Minneapolis–Saint Paul is the most populous urban area in the state of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and is composed of 186 cities and townships built around the Mississippi

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

, Minnesota

Minnesota River

The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....

 and St. Croix

St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota)

The St. Croix River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower of the river form the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service. A...

 rivers. The area is also nicknamed the Twin Cities for its two largest cities, Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, with the highest population, and Saint Paul

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

, the state capital. It is a classic example of twin cities in geography

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

.

The area is part of a larger U.S. Census division named Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, the country's 16th-largest metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...

 composed of 11 counties in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 and two counties in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 with a population of 3,279,833 as of the 2010 Census

2010 census

The following countries conducted a census in 2010:* Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China* Russian Census * 2010 United States Census...

. This larger area in turn is enveloped in the U.S. Census combined statistical area

Table of United States Combined Statistical Areas

thumb|An enlargeable map of the 125 [[Combined Statistical Area]]s of the [[United States]]The United States Office of Management and Budget has defined 125 Combined Statistical Areas for the United States of America...

 called Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud, MN-WI with a population of 3,615,902 people as of the 2010 Census, ranked the 13th most populous in the U.S.

To remind everyone there were actually two cities, people started using the phrase Dual Cities around 1872, which evolved into Twin Cities. Despite the Twin moniker, the two cities are independent municipalities with defined borders and are quite distinct from each other. Minneapolis is somewhat younger and with modern skyscrapers. Saint Paul has been likened to an East Coast U.S. city or a European city with quaint neighborhoods, and a vast collection of well preserved late-Victorian architecture

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

. Also of some note is the differing cultural backgrounds of the two cities: Minneapolis was influenced by its early (and still influential) Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n/Lutheran heritage and boasts the largest Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 community in North America, while St. Paul was influenced by its early French

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

, Irish

Irish American

Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

 and German

German American

German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...

 Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 roots and currently hosts a thriving Hmong

Hmong people

The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...

 community.

Today, the two cities directly border each other and their downtown

Downtown

Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....

 districts are about 9 miles (14 km) apart. The Twin Cities are generally said to be in east central Minnesota. The cities draw commuters from as far away as Rochester

Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...

, St. Cloud

St. Cloud, Minnesota

St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 65,842 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stearns County...

, Albert Lea

Albert Lea, Minnesota

Albert Lea is a city in and the county seat of Freeborn County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 18,016 at the 2010 census....

, Mankato

Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 39,309 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County, it is located...

, La Crosse

La Crosse, Wisconsin

La Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city lies alongside the Mississippi River.The 2011 Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 52,485...

 and Eau Claire

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,...

.

The region

The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area as a region of 11 counties in Minnesota and two in neighboring Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, an area which had a population of 3,279,833 in 2010. The area is growing rapidly and its population is projected to increase to four million within 20 years. Bloomington

Bloomington, Minnesota

Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...

, home of the Mall of America

Mall of America

The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...

, is the third-largest city in the metro area and the fifth-largest in the state (behind Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

 and Rochester). Since the 2000 Census Bloomington has been included as a named city in the MSA, though most locals consider Bloomington a very large suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 rather than a major city in its own right.

When speaking of the Twin Cities many locals are referring to an older seven-county area entirely within Minnesota, which is under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Council

Metropolitan Council

The Metropolitan Council or Met Council is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. The Met Council is granted regional authority powers in state statutes by the Minnesota Legislature. These powers...

. The seven-county metro area contains a contiguous urbanized area stretching from each core city with the exception of a few satellite cities. It is common for outstate Minnesotans to refer to the area as The Cities since the metro area is subdivided into distinct municipalities. The multiple "rings" of suburbs extending from the core area results from limited annexation powers in the early 20th century which halted the expansion of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Under current state legislation, an incorporated city status is more protected from annexation than townships (or towns). Presently, there are 188 municipalities in the seven-county region and 334 in the total 11-county region ("Greater Twin Cities"). This differs from other major cities and associated metropolitan areas where the central city is the primary landholder.

The majority of Minnesota residents live in the Twin Cities region, but fewer than one in four people in the metro area lives in the two core cities—even though most metro area residents will indicate they are from Minneapolis or St. Paul (or most commonly, The Twin Cities) on a national level. The Twin Cities share a common cultural lore in arts, media, food, celebration, and history. Twin Citians also still primarily work in the two core cities. The metropolitan area is one of several distinct regions of Minnesota.

Rivalry

Minneapolis and St. Paul have competed since they were founded, resulting in some duplication of effort. Both cities have campuses of the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

, and after St. Paul completed its elaborate Cathedral

Cathedral of Saint Paul (Minnesota)

The Cathedral of Saint Paul is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. It is the Co-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, along with the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. One of the most distinctive cathedrals in the United States, it sits on...

 in 1915, Minneapolis quickly followed up with the equally ornate Basilica of St. Mary in 1926. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the rivalry became so intense that an architect practicing in one city was often refused business in the other. The 1890 United States Census even led to the two cities arresting and/or kidnapping each other's census takers, in an attempt to keep either city from outgrowing the other.

The rivalry could occasionally erupt into inter-city violence, as happened at a 1923 game between the Minneapolis Millers

Minneapolis Millers

The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, until 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League.The team played first in Athletic Park and later Nicollet Park.The name Minneapolis...

 and the St. Paul Saints

St. Paul Saints

The St. Paul Saints are a professional baseball team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. The Saints are a member of the North Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...

, both baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 teams of the American Association

American Association (20th century)

The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...

. In the 1950s, both cities competed for a major league baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 franchise (which resulted in two rival stadiums being built), and there was a brief period in the mid-1960s where the two cities could not agree on a common calendar for daylight saving time

Daylight saving time

Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...

, resulting in a period of a few weeks where people in Minneapolis were one hour "ahead" of anyone living or traveling in St. Paul.

The cities' mutual antagonism was largely healed by the end of the 1960s, aided by the simultaneous arrival in 1961 of the Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

 of the American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

 and the Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

, both of which identified themselves with the state as a whole (the former explicitly named for both Twin Cities) and not with either of the major cities (unlike the earlier Minneapolis Lakers). Since 1961, it has been common practice for any major sports team based in the Twin Cities to be named for Minnesota as a whole, with the Twins and Vikings followed by the Minnesota North Stars

Minnesota North Stars

The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white...

 (1967–93), Minnesota Muskies

Minnesota Muskies

The Minnesota Muskies were a charter member of the American Basketball Association, born with the league's creation on February 2, 1967. L.P. Shields and Fred Jefferson bought in to create the franchise for $30,000...

 (1967–68), Minnesota Moose

Minnesota Moose

The Minnesota Moose was an ice hockey team in the International Hockey League. They played in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, at the Saint Paul Civic Center. The team also played some home games at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The Moose were a representative of professional hockey in Minnesota at...

 (1994–1996), Minnesota Pipers (1968–69), Minnesota Fighting Saints

Minnesota Fighting Saints

The Minnesota Fighting Saints was the name of two professional ice hockey teams based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that played in the World Hockey Association. The first team was one of the WHA's original twelve franchises, playing from 1972–76. The second team was relocated from Cleveland, Ohio, and...

 (1972–77), Minnesota Kicks

Minnesota Kicks

Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League. The team had relocated to Minnesota after having been based in Denver, Colorado as the Denver Dynamos...

 (1976–81), Minnesota Strikers

Minnesota Strikers

The Minnesota Strikers was an American professional soccer team located in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. The team played one season in the North American Soccer League and 4 seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League....

 (1984–88), Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor...

 (1989–present), Minnesota Thunder

Minnesota Thunder

Minnesota Thunder was an American professional soccer team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. The team played its home games at the National Sports Center in nearby...

 (1990–2009), Minnesota Lynx

Minnesota Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded prior to the 1999 season...

 (1999–present), Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

 (2000–present), Minnesota Swarm

Minnesota Swarm

Minnesota Swarm is a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League. The team plays on Treasure Island Field at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota....

 (2005–present), and NSC Minnesota Stars

NSC Minnesota Stars

The NSC Minnesota Stars is an American professional soccer team based in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 2010, the team plays in the North American Soccer League , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid...

 (2010–Present). In terms of development, the two cities remain distinct in their progress, with Minneapolis absorbing new and avant-garde architecture while St. Paul continues to carefully integrate new buildings into the context of classical and Victorian styles.

Arts and entertainment

The Twin Cities area is considered by Minnesotans to be the capital of the arts of the Upper Midwest

Upper Midwest

The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the midwest. Although there are no uniformly agreed-upon boundaries, the region is most commonly used to refer to the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and...

, the lead region among others such as the Twin Ports

Twin Ports

The Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin are located at the western part of Lake Superior and together are considered the largest freshwater port in the world. They are twin cities and seaports, connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence...

 (Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

-Superior, Wisconsin

Superior, Wisconsin

Superior is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 26,960 at the 2010 census. Located at the junction of U.S. Highways 2 and 53, it is north of and adjacent to both the Village of Superior and the Town of Superior.Superior is at the western...

), Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

 and Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. There is a very high per-capita attendance of theatrical

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

, musical, and comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 events across the area, which some believe may be boosted by the cold winters but can be more realistically attributed to the large number of colleges and universities. Hibbing, MN native Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 (who launched his career playing free shows on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus), to the rise of punk rockers like the Suicide Commandos

The Suicide Commandos

The Suicide Commandos were an American punk rock trio from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They formed in 1975 and released two 7" EPs on an indie label in 1976 and 1977 before signing with Blank Records in 1977. Their first album, Make A Record was recorded and released in 1977, and then re-released on...

, the Suburbs

The Suburbs

The Suburbs were an alternative punk rock/funk/new wave band from Minneapolis, Minnesota popular in the late 1970s through the 1980s. The band frequently headlined at Minneapolis's most influential music clubs including Jay's Longhorn Bar and First Avenue....

, Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....

, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...

. Minneapolis was also home to The rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 stylings of Morris Day and the Time

The Time (band)

The Time is a funk and dance-pop ensemble formed in 1981. They are close Prince associates and arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him.-Prince, Formation and Success:...

 and Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

 in the 1980s. R&B mega-producing team Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis have origins in the Twin Cities, and musicians Lester Young

Lester Young

Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....

 and Jonny Lang

Jonny Lang

Jonny Lang is a Grammy award-winning American blues, gospel, and rock singer, songwriter and recording artist. Lang's music is notable for both his unusual voice, which has been compared to that of a forty-year-old blues veteran, and for his guitar solos...

 grew up in the Twin Cities.

These later sources brought the Minneapolis music scene to national attention; the period from about 1977 to 1987 (as well as a revival in the later half of the 2000s) was a period of incredible dynamism in the Minneapolis music scene, with offshoots in the punk scene including Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...

, Babes in Toyland

Babes in Toyland (band)

Babes in Toyland was an American alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1987. The band was formed by Oregon native Kat Bjelland , with Lori Barbero and Michelle Leon , who was later replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992...

, the Clams

CLaMS

CLaMS is a modular chemistry transport model system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. CLaMS was first described by McKenna et al. and was expanded into three dimensions by Konopka et al....

, and many other seminal favorites, while Prince's immense power in the industry (which peaked during this period) created a Rhythm and Blues

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 mini-empire at his Paisley Park Studios, based in suburban Chanhassen.

While contemporary local artists continue to enjoy critical acclaim — examples include hip-hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 duo Atmosphere

Atmosphere (music group)

Atmosphere is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is composed of rapper Slug and DJ/Producer Ant...

 and frontman Slug

Slug (rapper)

Sean Michael Daley, better known by his stage name Slug or "'Sep Seven'", is an American rapper. He is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Slug is best known as one fourth of the hip hop group Atmosphere, which he founded with Derek Turner...

's label Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment is an independent hip hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley, Anthony Davis, Brent Sayers and Musab Saad....

; alternative metal band American Head Charge

American Head Charge

American Head Charge is an industrial metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, earning nominations at the Kerrang! Awards on two occasions.-Formation:...

; and commercially successful pop-rockers Semisonic

Semisonic

Semisonic is an American alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1995. The band consisted of three members: Dan Wilson , John Munson , and Jacob Slichter...

. The area has also shown an unusual affinity for certain artists. For instance, while largely unnoticed on their home turf in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the Twin Cities accounted for the majority of national sales for Soul Coughing

Soul Coughing

Soul Coughing was a popular New York-based alternative rock band. The band found modest mainstream success during the mid-to-late 1990s. Soul Coughing developed a devout fanbase and have garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey describes the band as "one of the most unusual cult...

's second album Irresistible Bliss

Irresistible Bliss

Irresistible Bliss was Soul Coughing's second album, released in 1996 . The band initially planned for Tchad Blake, producer of their first album, Ruby Vroom, to produce the album, but the death of a family member in a car accident caused Blake to take a hiatus...

during its first eight weeks of release; this followed from the fledgling fan that Soul Coughing found here while touring for their first effort, Ruby Vroom

Ruby Vroom

Ruby Vroom was Soul Coughing's 1994 debut album. The album's sound is a mixture of sample-based tunes , guitar based tunes like...

. The legendary First Avenue also is notorious for being the first venue to let the now worldwide famous Nickelback

Nickelback

Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....

 perform when they were turned down elsewhere. The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...

 have their origins in the Twin Cities and make frequent references to them in their lyrics.

There are a number of record labels located in the Twin Cities, including the hip-hop label Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment is an independent hip hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley, Anthony Davis, Brent Sayers and Musab Saad....

 (whose staff also operate a record store beneath their Uptown office)

Minnesota and Wisconsin have also contributed significantly to comedy in its many different forms. Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...

 is known around the country for resurrecting the old-style radio comedy

Radio comedy

Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...

 with A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...

. Local television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 had the satirical

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 show The Bedtime Nooz in the 1960s, while area natives Lizz Winstead

Lizz Winstead

Lizz Winstead is an American comedienne, radio and television personality, and blogger. A native of Minnesota, Winstead was co-creator of The Daily Show along with Madeleine Smithberg, and served as head writer....

 and Craig Kilborn

Craig Kilborn

Craig Kilborn is an American actor and talk show host. He was the original host of The Daily Show, a former anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter, and Tom Snyder's successor on CBS' The Late Late Show. On June 28, 2010, he launched The Kilborn File after a six-year absence from television...

 helped create the increasingly influential Daily Show

The Daily Show

The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...

decades later. The standup scene of Minneapolis-St. Paul during the 1980s and 1990s was a major force in national comedy. The Brave New Workshop

Brave New Workshop

The Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre , located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been writing, performing and producing live sketch comedy and improvisation performances for 50 years – longer than any other theatre in the nation...

, the nation's oldest satirical sketch comedy theatre, is in Minneapolis, and home to Improv A Go Go

Improv A Go Go

Improv A Go-Go is a weekly showcase for local improvisational theatre groups in the Twin Cities. Produced by Five Man Job and hosted by HUGE Theater, it runs most Sundays during the year....

 and the Twin Cities Improv Festival

Twin Cities Improv Festival

The Twin Cities Improv Festival is a four-day improvisational festival held at the new HUGE Improv Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Started in 2007, the annual festival showcases improv from around the world....

. Stevie Ray's Improv Company, founded by Stevie Ray and Pamela Mayne in 1989, introduced the country to such stars as Maria Bamford, and is housed at The New Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Joel and Ethan Coen have produced many film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s featuring dark comedy, and numerous others brought the offbeat cult shows Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....

and Let's Bowl

Let's Bowl

Let's Bowl was a short-lived bowling game show that aired on the Comedy Central television network from 2001 to 2002 after a brief run on several TV stations across the U.S. in the mid-1990s, the first three being Minneapolis-St...

to the national cable

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

-waves from the Twin Cities.

Outdoors

There are a number of lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s in the region, and cities in the area have some very extensive park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 systems for recreation

Recreation

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...

. Organized recreation includes the Great River Energy bicycle festival

Great River Energy bicycle festival

The Nature Valley Bicycle Festival is a ten-day series of events that take place at sites around central Minnesota and now Wisconsin. Previous name for this series of events were the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival and the Minnesota Bicycle Festival...

, the Twin Cities Marathon

Twin Cities Marathon

The Twin Cities Marathon is an annual marathon in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. The race is often dubbed "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America." The TCM was first run in 1982, and typically takes place during the first weekend in October. In 2006 the Marathon agreed to its first...

, and the U.S. pond hockey

Pond hockey

Pond hockey is a form of ice hockey very similar in its object and appearance to traditional ice hockey, but far simpler and designed to be played on part of a natural frozen body of water...

 championships. Some studies have shown that area residents take advantage of this, and are among the most physically fit in the country, though others have disputed that. Nonetheless, medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 is a major industry in the region and the southeasterly city of Rochester

Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...

, as the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 has joined other college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

s and hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

s in doing significant research, and major medical device

Medical device

A medical device is a product which is used for medical purposes in patients, in diagnosis, therapy or surgery . Whereas medicinal products achieve their principal action by pharmacological, metabolic or immunological means. Medical devices act by other means like physical, mechanical, thermal,...

 manufacturers started in the region (the most prominent is Medtronic

Medtronic

Medtronic, Inc. , based in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the world's largest medical technology company and is a Fortune 500 company.- History :...

). Technical innovators have brought important advances in computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

, including the Cray

Cray

Cray Inc. is an American supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington. The company's predecessor, Cray Research, Inc. , was founded in 1972 by computer designer Seymour Cray. Seymour Cray went on to form the spin-off Cray Computer Corporation , in 1989, which went bankrupt in 1995,...

 line of supercomputers.

It is common for residents of the Twin Cities area to own or share cabins and other properties along lakes and forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

ed areas in the central and northern regions of the state, and weekend trips "up North" happen through the warmer months. Ice fishing

Ice fishing

Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice anglers may sit on the stool in the open on a frozen lake, or in a heated cabin on the ice, some with bunks and amenities.-Locations:It is a popular pastime...

 is also a major pastime in the winter, although each year some overambitious fishermen

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 find themselves in dangerous situations when they venture out onto the ice

Ice

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

 too early or too late. Hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

, snowmobiling

Snowmobile

A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...

, ATV riding

All-terrain vehicle

An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...

 and numerous other outdoor activities are also popular. This connectedness with the outdoors also brings a strong sense of environmentalism

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

 to many Minnesotans.

In 2011, Minneapolis was named the "Gayest City in America" by The Advocate

The Advocate

The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...

 magazine. "Over the past decade, Minneapolis has become the gay magnet city of the Midwest. It makes sense: People here are no-nonsense, practical, and don’t deal well with hypocrites." Also in 2011, the American College of Sports Medicine

American College of Sports Medicine

The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 40,000 international, national and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and...

 named Minneapolis—Saint Paul the healthiest metropolitan area in America.

Demography

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey

American Community Survey

The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly . It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census...

 conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area was 3,197,225. Approximately 49.7% of the population was male and 50.3% were female.

Age

The age composition was as follows:

• Under 5 years: 7.2%
• 5–9 years: 6.8%
• 10–14 years: 7.0%
• 15–19 years: 6.9%
• 20–24 years: 6.5%
• 25–34 years: 13.6%
• 35–44 years: 15.7%
• 45–54 years: 15.8%
• 55–59 years: 6.1%
• 60–64 years: 4.4%
• 65–74 years: 5.3%
• 75–84 years: 3.2%
• 85 years and over: 1.5%

Median age: 36.3 years

Race and ethnicity

The racial/ethnic composition was as follows:

• White
  White American
  White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
  
  : 84.3% (81.6% Non-Hispanic Whites
  Non-Hispanic Whites
  Non-Hispanic Whites or White, Not Hispanic or Latino are people in the United States, as defined by the Census Bureau, who are of the White race and are not of Hispanic or Latino origin/ethnicity. Hence the designation is exclusive in the sense that it defines who is not included as opposed to who is...
  
  )
• Black or African American
  African American
  African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
  
  : 6.4%
• American Indian and Alaska Native
  Native Americans in the United States
  Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
  
  : 0.6%
• Asian
  Asian American
  Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
  
  : 4.9%
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
  Pacific Islander American
  Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
  
  : 0.0%
• Other race: 1.7%
• Two or more races
  Multiracial American
  Multiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...
  
  : 2.1%
• Hispanic or Latino
  Hispanic and Latino Americans
  Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
  
  : 4.6%

Ancestry

The top ten largest European ancestries

Maps of American ancestries

The ancestry of the people of the United States is widely varied and includes descendants of populations from around the world, some presumably extinct elsewhere...

 were the following:

• German
  German American
  German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
  
  : 35.5%
• Norwegian
  Norwegian American
  Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
  
  : 14.7%
• Irish
  Irish American
  Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
  
  : 13.2%
• Swedish
  Swedish American
  Swedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent, especially the descendants of about 1.2 million immigrants from Sweden during 1885-1915. Most were Lutherans who affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ; some were Methodists...
  
  : 10.2%
• English
  English American
  English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
  
  : 6.9%
• Polish
  Polish American
  A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
  
  : 5.1%
• French
  French American
  French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...
  
  : 4.6%
• Italian
  Italian American
  An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
  
  : 3.0%
• Czech
  Czech American
  Czech Americans are citizens of the United States who were born in, or who descended from, the territory of the historic Czech lands, , or succession states, now known as the Czech Republic...
  
  : 1.8%
• Dutch: 1.7%

Place of birth

Approximately 91.2% of the metropolitan area's population was native to the United States. Approximately 90.6% were born in the U.S. while 0.6% were born in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, or born abroad to American parents. The rest of the population (8.8%) were foreign-born.

The highest percentages of immigrants came from Asia (38.2%), Latin America (25.4%), and Africa (20.1%); smaller percentages of newcomers came from Europe (13.1%), other parts of North America (3.0%), and Oceania (0.2%).

Language spoken at home

English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 is by far the most commonly spoken language at home by residents; approximately 88.0% of the population over the age of five spoke only English at home. Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 speakers made up 4.1% of the population; speakers of Asian languages

Languages of Asia

There is a wide variety of languages spoken throughout Asia, comprising a number of families and some unrelated isolates. Many languages have a long tradition of writing.-Central and North Asian languages:*Turkic**Azeri**Kazak**Kyrgyz**Tatar**Turkish...

 made up 3.6% of the population; speakers of other Indo-European languages

Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...

 made up 2.4% of the population. Individuals who spoke languages other than the ones above represented the remaining 1.9% of the populace.

Religion

Minneapolis-Saint Paul is also a major center for religion in the state, especially Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. The state headquarters of the missionary efforts of four churches are found here: the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is led by the prelature of an archbishop which administers the archdiocese from the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis...

, the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota

Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota

The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which has jurisdiction over all of Minnesota, except Clay County, which is in the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota, and Browns Valley, which is in the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota. It is...

, the Presbyterian Synod of Lakes and Prairies, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The Presbyterian and LDS churches both have missions in Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington.

The headquarters of the former American Lutheran Church

American Lutheran Church

The American Lutheran Church was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, the ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House , also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher...

 (ALC)

American Lutheran Church

The American Lutheran Church was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, the ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House , also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher...

, Evangelical Lutheran Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church (United States)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church or ELC was formed in 1917 as the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America .-Background:The Norwegian Lutheran Church of America was formed by merger of the Hauge Synod , the Norwegian Synod , and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America...

, Lutheran Free Church

Lutheran Free Church

The Lutheran Free Church was a Lutheran denomination that existed in the United States from 1897 to 1963 mainly in Minnesota and North Dakota...

 and the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church

Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church was a Lutheran church body in the United States that was one of the churches that merged into the Lutheran Church in America in 1962...

  were located in Minneapolis; the headquarters of Augsburg Fortress

Augsburg Fortress

Augsburg Fortress is the official publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and also publishes for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada as Augsburg Fortress Canada...

 publishing house still is. The Minneapolis Area Synod

Minneapolis Area Synod

The Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the largest synod, or diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . The synod consists of all the congregations within its territory which is the western metropolitan Twin Cities. The synod is headed by a bishop...

 and the Saint Paul Area Synod

Saint Paul Area Synod

The Saint Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a synod, or diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . The synod consists of all the congregations within its territory which is the eastern metropolitan Twin Cities. The synod is headed by a bishop, currently...

 are the first and third largest synods of the ELCA

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...

, respectively.

The Evangelical Free Church of America

Evangelical Free Church of America

The Evangelical Free Church of America is an evangelical Christian denomination. The EFCA was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association.-History:...

 has its headquarters in Bloomington, and the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations

Association of Free Lutheran Congregations

Association of Free Lutheran Congregations is the fifth largest Lutheran church body in the United States. The AFLC includes congregations in 27 different states, as well as four Canadian provinces. The AFLC is not an incorporated synod, but a free association. Each local congregation is a separate...

 is headquartered in Plymouth, along with its seminary and a Bible School.

The Twin Cities are home to several synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

s serving the Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 population, which is concentrated in the western Minneapolis suburbs of Golden Valley, St. Louis Park and Minnetonka. There is also a strong India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n community and in 2006, the first Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 temple opened in the Twin Cities suburb of Maple Grove

Maple Grove, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 50,365 people , 17,532 households, and 13,955 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,532.3 people per square mile . There were 17,745 housing units at an average density of 539.9 per square mile...

. A recent influx of immigrants from Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

 and Northern Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 has brought many more religions to the area. There are several Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic Masjids in the area .There is a temple for the religion of Eckankar

Eckankar

Eckankar is a new religious movement founded in the United States in 1965, though practiced around the world long before with a solid following in China. It focuses on spiritual exercises enabling practitioners to experience what its followers call "the Light and Sound of God." The personal...

 in the suburb of Chanhassen known as the Temple of Eck. In addition, Hmong

Hmong people

The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...

 and Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

an Buddhist communities exist in Saint Paul; a Hmong Buddhist temple opened in suburban Roseville in 1995. The LDS St. Paul Minnesota Temple

St. Paul Minnesota Temple

The St. Paul Minnesota Temple is the 69th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The site of the St. Paul Minnesota Temple is also the site of a stake center, a larger meetinghouse for the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The temple is...

 opened in Oakdale, a suburb east of Saint Paul, in 2000. There are several very strong Unitarian Universalist communities such as the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, as well as several Pagan

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

 and Buddhist groups. The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have been called Paganistan

Paganistan

Minnesota's Twin Cities region is home to a large community of Wiccans, Witches, Druids, Heathens, and other pagan organizations. Some neopagans in the USA refer to the area as Paganistan, Collectively these groups refer to the area as Paganistan, a term which was coined by linguist Steven Posch...

 due to the large numbers of Pagans living there. There are an estimated 20,000 Pagans living in the Twin Cities area. The Old Belief Society opened a temple in North East Minneapolis in 2010.

Sports

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Championships
Minnesota Twins Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...	Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...	Major League Baseball Major League Baseball Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...  – AL American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...	Target Field Target Field Target Field is a baseball park located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home ballpark of the Minnesota Twins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is the franchise's sixth ballpark and third in Minnesota. The Twins moved to Target Field for the 2010 Major League Baseball...  - Minneapolis	World Series World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...  Champions: 1987 1987 World Series The 1987 World Series pitted the Minnesota Twins versus the St. Louis Cardinals.Minnesota was victorious in a World Series that was the first in which the home team won every game... , 1991 1991 World Series The 1991 World Series pitted the Minnesota Twins of the American League against the Atlanta Braves of the National League. The series was played from Saturday, October 19 to Sunday, October 27.... American League American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...  Champions: 1965
Minnesota Wild Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....	Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...	National Hockey League National Hockey League The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...  – Western Western Conference (NHL) The Western Conference is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Eastern Conference....	Xcel Energy Center Xcel Energy Center The Xcel Energy Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is named for its locally-based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy. With an official capacity of 18,064, the arena has four spectator levels: one suite level and three general seating levels. The arena is owned by the...  - St. Paul
Minnesota Vixen Minnesota Vixen The Minnesota Vixen are a professional women's football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team has been known as the Minnesota Vixens and Minneapolis Vixens prior to being known as the Vixen ....	American football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	Women's Professional Football League Women's Professional Football League The Women's Professional Football League is the original and longest operating women's professional American football league in the United States. Now with teams across the United States, the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two original teams: the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota...	Varies
Minnesota Valkyrie Minnesota Valkyrie The Minnesota Valkyrie is an expansion team in the Lingerie Football League set to begin play for the 2011-12 season. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the team will play their home games at Target Center On March 23, 2011, it was announced that the LFL would added an expansion team to Minneapolis....	American football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	Lingerie Football League Lingerie Football League The Lingerie Football League is a women's 7-on-7 tackle American football league, created in 2009, with games played in the fall and winter at NBA, NFL, NHL and MLS arenas and stadiums. The league was founded by Mitch Mortaza...	Target Center Target Center The Target Center is an arena in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is sponsored by Target Corporation. The arena has a capacity of 20,500 people. It contains 702 club seats and 68 suites....  - Minneapolis
Minnesota Timberwolves Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...	National Basketball Association National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...  – Western Western Conference (NBA) Below is a list of current Western Conference NBA team rosters.-Western Conference:There are a total of 15 teams in the Western Conference. The current leading team of the Western conference are the Dallas Mavericks....	Target Center Target Center The Target Center is an arena in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is sponsored by Target Corporation. The arena has a capacity of 20,500 people. It contains 702 club seats and 68 suites....  - Minneapolis
Minnesota Lynx Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded prior to the 1999 season...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...	Women's National Basketball Association Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...  – Western Conference	Target Center Target Center The Target Center is an arena in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is sponsored by Target Corporation. The arena has a capacity of 20,500 people. It contains 702 club seats and 68 suites....  - Minneapolis	WNBA Champions: 2011
Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...	American football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	National Football League National Football League The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...  – NFC North National Football Conference The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...	Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, is a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1982, it replaced Metropolitan Stadium, which was on the current site of the Mall of America in Bloomington and Memorial Stadium on the University...  - Minneapolis	NFL Champions: 1969 NFL Championship Game, 1969 The 1969 NFL Championship Game was the 37th and final championship game played prior to the AFL-NFL Merger. The winner of the game would go on to play in Super Bowl IV against the champion of the American Football League... NFC Champions NFC Championship Game The National Football Conference Championship Game is one of the two semi-final playoff matches of the National Football League, the largest professional American football league in the United States. The game is played on the penultimate Sunday in January and determines the champion of the... : 1973, 1974, 1976
Minnesota Swarm Minnesota Swarm Minnesota Swarm is a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League. The team plays on Treasure Island Field at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota....	Indoor lacrosse Box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to boxla, LAX or simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played in contrast to the traditional field lacrosse game...	National Lacrosse League National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League is a men's professional indoor lacrosse league in North America. It currently has nine teams; three in Canada and six in the United States. Unlike other lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring. Each year, the playoff...  – Eastern Division	Xcel Energy Center Xcel Energy Center The Xcel Energy Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is named for its locally-based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy. With an official capacity of 18,064, the arena has four spectator levels: one suite level and three general seating levels. The arena is owned by the...  - St. Paul
St. Paul Saints St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a professional baseball team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. The Saints are a member of the North Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...	Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...	American Association – North Division	Midway Stadium Midway Stadium Midway Stadium is the name of two different minor league baseball parks in Saint Paul, Minnesota, one now demolished and the other still in active use. The name derives from the location of the stadium in St. Paul's Midway area, so named because it's roughly halfway between the downtowns of...  - St. Paul	Northern League Championship: 1993, 1995, 1996, 2004
NSC Minnesota Stars NSC Minnesota Stars The NSC Minnesota Stars is an American professional soccer team based in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 2010, the team plays in the North American Soccer League , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid...	Soccer	USSF Division 2 Professional League USSF Division 2 Professional League USSF Division 2 Professional League was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation in 2010 to last just one season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding United Soccer Leagues and the North American Soccer League...  – USL United Soccer Leagues The United Soccer Leagues is the organizer of several soccer leagues with teams in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It includes men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Leagues currently organized are the USL Pro, the USL Premier Development League, the W-League, and...  Conference	National Sports Center National Sports Center The National Sports Center is a 600-acre multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota, United States, that includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a velodrome, a meeting and convention facility, and an eight-sheet ice rink, the Schwan Super Rink, which is...  - Blaine Blaine, Minnesota As of the census of 2000, there were 44,942 people, 15,898 households, and 12,177 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,330 people per square mile . There are 16,169 housing units at an average density of 477.6 per square mile...	North American Soccer League Championship 2011 North American Soccer League season The 2011 North American Soccer League season is the 44th season of second division soccer in the United States and the inaugural season of the newly-revived North American Soccer League.... : 2011
Minnesota Freeze	Australian rules football Australian rules football Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...	United States Australian Football League United States Australian Football League The United States Australian Football League is the governing body for Australian rules football in the United States. It was conceived in 1996 and organized in 1997....  – MAAFL(Mid-American Australian Football League)	Lake Nokomis Lake Nokomis Lake Nokomis is one of several lakes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The lake was originally named Lake Amelia in honor of Captain George Gooding’s daughter, Amelia, in 1819. Its current name was adopted in 1910 to honor Nokomis, grandmother of Hiawatha...  Park - Minneapolis	National Champions: 2007 Div II, 2005 Div III
Minnesota RollerGirls Minnesota RollerGirls Minnesota RollerGirls is an all-women amateur flat-track roller derby league based in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area of the U.S. state of Minnesota...	Roller derby Roller derby Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...	Women's Flat Track Derby Association Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association is an association of women's flat track roller derby leagues in the United States. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Coalition but was renamed in November 2005. It is registered in Raleigh, North Carolina as a 501 business...  – North Central Region	Roy Wilkins Auditorium Roy Wilkins Auditorium The Roy Wilkins Auditorium is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. Designed by renowned African American municipal architect Clarence W. Wigington, it was built in 1932 as the St. Paul Auditorium, and was renamed for Roy Wilkins in 1985...  - St. Paul
North Star Roller Girls North Star Roller Girls The North Star Roller Girls is a 100% female skater owned and operated amateur roller derby league which plays by Women's Flat Track Derby Association rules. NSRG plays at the Minneapolis Convention Center. In December of 2008, NSRG was admitted to WFTDA as its 65th member league.The North Star...	Roller derby Roller derby Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...	Women's Flat Track Derby Association Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association is an association of women's flat track roller derby leagues in the United States. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Coalition but was renamed in November 2005. It is registered in Raleigh, North Carolina as a 501 business...  – North Central Region	Minneapolis Convention Center Minneapolis Convention Center The Minneapolis Convention Center is a large convention center located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is located one block away from Nicollet Mall near Orchestra Hall. The Minneapolis Convention Center has a quadruple-domed roof and because of its volume can host multiple events on the...  - Minneapolis
Minnesota Men's Roller Derby (TC Terrors)	Roller derby Roller derby Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...	Men's Roller Derby Association (MRDA)	St Paul Armory - St Paul

Some other sports teams gained their names from being in Minnesota. The Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...

 get their name from once being based in Minneapolis, the "City of Lakes" (Minne- mní "water" in Dakota, polis- "city" in Greek). Minnesota is also known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". The Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...

 got their name from being a Minnesota team, the Minnesota North Stars

Minnesota North Stars

The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white...

, as Minnesota is also known as "The North Star State". To avoid favoring either of the Twin Cities, most teams based in the area use only the word Minnesota in their name, rather than Minneapolis or St. Paul.

The annual Twin Cities Marathon

Twin Cities Marathon

The Twin Cities Marathon is an annual marathon in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. The race is often dubbed "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America." The TCM was first run in 1982, and typically takes place during the first weekend in October. In 2006 the Marathon agreed to its first...

 is held in the fall with a course running through Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minneapolis was the birthplace of Rollerblade

Rollerblade

Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Trevignano, Treviso, Italy.The company was started by Scott Olsen and Brennan Olson in Minneapolis as Ole's Innovative Sports; when they sold the company, it became Rollerblade, Inc...

 and is a center for inline skating

Inline skating

Inline skating is a recreational sport practiced widely internationally. Inline skates typically have 2 to 5 polyurethane wheels, arranged in a single line. The in-line design allows for greater speed than roller skates and better maneuverability...

 as well as home to the most golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

ers per capita of any city in the U.S. Additionally, water skiing

Water skiing

thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...

 got its start on Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin is a naturally occurring lake, and the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi River, located approximately 60 miles downstream from Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is a widening of the river on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. The formation of the lake was caused by the...

, a short distance southeast of the metropolitan area.

Politics

The Republican National Committee held their national nominating convention at the Xcel Energy Center

Xcel Energy Center

The Xcel Energy Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is named for its locally-based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy. With an official capacity of 18,064, the arena has four spectator levels: one suite level and three general seating levels. The arena is owned by the...

 in St. Paul in 2008. Prior, both cities had combined to submit bids to host both the 2008 Democratic National Convention

2008 Democratic National Convention

The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...

 and the 2008 Republican National Convention

2008 Republican National Convention

The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...

. They competed against Denver and New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to host the Democratic Convention, and against New York, Cleveland and Tampa

Tâmpa

Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...

 to host the Republican Convention. Previously, Minneapolis was host to the 1892 Republican National Convention

1892 Republican National Convention

The 1892 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held at the Industrial Exposition Building, Minneapolis, Minnesota, from June 7 to June 10, 1892. The party nominated Benjamin Harrison from Indiana for re-election as President of the United States on the first ballot...

.

Economy

The Minneapolis – Saint Paul area is home to 19 of Minnesota's 20 Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...

 headquarters. The area has the second largest economy in the Midwest, behind only Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, overtaking Detroit in 2009 and remains so as of 2011.
The metro continues to grow at a rapid pace. Currently, the metropolitan region is the second largest medical device manufacture center in North America.

History

The first European settlement in the region was near what is now known as the town of Stillwater, Minnesota

Stillwater, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,143 people, 5,797 households, and 4,115 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,340.0 people per square mile . There were 5,926 housing units at an average density of 915.7 per square mile...

. The city is approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) from downtown Saint Paul and lies on the western bank of the St. Croix River

St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota)

The St. Croix River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower of the river form the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service. A...

, which forms the border of central Minnesota and Wisconsin. Another settlement that began fueling early interest in the area was the outpost at Fort Snelling

Fort Snelling, Minnesota

Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort Saint Anthony, was a military fortification located at the confluence of the Minnesota River and Mississippi River in Hennepin County, Minnesota...

, which was constructed from 1820 to 1825 at the confluence

Confluence (geography)

In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...

 of the Minnesota River

Minnesota River

The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....

 and the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

.

Fort Snelling held jurisdiction over the land south of Saint Anthony Falls

Saint Anthony Falls

Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony, located northeast of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River. The natural falls was replaced by a concrete overflow spillway after it partially collapsed in 1869...

, thus a town known as Saint Anthony grew just north of the river. For several years, the only European resident to live on the south bank of the river was Colonel John H. Stevens

John H. Stevens

John Harrington Stevens was the first authorized resident on the west bank of the Mississippi River in what would become Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was granted permission to occupy the site, then part of the Fort Snelling military reservation, in exchange for providing ferry service to St. Anthony...

, who operated a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 service across the river. As soon as the land area controlled by Fort Snelling was reduced, new settlers began flocking across to the new village of Minneapolis. The town grew quickly, and Minneapolis and Saint Anthony eventually merged. On the eastern side of the Mississippi, a few villages such as Pig's Eye and Lambert's Landing developed and would soon grow to become Saint Paul.

Natural geography played a role in the settlement and development of the two cities. The Mississippi River valley in this area is defined by a series of stone bluffs that line both sides of the river. Saint Paul grew up around Lambert's Landing, the last place to unload boats coming upriver at an easily accessible point, some seven miles (11 km) downstream from Saint Anthony Falls

Saint Anthony Falls

Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony, located northeast of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River. The natural falls was replaced by a concrete overflow spillway after it partially collapsed in 1869...

, the geographic feature that, due to the value of its immense water power for industry, defined the location of Minneapolis and its prominence as the Mill City. The falls can be seen today from the Mill City Museum

Mill City Museum

Mill City Museum is a Minnesota Historical Society museum in Minneapolis. It opened in 2003, built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park on the banks of the Mississippi River...

, housed in the former Washburn "A" Mill, which was among the world's largest mills in its time.

The oldest farms in the state are located in Washington County, the eastern most county on the Minnesota side of the metropolitan area. Joseph Haskell was Minnesota's first farmer, harvesting the first crops in the state in 1840 on what is now part of Afton Township on Trading Post Trail

The Grand Excursion

Grand Excursion

The Grand Excursion was a voyage by train and steamboat into the Upper Mississippi River valley, USA that first took place in June 1854. 150 years later, in 2004 the Grand Excursion route was retraced by both riverboats and a steam locomotive....

, a trip into the Upper Midwest sponsored by the Rock Island Railroad, brought more than a thousand curious travelers into the area by rail and steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

 in 1854. The next year, in 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...

 published The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...

, an epic poem based on the Ojibwe legends of Hiawatha

Hiawatha

Hiawatha was a legendary Native American leader and founder of the Iroquois confederacy...

. A number of natural area landmarks were included in the story, such as Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka is a lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Throughout its recorded history, the lake has been a resort destination. It is located west-southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The lake is an irregular shape with numerous bays and islands which make up about of shoreline...

 and Minnehaha Falls

Minnehaha Falls

Minnehaha Creek is a tributary of the Mississippi River located in Hennepin County, Minnesota that extends from Lake Minnetonka in the west and flows east for 22 miles through several suburbs west of Minneapolis and then through south Minneapolis. Including Lake Minnetonka, the watershed for the...

. Tourists

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 inspired by the coverage of the Grand Excursion in eastern newspapers and those who read Longfellow's story flocked to the area in the following decades.

At one time, the region also had numerous passenger rail services, including both interurban streetcar systems and interstate rail. Due to the width of the river at points further south, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area was briefly one of the few places where the Mississippi could be crossed by railroad. A great amount of commercial rail traffic also ran through the area, often carrying grain to be processed at mills in Minneapolis or delivering other goods to Saint Paul to be transported along the Mississippi. Saint Paul had long been at the head of navigation on the river, prior to a new lock and dam facility

Lock and Dam No. 1, Mississippi River

Ford Dam, officially known as Lock and Dam No. 1 is on the Upper Mississippi River and is located between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota just north of the confluence of the Mississippi with the Minnesota River...

 being added upriver in Minneapolis.

Passenger travel hit its peak in 1888 with nearly eight million traversing to and from the Saint Paul Union Depot

Saint Paul Union Depot

The Saint Paul Union Depot was the main train station in the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Saint Paul Union Depot Company controlled of St. Paul trackage and terminal facilities, including the depot building...

. This amounted to approximately 150 trains daily. Before long, other rail crossings were built farther south and travel through the region began to decline. In an effort by the rail companies to combat the rise of the automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

, some of the earliest streamliner

Streamliner

A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...

s ran from Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 to Minneapolis/Saint Paul and eventually served distant points in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

. Today, the only vestige of this interstate service comes by Amtrak

Amtrak

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

's Empire Builder

Empire Builder

The Empire Builder is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. It is Amtrak's busiest long-distance route and busiest daily train, carrying more than 500,000 travelers annually since 2007. Overall, it is the railroad's 10th-busiest line. Before...

train, running once daily in each direction. It is the railroad's busiest long-distance train and is named after James J. Hill

James J. Hill

James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...

, a railroad tycoon who settled on Summit Avenue in Saint Paul at what is now known as the James J. Hill House

James J. Hill House

The James J. Hill House, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was built by railroad magnate James J. Hill. The house, completed in 1891, is near the eastern end of Summit Avenue near the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The house, for its time, was very large and was the "showcase of St. Paul" until James J. Hill's...

.

Like many Northern cities that grew up with the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

, Minneapolis and St. Paul experienced shifts in their economic base as heavy industry declined, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. Along with the economic decline of the 60s and 70s came population decline in the central city areas, white flight

White flight

White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...

 to suburbs, and, in the summer of 1967, race riots on Minneapolis's North Side. By the 1980s and 1990s, however, Minneapolis and St. Paul were frequently cited as former Rust Belt

Rust Belt

The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...

 cities that had made successful transitions to service, high-technology, finance, and information economies.

Geography and geology

Along with much of Minnesota, the Twin Cities area was shaped by water and ice over the course of millions of years. The land of the area sits on top of thick layers of sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 and limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 laid down as seas encroached upon and receded from the region. Erosion caused natural cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

s to develop, which were expanded into mine

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

s when white settlers came to the area. In the time of Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

, at least one speakeasy

Speakeasy

A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...

 was built into these hidden spaces—eventually refurbished as the Wabasha Street Caves

Wabasha Street Caves

The Wabasha Street Caves is an event hall built into the sandstone caves located on the south shore of the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. The caves have been home to mobsters, speakeasies, and in more recent years have begun hosting a "Swing Night" on Thursday nights with live...

 in Saint Paul.

While a few of the caverns have been cleaned up and are safe places, most are not. Over the decades, many people have been injured and killed while exploring them. A number of these incidents involved asphyxiation, sometimes caused by smoldering fire

Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

s which used up much of the oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

 in the caves and left deadly levels of noxious gases behind.

Because it is comparatively easy to dig through limestone and there are many natural and man-made open spaces, it has often been proposed that the area should examine the idea of building subway

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

s for public transportation. In theory, it could be less expensive in the Twin Cities than in many other places, but the cost would still be much greater than surface projects.

Lakes across the area were formed and altered by the movement of glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s. This left many bodies of water in the region, and unusual shapes may appear. For example, Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka is a lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Throughout its recorded history, the lake has been a resort destination. It is located west-southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The lake is an irregular shape with numerous bays and islands which make up about of shoreline...

 out toward the western side of the Twin Cities consists of a complex arrangement of channels and large bays. Elevations in the metropolitan area range from 1376 feet (419 m) above sea level in the northwest metro to 666 feet (203 m) at the edge of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 in the southeast.

Climate

Owing to its northerly latitude and inland location, the Twin Cities experience the coldest climate of any major metropolitan area in the United States. However due to its southern location in the state and aided further by the urban heat island

Urban heat island

An urban heat island is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas. The phenomenon was first investigated and described by Luke Howard in the 1810s, although he was not the one to name the phenomenon. The temperature difference usually is larger at night...

, the Twin Cities is one of the warmest locations in Minnesota. The average annual temperature at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is 45.4 °F (7.4 °C); 3.5 °F colder than Winona, Minnesota

Winona, Minnesota

Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....

, and 8.8 °F warmer than Roseau, Minnesota

Roseau, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,756 people, 1,157 households, and 713 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,153.6 people per square mile . There were 1,229 housing units at an average density of 514.4 per square mile...

. Monthly average daily high temperatures range from 21.9 °F (−5.6 °C) in January to 83.3 °F (28.5 °C) in July; the average daily minimum temperatures for the two months are 4.3 °F (−15.4 °C) and 63.0 °F (17 °C) respectively.

Minimum temperatures of 0 °F (−18 °C) or lower are seen on an average of 29.7 days per year, and 76.2 days do not have a maximum temperature exceeding the freezing point. Temperatures above 90 °F (32 °C) occur an average of 15 times per year. High temperatures above 100 °F have been common in recent years; the last occurring on June 7, 2011. The lowest temperature ever reported at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was −34 °F (−36.6 °C) on January 22, 1936; the highest, 108 °F (42 °C), was reported on July 14 of the same year.

Precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 averages 29.41 in (74.7 cm) per year, and is most plentiful in June (4.34 in, 11 cm) and February (0.79 in, 2 cm) the least so. The greatest one-day rainfall amount was 9.15 in (23.2 cm), reported on July 23, 1987. The city's record for lowest annual precipitation was set in 1910, when 11.54 in (29.3 cm) fell throughout the year; coincidentally, the opposite record was set the following year, which observed a total 40.15 in (102 cm). At an average of 56.3 in (143 cm) per year, snowfall is generally abundant (though some recent years have proved an exception).

The Twin Cities area takes the brunt of many types of extreme weather, including high-speed straight-line winds, tornadoes, flash floods, drought, heat, bitter cold, and blizzards. The costliest weather disaster in Twin Cities history was a derecho

Derecho

A derecho is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo...

 event on May 15, 1998. Hail

Hail

Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...

 and Wind

Wind

Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...

 damage exceeded $

Dollar sign

The dollar or peso sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various peso and dollar units of currency around the world.- Origin :...

950 million, much of it in the Twin Cities. Other memorable Twin Cities weather related events include the tornado outbreak on May 6, 1965, the Armistice Day Blizzard

Armistice Day Blizzard

The Armistice Day Blizzard took place in the Midwest region of the United States on 11 November and 12 November 1940...

 on November 11, 1940, and the Halloween Blizzard

Halloween Blizzard

The Halloween Blizzard was a period of heavy snowfall and ice accumulation that affected parts of the Upper Midwest of the United States, from October 31 to November 3, 1991...

 of 1991.

A normal growing season in the metro extends from late April or early May through the month of October. The USDA places the area in the 4a plant hardiness zone.

Buildings and structures

The four tallest buildings in the area are located in downtown Minneapolis. The first skyscraper built west of the Mississippi in 1929 was the Foshay Tower

Foshay Tower

The Foshay Tower, now the W Minneapolis – The Foshay hotel, is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modeled after the Washington Monument, the building was completed in 1929, months before the stock market crash in October of that year. It has 32 floors and stands high, plus an antenna mast...

. Today there is some contention over exactly which building is the tallest—most Minnesotans would immediately think of the IDS Center

IDS Center

The IDS Center is the tallest building in the state of Minnesota at 792 feet . Opened in 1974 as the IDS Centre, it stood 775 feet 6 inches , though a 16-foot garage for window washing equipment was added at a later date...

 if queried on the point, although most sources seem to agree that Capella Tower is slightly taller. But in early 2005, it was found that the IDS Center

IDS Center

The IDS Center is the tallest building in the state of Minnesota at 792 feet . Opened in 1974 as the IDS Centre, it stood 775 feet 6 inches , though a 16-foot garage for window washing equipment was added at a later date...

 is taller by a 16 feet (5 m) washroom garage on top, which brings its total height to 792 feet (241 m). Capella Tower and the Wells Fargo Center

Wells Fargo Center (Minneapolis)

The Wells Fargo Center, formerly known as Norwest Center, is the third-tallest building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after the IDS Center and the Capella Tower. Completed in 1988, it is 774 feet tall. For many years, this was believed to be one foot shorter than Capella, but that structure...

 only differ in height by a foot or two, a rather negligible amount. The IDS has communications towers that definitely are the highest points in Minneapolis, though some suburban broadcast towers in the region reach a much greater height.

Buildings have gone up and been torn down rapidly across the region. Some city blocks have been demolished six or seven times since the mid-19th century, and will undoubtedly reach an eighth or ninth cycle in short order. No single architectural style dominates the region. Instead, the cities have a mish-mash of different designs, although structures from a few eras stand out. There were once a great many stone buildings constructed in the Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...

 style (or at least Romanesque-inspired variants). Minneapolis City Hall

Minneapolis City Hall

Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Courthouse , designed by Long and Kees in 1888, is the main building used by the city government of Minneapolis, Minnesota as well as by Hennepin County, Minnesota...

 is one prominent example of this, though buildings of all types—including personal residences such as the James J. Hill House

James J. Hill House

The James J. Hill House, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was built by railroad magnate James J. Hill. The house, completed in 1891, is near the eastern end of Summit Avenue near the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The house, for its time, was very large and was the "showcase of St. Paul" until James J. Hill's...

—were similarly designed. A few decades later, Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 brought several structures that survive today, including St. Paul City Hall, the Foshay Tower

Foshay Tower

The Foshay Tower, now the W Minneapolis – The Foshay hotel, is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modeled after the Washington Monument, the building was completed in 1929, months before the stock market crash in October of that year. It has 32 floors and stands high, plus an antenna mast...

, and the Minneapolis Post Office

Minneapolis Post Office

The Minneapolis Post Office is the central post office for the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. Located on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the facility extends west to east from Hennepin Avenue Bridge to the Third Avenue Bridge and north to south from the West River...

. The style of buildings in the two cities varies greatly. In Minneapolis, the trend has been buildings with sleek lines and modern glass facades while St. Paul tends to follow a more traditional style of buildings so as to better accompany its older structures.

St. Paul and Minneapolis in particular went through some massive urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

 projects in the post-World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 era, so a vast number of buildings are now lost to history. Some of the larger and harder to demolish structures have survived. In fact, the area might be signified more by bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

s than buildings. A series of reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...

 arch

Arch

An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...

 spans crossing the Mississippi River were built in the 1920s and 1930s. They still carry daily traffic, but remain pleasing to the eye despite their age (a number have undergone major repair work, but retain the original design). Several of the bridges are listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. They include the 10th Avenue Bridge, Intercity Bridge

Intercity Bridge

The Intercity Bridge, more commonly known as the Ford Parkway Bridge , is a reinforced concrete arch bridge that spans the Mississippi River between Minneapolis, Minnesota and St. Paul, Minnesota. It connects 46th Street in Minneapolis with Ford Parkway in Saint Paul...

 (Ford Parkway), Robert Street Bridge

Robert Street Bridge

The Robert Street Bridge is a reinforced concrete multiple-arch bridge that spans the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. The bridge is notable for its complex design that was required to accommodate river traffic, the St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge crossing...

, and the longest, the 4119 ft (1255 m) Mendota Bridge next to Fort Snelling. The area is also noted for having the first known permanent crossing of the Mississippi. That structure is long gone, but a series of Hennepin Avenue Bridge

Hennepin Avenue Bridge

The Hennepin Avenue Bridge is the structure that carries Hennepin County State Aid Highway 52, Hennepin Avenue, across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota at Nicollet Island. Officially, it is the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge, in honor of the 17th-century explorer Louis Hennepin, who...

s have been built since then at the site. Both downtowns have extensive networks of enclosed pedestrian bridges known as skyway

Skyway

In an urban setting, a skyway, catwalk, sky bridge, or skywalk is a type of pedway consisting of an enclosed or covered bridge between two buildings. This protects pedestrians from the weather. These skyways are usually owned by businesses, and are therefore not public spaces...

s. Individually, the cities appear to have the largest such networks outside of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. However, the combination of the two cities' networks is believed to make the largest system in the world. Skyways have their drawbacks however. Most prominently, they reduce the amount of foot traffic at street level, so the cities appear to have little activity.

Several prominent buildings in Minneapolis have helped modernize the city. These include the Walker Art Center

Walker Art Center

The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...

, Central Public Library

Minneapolis Public Library

The Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center was a library system serving the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded as the publicly traded Minneapolis Athenæum in 1860 and became a free public library in 1885 founded by T. B. Walker...

, and the Guthrie Theater

Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...

. Opened in April 2005, the new Walker Art Center, nearly double in size, includes increased indoor and outdoor facilities. The Walker is recognized internationally as a singular model of a multidisciplinary arts organization and as a national leader for its innovative approaches to audience engagement. The Guthrie received a large amount of media coverage for its opening in June, 2006. The design is the work of architect Jean Nouvel and is a 285,000 square foot (26,500 m²) facility that houses three theaters: (1) the theater's signature thrust stage, seating 1,100, (2) a 700-seat proscenium stage, and (3) a black-box studio with flexible seating. In 2002 the National Trust for Historic Preservation

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...

 put the old Guthrie building on its list of the most endangered historic properties in the United States in response to plans announced by the Walker Art Center to expand on the land occupied by the theater. However, officials at the Walker Art Center say that the original Guthrie building will be torn down late in the summer of 2006. These building projects have rejuvenated the downtown area.

Roads and highways

In the 20th century, the Twin Cities area expanded outward significantly. Automobiles made it possible for suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

s to grow greatly. The area now has a number of freeways to transport people by car. The area incorporates a large number of traffic camera

Traffic camera

A traffic camera is a video camera which observes vehicular traffic on a road. Typically, these are put along major roads such as highways, freeways, motorways, autoroutes and expressways, as well as arterial roads, and are connected with optical fibers buried alongside or even under the road,...

s and ramp meter

Ramp meter

A ramp meter, ramp signal or metering light is a device, usually a basic traffic light or a two-section signal light together with a signal controller, that regulates the flow of traffic entering freeways according to current traffic conditions...

s to monitor and manage traffic congestion

Traffic congestion

Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...

. There is some use of high-occupancy vehicle (carpool) lanes, though it is not as pervasive as in other regions. When the roads do become congested, bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es are allowed to drive on road shoulder

Shoulder

The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle , the scapula , and the humerus as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder make up the shoulder joints. The major joint of the shoulder is the glenohumeral joint, which...

s to bypass traffic jams.

Interstate 94

Interstate 94

Interstate 94 is the northernmost east–west Interstate Highway, connecting the Great Lakes and Intermountain regions of the United States. I-94's western terminus is in Billings, Montana at a junction with Interstate 90; its eastern terminus is the U.S...

 comes into the area from the east and heads northwest from Minneapolis. Two spur routes form the I-494

Interstate 494

Interstate 494 is a loop route making up part of a beltway of Interstate 94, circling through the southern and western portions of the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota...

/I-694

Interstate 694

Interstate 694 is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway located in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The western terminus of the route is at its junction with Interstate 94 and Interstate 494 in Maple Grove...

 loop, and I-394

Interstate 394

Interstate 394 is an east–west Interstate Highway spur route in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It runs for 9.8 miles from its eastern terminus in downtown Minneapolis to its western terminus at its junction with Interstate 494 in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka...

 continues west when I-94 turns north. Additionally, Interstate 35

Interstate 35

Interstate 35 is a north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. I-35 stretches from Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border to Duluth, Minnesota, at Minnesota Highway 61 and 26th Avenue East. Many interstates used to have splits or spurs indicated with suffixed letters , but I-35...

 splits in Burnsville in the southern part of the Twin Cities region, bringing I-35E

Interstate 35E (Minnesota)

Interstate 35E is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Minnesota, passing through downtown Saint Paul. It is one of two through routes for Interstate 35 through the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the other being Interstate 35W through Minneapolis. Thus, both ends of I-35E are...

 into St. Paul and I-35W

Interstate 35W (Minnesota)

Interstate 35W , is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Minnesota, passing through downtown Minneapolis. It is one of two through routes for Interstate 35 through the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the other being Interstate 35E through downtown Saint Paul...

 into Minneapolis. (This is one of only two examples of an Interstate highway splitting off into branches and then rejoining into one again; the other split occurs in Dallas-Fort Worth, where I-35 splits into I-35E

Interstate 35E (Texas)

Interstate 35E , an Interstate Highway, is the eastern half of Interstate 35 where it splits to serve different cities in Texas. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E at Hillsboro. I-35E runs north for , maintaining I-35's sequence of exit numbers. It runs through Dallas before...

 for motorists who want to go into Dallas, and I-35W

Interstate 35W (Texas)

Interstate 35W , an Interstate Highway, is the western half of Interstate 35 where it splits to serve different cities in Texas. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E at Hillsboro. I-35W runs north for , carrying its own separate sequence of exit numbers. It runs through Fort Worth...

 for traffic heading into Fort Worth.) They join together again to the north in Forest Lake and continue to the highway's terminus in Duluth.

On Wednesday, August 1, 2007, a large portion of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge near University Avenue in the city of Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 around 6:05pm CDT. A replacement bridge

St. Anthony Falls (35W) Bridge

The I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge crosses the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the U.S., carrying north–south traffic on Interstate Highway 35W. The ten-lane bridge is the replacement for the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge, which collapsed on August 1, 2007. It was planned...

 opened on Thursday, September 18, 2008.

Air travel

The main airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 in the region is Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), which is a major hub for Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...

. A number of other smaller airports are also in the area, a number of which are owned and operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission

Metropolitan Airports Commission

The Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission is the owner and operator of Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minnesota as well as six other reliever airports in the Twin Cities region, which primarily provide service to private individuals and businesses, but also have...

 (the same organization operates the main MSP airport). Some people even commute

Commuting

Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...

 by air to the Twin Cities from the northern part of the state.

Public transit

Metro Transit

Metro Transit (Minnesota)

Metro Transit is the transit division of the Metropolitan Council, a regional governmental agency in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Metro Transit is the largest operator of bus services in the seven-county region surrounding Minneapolis and St...

, by far the biggest bus service provider in the area, owes its existence to the old streetcar

Twin City Rapid Transit

The Twin City Rapid Transit Company , also known as Twin City Lines , was a transportation company that operated streetcars, and buses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota...

 lines that ran in the area. Metro Transit provides about 95% of the public transit rides in the region, although some suburbs have other bus services. The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 operates a free bus system on its campus. This system includes the Campus Connector Bus Rapid Transit

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...

 line which travels between the Minneapolis and St. Paul Campuses by a dedicated bus line, and throughout the two campuses on normal access roads. The Hiawatha Line

Hiawatha Line

The Hiawatha Line is a light rail corridor in Hennepin County, Minnesota that extends from downtown Minneapolis to the southern suburb of Bloomington. It was formerly known as the Hiawatha Line named after Hiawatha Avenue. Major connections on the line include the Minneapolis-St...

 light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 corridor began regular operations in June 2004, and is run by Metro Transit. In many ways a return to what existed in the past, it is being used as a stepping-stone to other projects.

A variety of rail services are currently being pondered by state and local governments, including neighborhood streetcar systems, intercity light rail service, and commuter rail options out to exurban

Commuter town

A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...

 communities. In addition, Minnesota is one of several states in the Midwest examining the idea of setting up high-speed rail

High-speed rail

High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...

 service using Chicago as a regional hub.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has been criticized for inadequate public transportation. Compared to many other cities its size, the public transportation system in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is less robust. As the metropolitan area has grown, the roads and highways have been updated and widened, but traffic volume is growing faster than the projects needed to widen them, and public transportation has not expanded enough to commensurate with the population. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is ranked as the fifth worst for congestion growth of similarly-sized U.S. metropolitan areas. Although a light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 system, the Hiawatha Line

Hiawatha Line

The Hiawatha Line is a light rail corridor in Hennepin County, Minnesota that extends from downtown Minneapolis to the southern suburb of Bloomington. It was formerly known as the Hiawatha Line named after Hiawatha Avenue. Major connections on the line include the Minneapolis-St...

, was added in 2004, additional lines and spurs are needed to upgrade public transportation in the Twin Cities. Plans have been proposed for light rail line

Southwest Corridor (Minneapolis)

The Southwest Corridor is currently scheduled to become the third light rail transit corridor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, with service between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie, Minnesota, going through Hopkins and Minnetonka along the way...

 connecting downtown Minneapolis to the suburb Eden Prairie

Eden Prairie, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 54,901 people, 20,457 households, and 14,579 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per square mile...

. Another light rail line

Central Corridor (Minnesota)

The Central Corridor is a light rail line under construction that is to cover the stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota...

 line connecting downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 campus, and St. Paul along University Avenue

University Avenue (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

University Avenue in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region of Minnesota begins near the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul and extends westward into neighboring Minneapolis, where it passes the University of Minnesota, and then turns north to pass through several suburbs before ending in Blaine,...

 began construction in 2011, and is estimated to open for riders in 2014. Additionally, a commuter rail line connecting Minneapolis with Big Lake

Big Lake, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,063 people, 2,117 households, and 1,570 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,688.4 people per square mile . There were 2,206 housing units at an average density of 614.3 per square mile...

 along the Northstar Corridor

Northstar Corridor

The Northstar Line is a commuter rail route in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which began service on November 16, 2009. The rail line serves part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, and has been in planning since the Northstar Corridor Development Authority formed in 1997...

 opened in November 2009; the line may be extended to St. Cloud

St. Cloud, Minnesota

St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 65,842 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stearns County...

 as ridership numbers warrant.

Print

The Twin Cities have two major daily newspapers: the Star Tribune

Star Tribune

The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...

and the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. Additionally, the Minnesota Daily

Minnesota Daily

The Minnesota Daily is the campus newspaper of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, published Monday-Thursday while school is in session, and published weekly on Wednesdays during summer sessions. Published since 1900, the paper is one of the largest student-run and student-written newspapers...

serves the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota system

The University of Minnesota is a large university with several campuses spread throughout the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are five primary campuses in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Crookston, Morris, and Rochester. A campus was open in Waseca for a time. The university also operates several...

's Twin Cities campus and surrounding neighborhoods. There is one general-interest neighborhood weekly newspaper still in the cities: The East Side Review

East Side Review

The East Side Review is the only neighborhood-focused, general-interest weekly newspaper in either Minneapolis or St. Paul.With a circulation of 20,000, the East Side Review reports on the entire East Side area, all 28 neighborhoods and 90,000 residents in St...

, devoted to the 90,000 residents in the eastern third of St. Paul. Other weekly papers are devoted to specific audiences/demographics including City Pages

City Pages

City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...

.

Television

The region is currently ranked as the 15th largest television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 market according to Nielson Media Research. Twin Cities Public Television

Twin Cities Public Television

Twin Cities Public Television is a non-profit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two Public Broadcasting Service member Public television stations, KTCA-TV and KTCI-TV...

 operates both KTCA and KTCI. Hubbard Broadcasting built by Stanley E. Hubbard owns KSTP

KSTP-TV

KSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located at the Shoreview Telefarm. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other broadcasting properties across the United States....

 and has a second TV station, KSTC

KSTC-TV

KSTC-TV is an Independent television station for the Twin Cities that is licensed to Minneapolis. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 45 from a transmitter at the Telefarm installation in Shoreview. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the station is sister to ABC affiliate...

, which is not affiliated with any network. Diversified from radio, KSTP-TV

KSTP-TV

KSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located at the Shoreview Telefarm. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other broadcasting properties across the United States....

 became the first television channel to air in the region with a show reaching 3,000 television sets in 1948, and the 17th station to broadcast in the U.S.

KMSP

KMSP-TV

KMSP-TV, channel 9, is the Fox-owned-and-operated television station serving the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota designated market area, owned in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WFTC...

 and WFTC

WFTC

WFTC, channel 29, is a MyNetworkTV owned and operated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area...

 have now merged as well, and KARE

KARE

KARE, digital channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates KARE WX NOW, formerly known as NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel...

 currently has a marketing agreement with KPXM

KPXM

KPXM-TV virtual channel 41 is a television station based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and owned and operated by ION Media Networks . The station is an affiliate of the Ion Television network. The station is licensed to St. Cloud, Minnesota. The KPXM Tower near the city of Big Lake KPXM-TV virtual...

. The only station with its main studios in Minneapolis is WCCO

WCCO-TV

WCCO-TV, is the CBS owned and operated television station that serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. Its transmitter is at the Telefarm complex in Shoreview, Minnesota.- History :...

, while St. Paul is host to KSTP/KSTC, KTCA/KTCI, and WUCW

WUCW

WUCW is an affiliate of The CW serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. The station is currently owned and operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group....

. KARE

KARE

KARE, digital channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates KARE WX NOW, formerly known as NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel...

 has a sprawling broadcasting complex in west suburban Golden Valley

Golden Valley, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 20,281 people, 8,449 households, and 5,508 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,982.3 people per square mile . There were 8,589 housing units at an average density of 839.5 per square mile...

. KMSP

KMSP-TV

KMSP-TV, channel 9, is the Fox-owned-and-operated television station serving the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota designated market area, owned in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WFTC...

 is located in southwest suburban Eden Prairie

Eden Prairie, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 54,901 people, 20,457 households, and 14,579 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per square mile...

. Other stations are located in the suburbs. For much of the last two decades, WCCO has had the most popular evening newscasts of the area channels. On the other end, KSTP has struggled to maintain ratings on its news programs. KMSP has had a 9 o'clock newscast since at least the early 1990s when it was an independent channel.

Communities in the region have their own Public, educational, and government access

Public, educational, and government access

Public, educational, and government access television, refers to three different cable television specialty channels...

 (PEG) cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 channels. One channel, the Metro Cable Network, is available on channel 6 on cable systems across the seven-county region.

Several television programs originating in the Twin Cities have been aired nationally on terrestrial and cable TV networks. KTCA created the science program Newton's Apple

Newton's Apple

Newton's Apple is an educational television program distributed to PBS stations in the United States that ran for fifteen seasons from 1983 to 1998. Targeted at younger viewers, it was highly regarded...

and distributes a children's program today. A few unusual comedic shows also originated in the area. In the 1980s, KTMA (predecessor to KMWB) created a number of low-budget shows, including cult classic Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....

. The short-lived Let's Bowl

Let's Bowl

Let's Bowl was a short-lived bowling game show that aired on the Comedy Central television network from 2001 to 2002 after a brief run on several TV stations across the U.S. in the mid-1990s, the first three being Minneapolis-St...

started on KARE, and PBS series Mental Engineering

Mental Engineering

Mental Engineering is a public television series where show creator and host John Forde leads a panel discussion featuring critical and humorous analysis of TV commercials. The show originated as a public-access television cable TV program on the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network in St...

originated on the St. Paul cable access network.

Radio

The radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 market in the Twin Cities is considered to be somewhat smaller than for TV, ranked 16th. For decades, WCCO radio was the most well-known and most popular broadcaster in the region, with an all-day talk

Talk radio

Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

 format. WCCO was eventually pushed out of the top spot by KQRS-FM, a classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

 station with a popular morning show.

KSTP also has some fairly popular radio stations, with pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 format on FM and ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...

 on AM. KSTP-AM and FM are owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. In 1985, Hubbard – valued at $400 million – was one of the larger corporate media companies in the United States; in 2005, valued at US $1.2 billion, Hubbard is a fairly small major-market media operation.

The Twin Cities have a peculiar mix of commercial and non-commercial radio. The city's market is dominated by Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

 which operates seven stations but two small independent stations are award winners—KUOM

KUOM

KUOM, known as "770 Radio K", "Real College Radio" is a college radio station operated by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Likely the oldest station in the state, Radio K broadcasts an eclectic mix of music from its transmitters—a variety that has been praised by radio critics...

 operated by the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 and KFAI

KFAI

KFAI is a community radio station in Minnesota. The station broadcasts a wide variety of music, and also airs programming catering to many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region...

 public access radio in Cedar Riverside

Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis

The Cedar-Riverside, also referred to as the West Bank, is a neighborhood within Minneapolis, Minnesota. The boundaries of the neighborhood are the Mississippi River to the north and east, Interstate 94 to the south, and Hiawatha Avenue and Interstate 35W to the west...

.

Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota Public Radio , is the flagship National Public Radio member network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, Classical Music and The Current, MPR operates a 42-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest serving over 8 million people...

 (MPR) is also a major force in the state and across the country, best known across the U.S. for the variety show A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...

. Doing business under the name American Public Media

American Public Media

American Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...

, the company is the second largest producer of national public radio content, behind National Public Radio (of which MPR is an affiliate).

Independent media

The Twin Cities is also home to many independent media organizations, including The UpTake

The UpTake

The UpTake is a Minnesota-based citizen journalist organization. It was founded in July 2007 and has provided online news coverage on a low budget since.Because of its role as a provider of citizen journalism, The UpTake is a not-for-profit organization...

, MinnPost.com

MinnPost.com

MinnPost.com also known as MinnPost is a non-profit news website in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a focus on Minnesota news. Its mission is "to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota."...

 and Twin Cities Daily Planet

Twin Cities Daily Planet

The Twin Cities Daily Planet is an independent website specializing in news events in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metropolitan area. It is a non-automated news aggregator, which edits and reprints news items submitted to it by online stringers or published by affiliated local and neighborhood blogs...

.

Honors

The United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 currently has one ship named for the region, the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul

USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (SSN-708)

USS Minneapolis–Saint Paul , a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the first vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the metropolitan area of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, although each city had been honored twice before...

, a Los Angeles-class

Los Angeles class submarine

The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 launched in 1983. Previously, two sets of two ships each had carried the names USS Minneapolis

USS Minneapolis

USS Minneapolis may refer to:, was a cruiser in service from 1894 to 1921, was a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1934, in heavy action throughout the Pacific War, and decommissioned in 1947, the twenty-first Los Angeles class submarineSee also:...

 and USS Saint Paul

USS Saint Paul

There have been two ships of the United States Navy named for St. Paul, Minnesota., a former passenger liner which was refit into a Saint Louis-class auxiliary cruiser., a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser....

.

External links

• Flyby video courtesy NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio
• Fact sheet about Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area Comparison
• History of the National Weather Service in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
• Twin Cities Daily Photograph — One photograph a day of the Twin Cities Metro Area
• GIS-based Demographic Guide to Twin Cities Region