1896 Map of St. Paul

About this map

The Mississippi River and Minnesota River converge at the heart of this late nineteenth-century landscape, where the strategic high ground of Fort Snelling overlooks the confluence. The burgeoning street grids of St. Paul and Minneapolis are already well-defined, linked by a dense web of industrial rail lines including the Great Northern and Northern Pacific. To the east, the limestone cliffs of Dayton Bluff rise above the river valley, while the southern reaches transitions into a terrain of numerous kettle lakes like Fish Lake and Holland Lake. This survey captures the region just as the urban centers began to exert their influence over the surrounding townships of Egan, Mendota, and Inver Grove. Notable landmarks such as Minnehaha Falls and the isolated summit of Pilot Knob serve as distinct navigational points amid the developing transit corridors of the Electric R. R. and early river commerce sites like Pike Island.