Historical Note:

A Pig's Eye . . .

The capital of Minnesota, St. Paul, was once called "Pig's Eye." Named after Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrent, a French-Canadian Whiskey trader who led a group of squatters to establish a settlement at the fork of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, near Fort Snelling. Although the Federal Government had driven out other like-minded settlers from that area, Pig's Eye 's settlement stuck . . .and so did the unfortunate name. Until a year later when Father Lucien Galtier built a log chapel for his patron saint, St. Paul, and convinced the townspeople to change the name to a more uplifting image.

Name Origin: Indian. ("Sky-Colored Water")

Capital: St. Paul

Population: 4,067,000

Area: 84,402 square miles

Statehood: May 11, 1858 (32nd)

Nickname: The North Star Star, or The Gopher State

Motto: "The star of the North"

Famous For: Hi-Tech, Grain, Timber, Corn, Sugar Beets, Dairy, Rice, Pillsbury Dough Boy, Twin Cities (St. Paul & Minneapolis), Prairies, Lake Superior, Falls