The Mississippi River winds through St. Paul., Minn. , serving as a route for pleasure boats and commercial barge corridor. From its early days as a bootlegging town to its era as a haven for big-time gangsters in the 1920s and 1930s, Minnesota's capital was never dull. With former wrestler Jesse Ventura now holding court at the state Capitol, the tradition continues. But the city of 300,000 has picked up a lot of culture along the way.
Downtown is home to five theaters, four museums and many galleries and arts organizations.
The Minnesota Opera Co., the Schubert Club, one of the oldest musical organizations in the country, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the only full-time chamber orchestra in the United States, are based in St. Paul. Early settlers made their homes along the Mississippi River on land ceded to the military by the Sioux. A pair of clefts in the 80-foot river bluffs made convenient landing places for explorers and traders transporting furs for shipment to the East. Parrant was running his saloon near the Lowertown landing and selling bootleg rum to soldiers at nearby Fort Snelling when Father Lucien Galtier arrived in Pig's Eye Landing in 1841 and built a chapel dedicated to St. Paul. Clearly, providence smiled upon us.