The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, almost always abbreviated U of M, and sometimes referred to as The "U" by locals, is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system. Its student body is the third-largest in the United States according to autumn 2006 statistics, with 50,402 students (behind Ohio State University's campus in Columbus, Ohio and Arizona State University's campus in Tempe, Arizona).

It is located on two campuses in the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota; the campuses are linked through a dedicated bus system.

When originally built in 1851, the Minneapolis campus overlooked the Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River, but it was later moved about a mile downstream to its current location. That site is now marked by a small park known as Chute Square at the intersection of University Avenue and Central Avenue. The school shut down following a financial crisis during the American Civil War, and didn't reopen until 1867. It was upgraded from a preparatory school to a college in 1869.

Today's campus has buildings on both banks of the river, but the East Bank is the main portion of the campus and covers 307 acres (1.24 km²). It contains eight residence halls (the University administration believes the terms "dorm" and "dormitory" have negative connotations).

On the East Bank, four of the residence halls have concentrated into a 4-city-block space known as the "Superblock". Each residence hall has some type of inner courtyard, and the Superblock contains various small parking lots for residents and visitors. There is also an outdoor basketball court as well as a beach volleyball pit. The Superblock is a popular locale for student housing primarily because of its location and the multitude of social activity between the four residence halls.

Next to the Superblock is a large medical complex, now merged with the Fairview system of clinics and hospitals known as the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

The historical center of the Minneapolis campus is Northrop Mall, a green space located about four blocks away from the Superblock. It was based on a design by Cass Gilbert, although his plans were too extravagant to be fully implemented. Several of the campus's primary buildings surround the Mall. Northrop Auditorium provides a northern anchor, with Coffman Memorial Union to the south. Four of the larger buildings on the sides of the Mall are the primary mathematics, physics, and chemistry buildings, and Walter Library, which has recently been renovated to focus more on digital media rather than the printed word.


Additionally, the East Bank has a few buildings with unique architecture worth mentioning. The Armory north east of the Northrop Mall is built like a Norman castle, with a sally port entrance facing Church St., and a tower originally intended to be the Professor of Military Science's residence, until it was found to be too cold. It originally held the athletics department as well as the military science classes that it now holds. One of the oldest buildings on campus is Pillsbury Hall, designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style and built out of varieties of sandstone available in Minnesota. It has a unique color that is hard to capture in a photograph. In more recent times, Frank Gehry designed the Weisman Art Museum. It is a small example of his work with curving metallic structures. Another new building on campus is the addition to the Architecture building that was designed by Steven Holl and completed in 2002. It won a NY American Institute of Architects award for its innovative design. The Architecture building was then re-named Rapson Hall after the local modernist architect and school of architecture dean Ralph Rapson. The University of Minnesota also boasts an historic Greek row north of Northrop Mall on University Avenue SE.

The West Bank of the campus has been growing rapidly, first seeing major development in the 1960s. It covers 53 acres (210,000 m²). Music, theater, and art students cannot pass through the University without spending a significant amount of time there, in what is known as the West Bank Arts Quarter, home to several annual interdisciplinary arts festivals. In addition to the arts, social science is a big area of research on the West Bank. The business school (Carlson School of Management) calls the West Bank home, as does the University's Law School. Wilson Library, the largest library in the University system, is also located there. Visitors to the West Bank will no doubt notice Middlebrook Hall, the largest residence hall on campus. Approximately 900 students reside in the building named in honor of William T. Middlebrook.


Students traveling between the East and West Banks will most likely use the Washington Avenue Bridge either on foot or via bus. This bridge is unique because it has two separate decks. The lower deck carries automobile traffic, while the upper deck is a pedestrian walkway. An enclosed walkway runs the length of the bridge, sheltering students from the wind, rain, and snow as they cross the Mississippi.

There are some subterranean passageways that students use to get from building to building when the weather is harsh. It is an ungainly network of circuitous routes that are confusing and don't always connect. Many people don't even know they exist. However, in recent years, effort has been made to map out these tunnels, and directions are now marked with signs reading, "The Gopher Way".

The Minneapolis campus is located near two interstate highways: I-94 and I-35W. It is bordered on the north by the Dinkytown neighborhood and by the Stadium Village neighborhood on the east.

Two light rail stations have been proposed beneath the University along the proposed Central Corridor light rail line. Stations have been proposed under the East Bank and the West Bank.

The University's St. Paul campus is actually located north of the city of St. Paul, surrounded by the suburb of Falcon Heights. Despite this, all university buildings on the campus have St. Paul street addresses. The campus is primarily associated with agriculture, and has a suburban setting. However, the University has some farm fields around it. It is by far the quieter campus. It has a grassy mall of its own and can be seen as a bit of a retreat from the busier Minneapolis campus.

Students have commuted between the two sites for many decades. Early on, a streetcar line between the campuses was established, but it went away along with the rest of the area's trolleys in the 1950s. Buses were used from then on, and a busway was created in 1992 to improve the speed between campuses. Unfortunately, the rate of collisions was fairly high with 32 crashes piling up over the years. Hence in 1997, new stop signs were added that would illuminate when a bus, bicycle, or pedestrian was approaching an intersection along the corridor. As of 2002, no additional accidents had been reported.

The St. Paul campus also borders the fairgrounds where the Minnesota State Fair is held every year. Minnesota's Fair is one of the largest in the United States, usually lasting twelve days, from late August through Labor Day in early September. Because of the heavy traffic associated with the Fair, classes do not start on either campus until after it is over (the Fair also makes extensive use of the Minneapolis campus parking).

Due to the workings of the U of M phone system, both campuses have 612 area code (Minneapolis) telephone numbers instead of the 651 code that would be expected for the Saint Paul portion.

Sports teams associated with the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota go by the Golden Gophers moniker. The Gophers are members of the Big Ten Conference and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in the NCAA. Minnesota is one of only 13 universities in the country offering NCAA Division I-A football, Division I men's and women's basketball, and Division I hockey.

Most of the facilities that the teams use for training and competitive play are located on the East Bank of the Minneapolis campus. There are arenas for male and female basketball (Williams Arena) as well as hockey (Mariucci Arena and Ridder Arena).

The school has held recent national championships in men's hockey (2002 and 2003), women's hockey (2004 and 2005), wrestling (2001, 2002), and men's golf (2002). The women's basketball team made it to the Final Four in 2004. Also in 2004, the Volleyball team made it to the NCAA championship game against Stanford.

The University of Minnesota has a long tradition in football, winning the National Championship 6 times (1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960). Minnesota's Bruce Smith won the Heisman Trophy in 1941 as college football's best player. There used to be a football stadium on campus, but in 1982 the football team started playing at the Metrodome near downtown Minneapolis when that dome was constructed. Memorial Stadium was torn down in 1992 and the area has since been developed with other University buildings, though it is still known as "stadium village". On May 24, 2006 Governor Tim Pawlenty signed a bill that will provide partial state funding to construct a new on-campus football stadium near Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena. The stadium will be called TCF Bank Stadium and is projected to open on September 12, 2009.