SAINT PAUL, the capital city of Minnesota, U.S.A., a port of entry, the judicial seat of Ramsey county, and Federal head quarters for the State; near the head of navigation on the Missis sippi river, 2,15o m. from its mouth, just below and east of Minneapolis. It is on Federal highways s o, 12, 55, 61 and 65; has direct airmail service to Chicago, connecting there with the trans continental airways; and is served by the Burlington Route, the Chicago Great Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha, the Great Northern, the Minneapolis and St. Louis, the Northern Pacific, the Rock Island, the Soo Line, and electric interurban railways, a terminal switching and belt line, motor coach and truck lines in all directions, and river barges. The population was 234,698 in 1920, of whom 51,595 were foreign-born white (largely from the Scandinavian countries, Germany and Canada) ; 1930 Federal cen sus 271,606. The "Twin Cities" and their immediate suburbs constitute a great urban community of about 800,000.
Saint Paul is picturesquely lo cated on a series of benches or terraces of irregular breadth and height, reaching a maximum of 266 ft. above the level of the river, and merging in an elevated rolling plateau. It occupies 55 sq.m., mostly on the north (or "east") bank of the Mississippi, but including an area in a bend of the river on the south side, opposite the heart of the business district. Six highway bridges and several used by railways cross the river within the city limits, connecting the main part of the city with the "west" side, and connecting Saint Paul with Minneapolis. Because of the irregular nature of the terrain and the numerous railways entering the city, there are 67 other bridges spanning railroad tracks and valleys. Saint Paul is indeed "the port of entry to the Great North-west." The nine railway systems, with 23 lines originating or terminating here, have an aggregate mileage of 59,508 m., one-fourth of the total railway mileage of the United States. They enter the city along the foot of the bluffs, or through a narrow valley giving access to the highlands back of the city. All use the fine Union Depot, completed in 1926 at a cost of $15,000,000. A switching and interchange railway, serving all the lines, handles 500,000 cars in a year. After a long period during which the river, originally the principal artery of commerce, had scarcely been used, regular barge service on the Upper Mississippi was again inaugurated (by the Inland Waterways Corporation) in the summer of 1927. By 1928 biweekly sailings to and from Saint Louis (where con nection is made with the lower river fleet) were provided by 6o steel barges and 4 towboats. There are three municipal terminals for handling general cargo, grain, coal and ore. Twenty motor
truck lines and numerous bus lines operate in and out of the city in all directions. On the south bank of the river, opposite the river terminal, and little more than a mile from the Court House, the principal railway freight terminals, and the Bus depot, is the municipal airport (150 ac.), northern terminus of the airmail service. Two of, the transcontinental railways have their general offices in Saint Paul, as well as the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha, and it is the north-western headquarters for the U.S. Railway Mail Service.
Dominating the view as the city is approached from the south and the east is the State capitol, standing on high ground north of the business district, a magnifi cent structure of Minnesota granite and white Georgia marble, with a massive central dome, designed by Cass Gilbert, and com pleted in 1905 at a cost of
There are many other fine public buildings, housing offices of the Federal, county and city Governments. Hotels, banks, office buildings and department stores are large and modern in style. The municipal auditorium, with its $6o,000 organ paid for by 30,00o contributions, is inge niously arranged so that it can be transformed in a few minutes from a theatre seating 4,000 and several smaller halls into an arena with room for io,000 auditors. The residential sections of the city, mostly on high ground, are beautiful with trees, shrub bery and wide lawns. The most noted street, Summit Avenue, 200 ft. wide, winds for part of its length along the edge of the bluff, commanding fine views of the river gorge and the lower terraces of the city. Adjoining the city on the south-west is the Ft. Snelling Military Reservation of 2,000 ac., an important modern army post and the site of a U.S. Veterans Hospital (com pleted 1927). The picturesque original fort, built in 1822, still stands high on the bluff. The city's park system covers 2,243 acres. It includes 74 neighbourhood playgrounds and breathing spaces and several large parks (up to 600 ac.) connected by drives and river boulevards. Harriet island, opposite the business section of the city, has been made a pleasure ground. Two of the parks contain large lakes and golf courses, and there are 53 lakes in the county. Indian Mounds Park (named from the Sioux burial mounds which it encloses) on Dayton's Bluff, commands a mag nificent view of the Mississippi. Next to it are the grounds of the State Fish Hatchery, one of the best equipped in the country. On the northern edge of the city, bounded by it on three sides, are the 26o ac. grounds and beautiful buildings (owned by the State) of the Minnesota Agricultural Society, the scene of the annual State fair, the largest one in the United States, with an attendance in 1927 of 442,886.