The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1855-07-13
The s.Nucleus OF st. Paul.n

1t is but recently the Messrs. Whitney
& Co., the old and enterpfising firm Of Da-
guerreans in this city, published view Of
the city of St. Paul. On the handsomely
designed border is representation of the
"Nucleus of St. Paul" 1t was actually not
Much in itself to see. There was no beauty
in small log hut-the only ornament Of
which was small, plain cross surmounting
the roof; but there are associations arising
from its early erection which should have
made it Us sacred rs the Romans held the
matched hut Of Romulus. 1t was a me-
meuto of the past, which should have been
preserved if only to mark the beginning and
the amazing progress of this city. 1t is
with regret, therefore, that we observe that
this venerable old Church has been RACED
to the ground, and no longer can the cit
izen point out to the stranger the old frame
which was the first public building erected
within the limits of the city.
This Church was built in l84l, aud was
called the Church of St. Paul, from which
our city derived its same. Little reckoned
the wor,hippers in that poor hut that they
were but the forerunners and founders of a
city, which in few years afterwards was
to spring into life and greatness with ra
pidity unparalleled in the history of cities
1t is we'll occasionally to take retrospect
ofthe past-to compare it with the present
and by past progress to Judge of the
future. For years after the erection of St.
Paul Church, the spot where the city now
stands was but wilderness, and it was not
until the organization of the Territory in
184s, and its incorporation in l849, that
the town of St. Paul began to have a name
abroad, and to attract the attention of the
shrewd men of the east as the most impor
tant point on the waters Of the Upper Mis-
sissippi. 1t is therefore in 1849-but
six years ago-that our city dates its birth.
Then its population did not number more
hundreds than it now does thousands, and
the business of the whole town did not a.
mount to much more than is now transact
ed by many of our single mercantile houses
Its progress since that time has been sc
steady and rapid that we now boast of 0
population almost equal 10 any city upon
the Mississippi above St. Louis, and bu
siness that is computed by millions Instead
of but one or two steamboat arrivals q
week, as formerly, there are upon an aver
age, about three per day, and steamers, too
that are not excelled for comfort and ca
pacity by any that float upon the bosom Of
the great river, at the head of navigation
of which St. Paul stands.
In view, then, of the past and the present
have We not right to be hopeful and en-
thusiastic in regard to the future? The
progress of our city has been great, but it.
increse has been but the legitimate result o.
the energy and enterprise of its inhabitants
united to its natural commanding position
and the unsurpassed fertility of the country
Of which it is the commercial as well as the
political metropolis Taking the past az
an index of tine future, and it is no egotisn
to say that St. Paul stands without rival
and is destined ere long to be the third cit,
on the banks of the great Father Of Wa
ters"