Saint Anthony Historical District is located along the
Mississippi River in the heart of Minneapolis. It includes Nicollet and Hennepin Island, as well as Bassett Creek.
It is estimated that humans first inhabited the area around the falls over 12,000 years
ago. Evidence of this comes in the form of Clovis, Folsom, and Plano arrowhead points which have all been found in the region. In more recent
years, it has been inhabited by the Dakota tribe.
The first European visitor to the falls was Father Louis
Hennepin, who named the falls Saint Anthony after his patron saint. By 1803, both the east and west bank fell under American sovereignty, and
by 1823 a sawmill, grist mill,
cabin, and several other small buildings were located on the west side of the falls.
Rapid expansion did not take place until after 1849, when Franklin Steele claimed the
east bank for himself and named the town Saint Anthony after the falls. He subdivided the land and by 1850 approximately 538 people lived there.
In 1850, the first official, non-government settler moved onto the west bank and the town of Minneapolis sprung up on that side of the falls,
which marked the beginning of rapid expansion on both sides of the falls.
Eventually the city of Saint Anthony was enveloped
by its sister city of Minneapolis. Today, all that’s left of the town of Saint Anthony is an historic district that bears its name.
It remains in the center of the booming metropolis
of Minneapolis, with little indication of its historical past.
