Called in the Ojibwe language Gakaabikaang (at the falls), the city grew up around the Saint Anthony Falls, the only waterfall on the Mississippi River and the end of the commercially navigable section of the river until locks were installed in the 1960s. Father Louis Hennepin was the first European to explore the area, giving the falls their name, as well as lending his name to the county in which Minneapolis is located. The nearby Fort Snelling spurred the growth of villages and towns in the area. A lumber mill was built on the falls in 1822 to supply the fort. In the 1840s, settlers were not allowed to stay on land controlled by the military without special permission, so the first settlement near the falls, St. Anthony, grew on the northeast side of the river, just outside of the fort's jurisdiction.

The first person authorized to live on the river's west bank was Colonel John H. Stevens, who operated a ferry service starting around 1850. A few years later, the amount of land controlled by the fort was reduced with an order from U.S. President Millard Fillmore, and free settlement followed. The village of Minneapolis soon sprung up on the southwest bank of the river. The village of St. Anthony was incorporated by the Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1855, and Minneapolis soon followed in 1856.

The original campus of the University of Minnesota system first appeared near the falls at this time. Today it is a Big Ten university with more than 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Twin Cities alone, making it one of the largest campuses in the country.

Minneapolis grew quickly during and after the Civil War and became a city in 1867. Outstripping the growth of its neighbor, the city merged with St. Anthony five years later in 1872. The early growth of the city was directed by the river, which ran to the southeast, and most early streets ran parallel to it to maximize the amount of land that could be used. Later growth of Minneapolis eventually turned to using north-south/east-west streets, so many unique intersections were formed to translate between the two layouts (probably the most famous of these is a site known as Seven Corners, on the eastern periphery of downtown). Some streets, especially many of the older and more traditionally important ones of the city, like Hennepin Ave. and Nicollet Ave., have both orientations at different points along their roadways.

Following an initial burst of activity in the lumber industry, the city's economy developed around the processing of grain from the Great Plains, which is reflected by the presence of companies such as General Mills and Pillsbury in the city. In its heyday, it was known as the "milling capital of the world." It was the leading producer of grain in the world until 1932. Today, it is still referred to as the mill city. More recently the city has become notable for its medical and financial industries, as well as the largest shopping mall in terms of indoor space in the United States, the Mall of America (actually in Bloomington, a suburb south of Minneapolis). Minneapolis was the headquarters of Honeywell International Inc.

The 1920s and 1930s were a rather dark period in the city's history, as organized crime and corruption took hold of the region. The most notorious gangster from this time was Kid Cann (real name Isadore Blumenfeld) who ran much of his operation from the city's West Hotel and engaged in bootlegging, racketeering, and prostitution.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the downtown area of Minneapolis went through a major phase of urban renewal, which involved the razing of about 200 buildings across 25 city blocks—roughly 40% of the area. This included the destruction of a slum area known as "Skid Row," but also the destruction of many buildings with notable architecture. One of the most lamented buildings was the Metropolitan Building, known simply as "the Met". Efforts to save the building (which ultimately failed) are credited with jumpstarting a much greater interest in historic preservation in the state of Minnesota.



While it was never official policy, segregation occurred between whites and blacks in the city, and racial issues still fuel conflicts in the city today. A desegregation program of forced busing to balance the number of black and white schoolchildren in city schools began in 1972. While ethnic diversity continues to grow in the area (both in quantity and variety), some advocacy groups, in particular those representing African Americans and Native Americans, complain that their members are excessively targeted by the police. Minneapolis has a higher rate of black poverty than many other American cities.

Another relatively troubled period for parts of Minneapolis was the 1990s, when the murder rate and incidence of gang violence climbed, almost entirely in poorer neighborhoods of the city. The Phillips neighborhood (now referred to as Phillips Community) was particularly hard-hit. After reaching a record 97 homicides in 1995, the city gained an unpleasant nickname because of the violence: "Murderapolis." Supposedly coined by local gun shop owner Mark Koscielski, the term gained widespread use after The New York Times used it when reporting that Minneapolis had surpassed the per capita homicide rate of New York City. The murder rate retreated in the following years, but area residents often grow concerned that the nickname may make a comeback whenever there is an uptick in violence in the city.


Health and environmental issues have gained importance over the years. Many cleanup projects have taken place, and industrial activities have been scaled back or modified within the city. In 2005, the City amended its Comprehensive Plan and adopted various indicators that strengthen its commitment to sustainability. On the scale of individuals, a ban on smoking in all bars, bowling alleys and restaurants went into effect in March 2005.

Minneapolis has a long history of prominence as a center for the arts. The Walker Art Center (opened in 1927) an early proponent of pop and postmodern art movements. The Guthrie Theater (founded in 1963) is a repertory company whose stage also showcases local and international performances theatrical and otherwise, and features workshops headlined by Emmy and Oscar-winning celebrities. The new three-stage Guthrie complex opened in the old Mill District in 2006. In the 1980s, a diverse range of musicians, including Prince, Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, the Suburbs, and Soul Asylum set the pace for the nation in pop musical innovation, and local producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis's studios became a destination for some of the 1980s and 1990s biggest acts. Prince's music and that of groups/artists in his artistic influence gave rise to the term "the Minneapolis sound".

The city is officially divided into several communities, each containing multiple neighborhoods. For example, the area typically referred to by locals as "North Minneapolis" is actually the Near North community, which is composed of the Hawthorne, Jordan, Near-North, and Willard-Hay neighborhoods.* The north side has been continually plagued with poverty, crime, and violence. The city government has repeatedly tried to improve this area, but has failed many times.

Most of the neighborhoods in Minneapolis coordinate certain activities under the Neighborhood Revitalization Program.* In some cases, two to four neighborhoods act together under a single neighborhood organization.

Some areas of the city are more commonly known by locally established nicknames, many of which are predominantly business districts. One such place is Dinkytown (several square blocks of small businesses in the Marcy Holmes neighborhood, although the name is sometimes used informally to refer to the whole Marcy Holmes neighborhood), near the University. To the southwest of Downtown is Uptown, which is loosely defined as the area around the Uptown Theater near the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street, and features a large number of restaurants, bars, and independently owned businesses. The North Loop is a primarily residential section of the warehouse district extending to the west bank of the Mississippi river that is primarily made up of $1,250 a month apartments and $500,000 lofts.

Minneapolis claims to have the highest per capita attendance at theater and arts events outside of New York City and Chicago. The region is reportedly the third-largest theater market in the country, attracting major performances. The Guthrie Theater is the most famous theater in the city. Minneapolis also supports two Tony Award winning theater companies: the Children's Theatre Company and Theater de la Jeune Lune. In order to help revitalize the downtown and warehouse district areas of Minneapolis, which had declined in the mid to late 20th century, the city purchased and renovated a few theaters on Hennepin Avenue to create the Hennepin Theatre District, including the State, Orpheum, and Pantages venues.

In 2004 with an attendance of 50,197, Minneapolis's Minnesota Fringe Festival was the largest non-juried performing arts festival in the United States and the third largest Fringe festival in North America. In 2005, the Minnesota Fringe ran 11 days, August 4-14 with 44,630 paid tickets. In 2004, 1,100 artists produced over 800 individual performances and events.

The most extensive museum in the city is the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Modern art is displayed in the Walker Art Center. The Walker includes an outdoor sculpture garden with "Spoonbridge and Cherry," which has become a symbol of the city.


The Warehouse District adjoining downtown was a hub of studio and gallery activity in the 1980s, but most artists have been driven out by high rents. Today the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District is the most vibrant visual arts community in the city, though the largest art event (one of the largest in the nation) is the annual Uptown Art Fair.

Numerous festivals are held across the city during the year. Many are small, although others can attract visitors from across the region. Fireworks displays occur several times a year, although the largest is not on July 4th as in most American cities—that is reserved for one night during the official city celebration, the Aquatennial, held in mid-July. The Aquatennial display is reportedly the fourth-largest annual fireworks show in the nation.

Arts education is also strong in the Minneapolis area with schools like the Perpich Center for Arts Education, an arts-oriented charter high school, in Golden Valley, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, an arts college adjacent to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, playing a central role in the city's visual, music and literary scenes, and the Art Institutes International Minnesota, located in downtown Minneapolis on the corner of Hennepin Ave. and 9th Street, is an arts college which focuses more on computer arts, such as graphic design, animation and media graphics, photography, and interactive media design.

Throughout the city are scattered various sculptures and murals.

Minneapolis was home to the "Minneapolis Sound" in pop music in the 1980s. Prince is Minneapolis's most famous musical progeny. His 1980 album Dirty Mind, features a song called "Uptown", dedicated to his favorite neighborhood in the city, and several other songs include references to the city. Arguably, producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have also been as or more influential as Prince in creating the Minneapolis Sound.

Alternative rock groups such as Hüsker Dü and The Replacements were a force in the 1980s, and Paul Westerberg (of the Replacements) still lives and works in Minneapolis. Popular acts from the 1990s include The Jayhawks, Semisonic and pop group Information Society.
In recent years Minneapolis has garnered a significant hip hop community with labels such as Rhymesayers Entertainment and Doomtree.

It is also interesting to note that one of the most replayed songs of the past fifty years, Funkytown, came out of the Minneapolis scene. It was recorded by the disco group Lipps, Inc. and former Miss Minnesota finalist Cynthia Johnson.

Minneapolis has a large park system consisting of ten square miles (26 km²) of land and water that is interlinked in many places. The Grand Rounds Scenic Byway circles through the city and brings together many of the bigger park areas including land along the Mississippi River, many of the city's lakes, and other scenic areas of the city. The views are fantastic throughout the year. The route has a parkway for cars (not a freeway—literally just a roadway through park land, though the number of stops is reduced), a bikeway for riders, and a walkway for pedestrians all running in roughly parallel paths along the 50-mile route. It is the first natural scenic byway totally located in a major urban area. Additional routes in the Minneapolis park system crisscross the city, and the number of bikeways and walkways continues to grow. They also interconnect with neighboring cities. One of the most famous parks in Minneapolis is Minnehaha Park, where Minnehaha Falls is located. A number of cultural heritage events take place there every year. Prospect Park is the home of the 1913 water tower, a Minneapolis icon.

There are several freshwater lakes across the southern part of the city. The most significant grouping is the western "Chain of Lakes" consisting of Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, and Cedar Lake. Lake Nokomis and Lake Hiawatha lie farther to the east.

A system of "skyways" (small, fully enclosed pedestrian bridges) link the buildings across more than 60 city blocks of the downtown region, providing a way to travel around the city without being exposed to the cold of winter or the heat of summer. The system is widely used by the daytime worker population and downtown residents, who are able to move around without their coats and other outdoor gear all day long. The street-level foot traffic is greatly reduced (especially as the outdoor temperature dips) and many businesses that would normally be located at ground level in other cities are instead brought up to the second floor. In fact, the interconnected passageways that include restaurants and retailers are sometimes considered as one of the largest shopping centers in the Twin Cities (though most businesses in the skyways close down at night and on the weekend).

Historically, Minneapolis and St. Paul provided some of the earliest rail passages across the Mississippi River, which widens downriver where the St. Croix River joins the Mississippi. Today, rail traffic through the city is diminished, and some of the old bridges such as the Stone Arch Bridge have been converted for bicycle and pedestrian use. These link into the extensive park and trail system of the city.

Many households depend on public transit and the occasional taxi to get around. For some, this is a strictly economic decision, but many people in the city choose to forgo having an automobile in favor of biking, walking, or taking the bus. The transit system is descended from an extensive streetcar network that was operated by Twin City Rapid Transit until the streetcars were totally removed and replaced by buses in the 1950s. It is fair to say that the city was built on the rail lines (like numerous other American cities), since the owners of the streetcar system invested heavily in real estate and intentionally built rails out to their land to spur development.


TCRT's descendant is Metro Transit, which runs most of the area's buses and has begun operation of a light rail system, the Hiawatha Line, which has proved to be popular. The line opened its first and second phases to the public in 2004, connecting the airport and Bloomington's Mall of America into downtown. A number of other rail projects including new commuter rail lines linking the city to the suburbs are in the planning stages, and the city council has officially begun "exploring the feasibility of bringing back a streetcar system." * Some bus rapid transit lines are also likely to be built in the coming years.

Proposed commuter and light rail lines head in several directions from Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Hiawatha_Line (completed), Minneapolis to the MSP airport

Northstar Cooridor Commuter Line, Minneapolis north to Coon_Rapids,MN, Elk River, MN, and St Cloud, MN.

Central Corridor, Minneapolis to St. Paul

SouthWest Transitway, Minneapolis to St Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie

Red_Rock_Corridor, Commuter Rail from Minneapolis SouthEast to Hastings, via St Paul.