave.). Features common to both cities, however, are their extensive parks and their economic importance as centres of the electronics, printing and publishing industries. Minneapolis is also the commercial centre of one of the largest farming areas in the United States and has one of the largest grain exchanges in the world.
Minneapolis grew out of two mills built at the St Anthony Falls in 1847. Although this was Indian country, other settlements soon followed, and these displaced the Indians, whose reservation was moved elsewhere. The city's name comes from the Indian word minne (water) and the Greek polis (city).