History of Minneapolis

Indian tribes

Early history dates back to 1200 AD, when Dakota Indians established a network of villages in what is now the Twin Cities metro area. The Dakota tribes relied primarily on hunting and gathering and were skilled in horsemanship. The other dominant Indian tribe in the area was the Ojibwe. Fighting between the two tribes was common so in 1825, under the auspices of United States government agents, the Dakota and the Ojibwe agreed to the establishment of a demarcation between their areas. In 1829 a Dakota Mdewakanton village was located on the west shore of Lake Calhoun in the area that would become Minneapolis. In 1838, an agreement with chiefs of the Dakota tribe opened the lands east of the Mississippi River to private ownership by white settlers, and within one year, over five hundred non-native persons were living in the area.

Widespread changes occurred throughout the region including turning prairie lands into farm land and the logging of trees. Much of the bear, deer and buffalo population became greatly depleted, and disease spread through the communities killing many people. The Dakota struggled to survive and eventually signed a treaty with the US government to give up the rights to their ancestral lands, in return for temporary gifts, a trust fund and cash payments. They moved onto a strip of land ten miles wide along either side of the Minnesota River from Lake Traverse to the Yellow Medicine River. In 1862, the government neglected to pay the Dakota due to the Civil War. The Dakota people went back to their old lands and launched a violent attack in the south-eastern part of the state, and over 500 white settlers were killed in the month-long attack. 38 Dakota men were caught and hanged and the remaining were exiled to a reservation at Crow Creek.

Incorporation of Minneapolis

The Franciscan missionary, Father Louis Hennepin, was the first European to explore the area and named the Falls of St Anthony after his patron saint, Anthony of Padua. The construction of Fort Snelling in the 1820s brought in more European settlers, who soon began occupying US military-reservation land on the west side of the river. The government gave these illegal squatters land rights and the village of Minneapolis was incorporated in 1856. Its name was derived from the Dakota word meaning "water," and the Greek word "city". In 1872, the town of St Anthony was absorbed into Minneapolis, which was fast becoming an important processing centre for wheat from the prairies and timber from the north.

The falls were important for the development of the city's early economic growth. The lumber business reached its height in 1899, and then flour milling superseded lumbering as the leading industry. A huge influx of Scandinavians in the late 1800s had a significant and lasting impact on the area and its culture. Minneapolis was the largest producer of grain in the world until 1932 and is still referred to as the mill city. After World War I, much of the export flour trade shifted to Buffalo due to the lower freight charges offered by the Great Lakes shipping.

20th Century history

During the 1920s and 1930s, organised crime and corruption in the area was rife. Most of it was controlled by the notorious gangster Kid Cann from the city's West Hotel. The 1950s and 1960s saw a period of urban renewal including the demolition of about 200 buildings in the downtown area. As well as ridding the city of the slum area known as "Skid Row," it also meant the destruction of many buildings with notable architecture including the famous Metropolitan Building, known simply as "the Met".

Minneapolis has suffered from severe racial problems and it has a higher rate of black poverty than many other American cities. Segregation occurred between whites and blacks despite an integration programme in the 1970s. African Americans and Native Americans still complain that their members are excessively targeted by the police. Violence and crime returned to the city in the 1990s and the Phillips neighbourhood attracted gang wars and a huge increase in the murder rate. Although this has now fallen, locals are fearful that it could return to some of the poorer neighbourhoods. Many cleanup projects have been carried out in recent years and industrial activities have been scaled back or modified. The city has one of the most stable economic bases in the country and is a prominent centre for the arts.