Twin Cities

Factual Questions
1

OK,I realize Minneapolis and St Paul are separated by a river-but why weren’t they joined as a single city like Bklyn/Manhattan/Queens,etc?

They seem to share the common Metro area,even sports teams.

What’s the scoop-who’s the poor relation here?

A link to historical facts would be appreciated.

2

Just to note: Brooklyn and New York were separate cities until they merged in 1898.

3

Saint Paul sprang up since it sits on a nice wide flat part of the river that was condusive to river commerce, Minneapolis sprang up because Saint Anthony Falls was a great place to build Mills. Where Bklyn/Manhattan/Queens are across the river from each other, Saint Paul is across and quite a bit downriver from Minneapolis. Back in the old days the expanse between the two cities was filled with farm feilds, allowing each city to grow with truly seperate identities.

As it grows, eventually it will make sense to combine the 2 into St.Paminapolis as a cost saving measure. We Saint Paulites do what we can to keep the Minneapolites out by making confusing roads and housing Moronic Governers.

Even though I live in St. Paul, I’m still closer to downtown Minneapolis (hence my profile stating Minneapolis) I googled “history of Saint Paul” and “history of Minneapolis” and got a ton of links. So here’s your link: http://www.google.com

4

Aren’t the Twin Cities in different states? That seems to preclude them being one munincipality. In the cases where one “city” crosses state lines, there’s always actually two: For instance, Texarkana, Texas is right across the border from Texarkana, Arkansas.

5

Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Saint Paul, Minnesota, are, in fact, in the same state.

6

While traveling, when I tell people I’m from Minneapolis (they just look at you blank when you say Saint Paul) They say "oh neat, that’s the place with the big car race, right?

7

You might be thinking of the Quad-Cities area – Davenport, IA; Moline, IL; Rock Island, IL; and one other town I walways forget that’s in Iowa.

8

:smiley:
You might also wish to take note of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario Canada, and Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, USA… Twin Cities, separated by the St. Mary’s River (connecting L Superior and L Huron), as well as of course that pesky international border… (at least until Canada takes over the States…)

9

Bettendorf, IA – my hometown.

10

Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois

San Francisco and Oakland, California

Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida

Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario or Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York

Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario

You could probaby argue that Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ are twin cities, for that matter. Or New York City, and Jersey City. Chicago, Illinois and Gary, Indiana. Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Each pair is in the same metropolitan area.

There are a million of these, some divided by state or country lines, some by rivers or other bodies of water, some just by history. The country is full of small settlements that seemed far apart at one time that growth has pushed together into part of larger whole.

11

Thanks for the synopsis Carmen.After hours of searching I’m of the opinon that these cities are in fact,not twins,at least not in the way Bklyn was to Manhattan (New York in those bygone days.)

I knew the reason for the consolidation of NYC (biz was in Manhattan-workers more and more in the other boroughs-hence a common interest in infrastucture/political matters)

This doesn’t seem to be the case in Minnesota.Would that statement be correct in local’s views?

12

Well, as our esteemed governor pointed out one time, the streets in St. Paul make sense. If you’re on 3rd and you need to go one block over, you can expect it to be 4th. In Mpls, you can be on 3rd and 11th is only one block over.

There is a healthy rivalry between the two cities. They cheer for the same sports teams but duke it out to get them to build within their borders (ex: the Minnesota Wild hockey team).

13

Yep Lure, let’s just call them the sibling cities from now on. Thanks for the interest in my little chunk of the planet, what’s it for?

14

That’s a fair statement Lure.

Funny enough, I just recently moved to Mpls from Brooklyn so I have a little perspective on both sides of your question.

First off, Brooklyn depends on Manhattan more than most areas rely on their neighboring areas. According to the 2000 census, if Brooklyn (at about 2.2 million residents) were to break off from the rest of NYC, it would still be the 4th largest city (population-wise) in the U.S. We’re talking about an area that has very little revenue-generating industry or business of its own when compared to the size of its population.

I don’t know the percentage of Brooklynites that work in Manhattan, but I would guess that it is over 50%. Like you pointed out, it makes sense for Manhattan and Brooklyn (along with the others) to consolidate when you have such a massive workforce living in one area but working in another.

The Twin Cities are not like that. They are basically two large cities that happened to grow up very close to one another. I think most folks from the Twin Cities would agree with following statements:

    • People born and raised in Minneapolis have little or no knowledge about St. Paul and vice versa. People from St. Paul seem to have slightly better knowledge of Mpls. than most Mpls’ers have of St. Paul.
    • Minneapolis is more working class. It is predominantly blue collar and its economy is mostly industry driven.
    • St. Paul is more white collar and its economy is more business driven.
    • The wealthy in St. Paul come from 'old money", the wealthy in Mpls are “noveau riche”.
    • Most Mpls’ers think people from St. Paul are snooty. Most St. Paulers think people from Mpls. are a little low class.
    • There are very few people that live in Mpls but work in St. Paul with only slightly more people living in St. Paul that work in Mpls.
    • The two cities do not rely on each other at all. One could easily survive without the other.

Hope some of that helps.

15

Damn Candlemas, are we really that transparent?!?!

I guess that Saint Paulites are far more willing to cross the river, that would be my only bone to pick. We are also one of the few cities in the Nation that have 2 viable newspapers (The Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune) most large metropolitan areas end up with just one, but I’ll be damned if I let that Minneapolis rag end up on my Saint Paul doorstep!

16

Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley

17

Minneapolis and St. Paul did not always share a sports team. Before the Twins moved in, the area was served by two distinct minor league teams - the Minneapolis Millers and the St. Paul Saints.

These days, there is once again a minor league St. Paul Saints, and it seems to draw well enough, considering that major league baseball is not far away.

Of course, the same could have been said about Brooklyn and New York City, which the OP mentions as well.

18

Thanks Mineapol/St Paulites.What’s it for?Just something that buzzes around in my brain every now and then.Another fact to clog my mutinae lined cerebrum.

I was raised in Queens,so know the meaning of the word NYC to outsiders who refer to it as Manhattan,while we used "going to the city"as the trip to it.

Originally I wondered where "the city"was.I see it’s right in either’s domain.
I also think Jeopardy is one of the top 5 or 10 tv shows,ever.Go figure.

19

Or maybe the “Twin Ports” – Duluth, MN, and Superior, WI?

20

No, they’re actually in different states that are both called Minnesota. :D:D