Ramsey County History – Spring 2021: “Correcting Mystery and Myth:  Not Everything You’ve Heard About Pig’s Eye Parrant is True”

Correcting Mystery and Myth:  Not Everything You’ve Heard About Pig’s Eye Parrant is True
Author: Matt Goff

Most any St. Paul native is familiar with a character in local history named Pig’s Eye. The man lived in and around what would eventually become St. Paul, Minnesota, on and off from 1829 to 1844. This unflattering nickname was bestowed upon Pierre Parrant by early residents and historians. There’s not a lot of concrete information about the supposedly unpleasant bootlegger. Yet, over nearly two centuries, many have been taught to believe that the city was first named Pig’s Eye, and Mr. Parrant was, indeed, its “first resident.” A third story tells of Parrant’s loss of property through a footrace at the behest of a local justice of the peace. Author Matt Goff has been fascinated with these tales for years—and after extensive research, he argues that these three well-known Pig’s Eye stories are just that—stories—that should be corrected and acknowledged in the city’s long and rich history.
PDF of M. Goff article