Ramsey County History – Fall 1991: “The 150th Anniversary of the Naming of the City: St. Paul and the Rush to Settlement—1840 to 1880

The 150th Anniversary of the Naming of the City: St. Paul and the Rush to Settlement—1840 to 1880

Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz

St. Paul’s earliest years recounted by the dean of Ramsey County historians. The essential information and vital characters are all here: Father Galtier, the chapel and the name, Phelan and Hays, Perry and Gervais; Louis Robert, Joe Brown, and Henry Jackson; the creation of Minnesota Territory; Harriet Bishop and Matilda Rumsey, et al. The demographics of settlement are covered, from the ousting of the Dakota through the arrivals of the Germans and Irish, among others; and St. Paul’s growth from swampy hamlet to genuine city, not forgetting the Swedish and Jewish and African-American contributions. Included are the great builders, John Ireland and James J. Hill, statehood and Alexander Ramsey, St. Paul in the Civil War, the beginnings of the local railroad industry. This is an excellent primer for the city’s early history.

PDF of Kunz article