page_title: History of Saint Paul, Minnesota
section_title: Full steam growth
hierarchical_section_title: History of Saint Paul, Minnesota / Full steam growth
caption_attribution_description: Fire station in Saint Paul, Minnesota on University Avenue
context_page_description: Saint Paul is the second largest city in the state of Minnesota in the United States, the county seat of Ramsey County, and the state capital of Minnesota. The origin and growth of the city was spurred by the proximity of Fort Snelling, the first major United States military presence in the area, and by its location on the Upper Mississippi River, with the northernmost natural navigable port on the mighty river.
  Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort Saint Anthony, was established in 1819, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in order to establish American dominance of the fur-trading industry on the rivers. As the whiskey trade started to flourish, the military officers in Fort Snelling banned the distillers from the land the fort controlled, with one retired French Canadian fur trader turned bootlegger, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant particularly irritating the officials. In 1838, Parrant moved his abode and operation downstream about 5 miles to the north bank of the river in what is now downtown Saint Paul. There Parrant established the area which became known as "L'Oeil de Cochon" and the new location began to be settled by French Canadians.
context_section_description: As Saint Paul grew, and its close neighbors, Saint Anthony and Minneapolis grew with even greater precipitancy, the docks at "Lower Landing" and "Upper Landing" bustled with activity. The state's population reached 200,000 by 1860, and most of those had arrived by riverboat, disembarking in Saint Paul. Farms were staked out in the vast countryside, including the Davern Farm (1862) and the Spangenberg Farm (1864). Wealthy businessmen such as James C. Burbank, the owner of the Minnesota Stage Company, which held a statewide monopoly controlling 1,600 miles (2,575 km) of stage-lines by 1865, started to spend their fortunes building grand estates. Burbank's Home (1862–1865) was one of the first mansions to be built high on the bluffs on Summit Avenue. By the end of the 19th century, his was only one of hundreds of impressive edifices in the Historic Hill District, the West Summit Avenue Historic District, the Woodland Park District, Dayton's Bluff, and the Irvine Park Historic District, where the powerful and wealthy resided.
  On the east side, new immigrants from Sweden with little wealth and few English language skills settled in the ravine of Phalen's Creek, or Swede Hollow. The creek, named for Edward Phelan runs from Lake Phalen to the Mississippi. Many lived in shanties in the creek valley, which served as an open sewer; the creek also provided water power for industries such as Excelsior Brewery (later Hamm's Brewery). A similar community just downstream called Connemara Patch also existed for Irish immigrants.
  True to history, the downtown area was home to several well-known brothels; the first was known to have opened in 1868, providing employment for some women in the untamed frontier town. One stylish madam, Mary Robinson reported property worth $77,000 in 1870. Others were not so fortunate. Kate Hutton was shot and killed by a lover, and presumably other ladies of the night were victims of violence; Henrietta Charles died of syphilis at age 38. In 1872 Horace Cleveland visited the city and proposed a citywide park system; shortly thereafter Lake Como was purchased, eventually to be the anchor of Como Park, Zoo, and Conservatory. Later, in 1899, Lake Phalen was also purchased by the city.
  By 1877, the volunteer fire department was disbanded in favor of a paid department. The volunteers had served the city since 1854, but the building boom necessitated moving to a full-time department. Horse-drawn street cars and even a few cable cars covered 20 miles (32 km) of city streets by 1880, but by 1891 they were all replaced by electric streetcar lines. The outlying neighborhoods grew out of the placement of the streetcar lines and short lines, Merriam Park in 1882, Macalester Park in 1883, Saint Anthony Park in 1885, and Groveland in 1890. In 1885 a New York reporter wrote that Saint Paul was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation" in winter. Offended by this attack on their Capital City, the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce decided to not only prove that Saint Paul was habitable but that its citizens were very much alive during winter, the most dominant season. Thus was born the Saint Paul Winter Carnival. In 1886 King Boreas the First was crowned and the first Winter Carnival commenced. This festival also featured an ice castle, an elaborate creation made from the ice of Minnesota lakes, which has evolved into an internationally recognized icon for Saint Paul's festival. Foreign-language newspapers flourished, with local publications in German, French, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Polish, and Czech. African-Americans read The Appeal and Jewish immigrants read the Jewish Weekly.
  Convenient transportation and an increasingly dense population contributed to an outbreak of typhoid fever in 1898. Soldiers mustering for the Spanish–American War were encouraged by 40,000 visitors and 500 soldiers took ill from the exposure. By the turn of the century, resentment of the newest immigrants began to take hold. Henry A. Castle wrote that the earliest immigrants, primarily from the British Isles, Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland
caption: Fire station on University Avenue
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