History · St. Paul

St. Paul has 117 places on the National Register, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks

More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #1 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it

With 42% of its homes built before 1940 and 9 historic districts holding 1,686 contributing buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1896 on, the census since 1850, and every listing on the Register.

1846first post office

117on the National Register

42%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

32famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From St. Paul’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How St. Paul began

When was St. Paul founded?

1846

The St. Paul post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1854. Four smaller post offices, Hamline (1880), Macalester (1886) and Saint Anthony Park (1886), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 1,112 in 18502020 census: 311,527180 years

How historic is St. Paul?

A⁺

More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first St. Paul post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1854.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives St. Paul’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Paul is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #1 of 273 in Minnesota. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.

A⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Paul’s overall grade.

Founding era1846, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194041.6% of homes (±1.0) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%A National Register117 listings, 1,686 historic buildings, 54.9 per 10,000 residents · typical MN town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 98%

NewerOlder

Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (273)#1 of 273

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, St. Paul ranks #25 on History.

Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so St. Paul’s 54.9 sits above most of its state (94% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1,686 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1854.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about St. Paul’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark117 places on the National Register, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Historic Hill District takes in 1,009 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s St. Paul, and 2 old place names are still on the map.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

117 listings protect 1,686 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 4 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

117

National Historic Landmarks

Fort Snelling

historic buildings protected

1,686

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

Fort Snelling

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Victorian9

Romanesque6

Queen Anne6

Italianate6

Beaux Arts6

Romanesque Revival5

★ Landmark

Fort SnellingBuilt 1819

★ Landmark

James J. Hill HouseRichardsonian

★ Landmark

F. Scott Fitzgerald HouseVictorian

★ Landmark

Frank B. Kellogg HouseRomanesque

Old Federal Courts BuildingRomanesque

Alexander Ramsey HouseFrench Neo-Baroque · Built 1868

Burbank-Livingston-Griggs HouseItalianate

Minnesota State CapitolClassical Revival · Built 1905

All 118 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start St. Paul’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Paul’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewSt Paul's, Menesotah Territory: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How St. Paul came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Paul.

Read it all →

Burial mounds in present-day Indian Mounds Park suggest the area was inhabited by the Hopewell Native Americans about 2,000 years ago. From the early 17th century to 1837, the Mdewakanton Dakota, a band of the Dakota people, lived near the mounds at the village of Kaposia and consider the area encompassing present-day Saint Paul Bdóte, the site of creation for their people. The Dakota called the area Imniza-Ska ('white cliffs') for its exposed white sandstone cliffs on the river's eastern side. The Imniza-Ska were full of caves that were useful to the Dakota. The explorer Jonathan Carver documented the historic Wakan Tipi in the bluff below the burial mounds in 1767. In the Menominee language Saint Paul was called Sāēnepān-Menīkān, which means 'ribbon, silk or satin village', suggesting its role in trade throughout the region after the introduction of European goods.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about St. Paul, 1854–1906

Passages that mention St. Paul, cut from the printed page as they were published.

St. Paul was awakened to the necessitv for doing something to bring about a better condition of the streets and had passed that year an act incorporating the town of St. Paul which permitted the town to grade anv street and charge 6 the cost ot the property benefited. Unfortunately nothing could th… — **Past and present of St. Paul, Minnesota**1906 · page 81Read the page →
Read the text
St. Paul was awakened to the necessitv for doing something to bring about a better condition of the streets and had passed that year an act incorporating the town of St. Paul which permitted the town to grade anv street and charge 6 the cost ot the property benefited. Unfortunately nothing could then be done to straighten out the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The route for such railroad connection would be nearly or quite due north from St. Paul, folloAving the chain of small lakes on the east side of the Mississippi, touching the western shores of Mille Lac and Sandy lake, a route not only practicable, but highly favorable for a railroad, nearly level,… — **Minnesota and its resources**1854 · page 117Read the page →
Read the text
The route for such railroad connection would be nearly or quite due north from St. Paul, folloAving the chain of small lakes on the east side of the Mississippi, touching the western shores of Mille Lac and Sandy lake, a route not only practicable, but highly favorable for a railroad, nearly level, and requiring less grading than almost any other route that could be found on this continent ; and the whole distance from St.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

At a railroad meeting held at St. Paul, on the 24th day of August, 1853, Dr. Otis Hoyt, of Hudson, Wisconsin, the enterprising president of the Northwestern railroad, addressed the meeting, giving a brief history of railroads and railroad projects in the United States. The railroad spirit had comme… — **Minnesota and its resources**1854 · page 187Read the page →
Read the text
At a railroad meeting held at St. Paul, on the 24th day of August, 1853, Dr. Otis Hoyt, of Hudson, Wisconsin, the enterprising president of the Northwestern railroad, addressed the meeting, giving a brief history of railroads and railroad projects in the United States. The railroad spirit had commenced in Massachusetts and rapidly spread in every direction, carrying with it wealth and prosperity. New York, looking with a jealous eye to the increasing wealth of Massachusetts, had, in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

.\ history of the development of the school system of St. Paul must some time be written, but it should be specialized, and it is no part of the intention of the present writer to record the growth of the public schools from their institution under the trustees who assumed the duties of organizing … — **Past and present of St. Paul, Minnesota**1906 · page 186Read the page →
Read the text
.\ history of the development of the school system of St. Paul must some time be written, but it should be specialized, and it is no part of the intention of the present writer to record the growth of the public schools from their institution under the trustees who assumed the duties of organizing the schools in the early days of the history of the town of St. Paul — when it was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

St. Paul, 1819 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1819BuiltFort Snelling is built
1846Post officeThe Saint Paul post office opens
1854In the archiveSt Paul's, Menesotah Territory
1868BuiltAlexander Ramsey House is built
1880Post officeThe Hamline post office opens
1886Post officeThe Macalester post office opens
1889Post officeThe Macalester post office closes
1891Post officeThe Hamline post office closes
1896Born hereF. Scott Fitzgerald is born here
1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1905BuiltMinnesota State Capitol is built
1906BuiltSt. Paul Cathedral-Catholic is built
1911Born hereMelvin Calvin is born here
1961LandmarkJames J. Hill House named a National Historic Landmark
1966LandmarkFort Snelling named a National Historic Landmark
1971LandmarkF. Scott Fitzgerald House named a National Historic Landmark
1976LandmarkFrank B. Kellogg House named a National Historic Landmark
1978Born hereJosh Hartnett is born here

By decade

St. Paul, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item

1854St Paul's, Menesotah Territory

On the map

St. Paul on the map, 1896 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Paul. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1896St Paul sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Paul.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewSt Paul's, Menesotah Territory, 1854

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on St. Paul’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

St. Paul, census by census

Between 1,112 and 313,411 people in every census since 1850.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Paul’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

32 famous people were born in St. Paul

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

F. Scott FitzgeraldAmerican writer · b. 1896

Melvin CalvinAmerican biochemist · b. 1911

Lindsey VonnAmerican alpine skier · b. 1984

Josh HartnettAmerican actor and producer · b. 1978

Randy SchekmanNobel prize winning American cell biologist · b. 1948

Tim KaineAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1958

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saint Paul

1846–today

Hamline

1880–1891

Macalester

1886–1889

Saint Anthony Park

1886–1891

Highwood

1901–1907

18401930today

Hamlets and corners on the map

HighwoodSaint Paul

Gone or out of use

Arlington SchoolschoolEricsson SchoolschoolHamline Post Officepost officeHighwood Post Officepost officeMacalester Post Officepost officePhalen Park SchoolschoolSaint Anthony Park Post Officepost officeSaint Paul Bible CollegeschoolSibley Schoolschool

7cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Paul

CalvaryChesed Shel EmesElmhurstOaklandRiverviewSons of JacobSons of Moses

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Maplewood1 historic placeC⁺Minneapolis152 historic placesA LilydaleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Falcon Heights3 historic placesA⁻South St. Paul5 historic placesB West St. Paul1 historic placeC⁺Mendota Heights3 historic placesC Roseville1 historic placeC Mendota1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about St. Paul’s history

What year was St. Paul founded?

The St. Paul post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1854.

How does St. Paul rank for history?

St. Paul is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #1 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in St. Paul?

117 listings, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks: 98 buildings, 10 historic districts with 1,574 contributing buildings, 2 sites, and 8 structures. 1,686 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in St. Paul?

42% of St. Paul’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1952.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (118), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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St. Paul has 117 places on the National Register, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks

How St. Paul began

When was St. Paul founded?

How historic is St. Paul?

What drives St. Paul’s History grade

What stands out about St. Paul’s past

117 listings protect 1,686 historic buildings

Architectural styles listings

Start St. Paul’s collection

How St. Paul came to be

What they wrote about St. Paul, 1854–1906

St. Paul, 1819 to 1978

St. Paul, decade by decade

St. Paul on the map, 1896 to 1993

Stand where they stood

St. Paul, census by census

32 famous people were born in St. Paul

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

History across the town line

Questions about St. Paul’s history

Memory lane

Where this page comes from