Mortal/History

1600 Dakota peoples live near the site of burial Mounds constructed by the Hopewell culture approximately 2000 years ago.

1805 Unratified treaty by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike for possession of land in the region.

1825 Fort Snelling military fortification completed on the land possessed by Pike.

1838 French fur trader Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant set up a tavern named the Pig’s Eye. The community that sprung up around the tavern had become important as a trading center and a destination for settlers heading west. Locals called the area Pig’s Eye or Pig’s Eye Landing after Parrant’s popular tavern.

1841 Father Lucien Galtier was sent to minister to the Catholic French Canadians and established a chapel on the bluffs above Pig's Eye Landing named for his favorite saint, Paul the Apostle. The settlement's name was changed to Saint Paul in honor of the chapel.

1849 St. Paul: Capital of Minnesota Territory. Squatters occupied military-reservation land on the west side of river (Minneapolis side) near St. Anthony Falls.

1850 Squatters given land and Minneapolis founded.

1851 Minneapolis: University of Minnesota founded.

1858 St. Paul: State Capitol when Minnesota admitted to Union.

1862 Dakota War - Conflict broke out between the United States and several bands of Dakota peoples. By the end of the war, 358 settlers, 77 soldiers, 29 volunteers and an unknown number of Dakota were killed, including 303 Dakota sentenced to death.
St. Paul: Northern Pacific Railway train departed on first trek.

1863 In May, 1863, the Dakota survivors from a prison camp at Fort Snelling were crowded aboard steamboats and taken to Crow Creek in southeastern South Dakota.

1870 Minneapolis: Flour Milling Capital of World.

1886 St Paul: St. Paul Union Stockyard established.

1904 St. Paul: On August 20, 1904, Saint Paul and much of the Twin Cities area was struck by damaging thunderstorms and tornadoes. In Saint Paul, hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed causing USD $1.78 million in damages in the city. The A section of the 180-foot High Bridge over the Mississippi River was blown down, and parts of it landed in homes on the flats under the bridge. Three people were killed and more than 50 injured in the downtown area, most of whom were at the Tivoli Concert Hall and the (Vaudeville) Empire Theater near the Wabasha Street Bridge.

1914 Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport opens on Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory.

1950 St. Paul: Charles M. Schulz published 1st Charlie Brown strip.

1965 St. Paul: Beatlemania came to Metropolitan Stadium with over 25,000 excited fans in the stadium.

1985 St. Paul The Metropolitan Stadium was demolished and six years later construction of Mall of America began.

2004 Minneapolis: Mall of America opened on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium.

2007 Minneapolis: On Wednesday, August 1, 2007, with rush hour bridge traffic moving slowly through the limited number of lanes, the central span of the bridge suddenly gave way, followed by the adjoining spans. The structure and deck collapsed into the river. A total of 111 vehicles were involved, sending their occupants and 18 construction workers as far as 115 feet down to the river or onto its banks. 13 fatalities were recorded in the aftermath.