St. Peter, Minnesota

Infobox Settlement
official_name = St. Peter, Minnesota
nickname =
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map_caption = Location in the state of Minnesota.
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Minnesota
subdivision_type2 = Counties
subdivision_name2 = Nicollet County
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name =Tim Strand
area_magnitude =
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area_land_sq_mi = 5.4
area_land_km2 = 13.82
area_water_sq_mi =
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population_as_of = 2004
population_total = 10631
population_metro =
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timezone = CST
utc_offset = -6
timezone_DST = CDT
utc_offset_DST = -5
latd =
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website = http://ci.st-peter.mn.us/
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St. Peter is a city in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,747 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nicollet CountyGR|6.

St. Peter is part of the Mankato–North Mankato Micropolitan Statistical Area.

U.S. Route 169 and Minnesota State Highways 22 and 99 are three of the main arterial routes in the city.

History

St. Peter was founded in 1853 by Captain William Bigelow Dodd, who claimed convert|150|acre|km2 north of what is now Broadway Avenue. He named the new settlement Rock Bend because of the rock formation at the bend of the Minnesota River. The town site was platted and surveyed in 1854 by Daniel L. Turpin. In 1855 a group of St. Paul businessmen interested in promoting the town formed the Saint Peter Company, and the town was renamed St. Peter. The president of the Company was Willis A. Gorman, Territorial Governor of Minnesota.

In 1857 an attempt was made to move the capitol from St. Paul to St. Peter. Gov. Gorman owned the land on which the bill's sponsors wanted to build the new capitol building, and at one point had been heard saying, "If the capitol remains in Saint Paul, the territory is worth millions and I have nothing." At the time, St. Peter - a city in the central region of the territory - was seen as more accessible to the far-flung territorial legislators than St. Paul, which was in the extreme eastern portion of the territory, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. A bill was passed in both houses of the Territorial Legislature and was awaiting Governor Gorman's signature. A member of the Territorial Council (Senate) Joseph J. Rolette of Pembina (now in North Dakota), the son of a Canadian fur trapper and chairman of the enrollment committee, took the bill and hid in a St. Paul Hotel, drinking and playing cards with some friends as the City Police looked fruitlessly for him, until the end of the legislative session, too late for the bill to be signed. Rolette came into the chamber just as the session ended. One might say that the bill was an attempt to "rob Paul to pay Peter". Today, St. Paul is the second largest city in the state (second only to neighboring Minneapolis), while St. Peter is a relatively small rural town.

In 1851 the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed between the Sioux (Dakota) and the U. S. Government just one mile (1.6 km) north of St. Peter. The Nicollet County Historical Society—Treaty Site History Center is located near the site of the treaty signing. The promises of the treaty were not kept. The Dakota became angered and the Dakota War of 1862 began in Cottonwood County. In August 1862 the Dakota attacked the German settlement of New Ulm. A company of volunteers from St. Peter, headed by Captain William B. Dodd, St. Peter's founder, went to the defense of New Ulm. Captain Dodd was killed on August 23 1862, and was briefly buried in New Ulm. On November 11 1862, Captain Dodd was buried with high military honors in St. Peter on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal), on land he donated to the church. Captain Dodd, his wife Harriet and two children are buried behind the present stone church built in 1869-70 at 118 North Minnesota Avenue.

In 1866 the Legislature established the first "Minnesota Asylum for the Insane" in St. Peter. Later it was known as the St. Peter State Hospital and now as St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.

Governors

St. Peter is known as the home of five Governors:
*Territorial
**Willis Arnold Gorman, served 1853-1857
*State
**Henry Adoniram Swift, served 1863-1864
**Horace Austin, served 1870-1874
**Andrew Ryan McGill, served 1887-1889
**John Albert Johnson, served 1905-1909

The most famous governor, John Albert Johnson, was born in St. Peter in July 28 1861, to Swedish-born parents. Because of family circumstances, John offered to help his mother raise the family. He left school at a young age and held a variety of jobs. In 1887 he was hired as editor of the St. Peter Herald, the local Democratic paper. In 1899 he was elected to the State Senate, and served until 1903. In 1904 he was elected as Minnesota's 16th Governor. He was reelected in 1906 and 1908. In 1912 he was being considered as a possible candidate for President of the United States, but he died as the result of an operation for intestinal adhesions in Rochester, Minnesota on September 21 1909. Dr. William James Mayo and Dr. Charles Horace Mayo, who came from Le Sueur, nine miles (14 km) north of St. Peter, and friends of the Governor performed the operation. After lying in State in the state capitol rotunda, Governor Johnson's body was taken to St. Peter for burial. The funeral held at the Union Presbyterian Church was the largest ever in St. Peter, he was buried near his parents in Greenhill Cemetery in St. Peter. He was survived by his wife Elinore "Nora" Preston Johnson.

Tornado

On March 29,1998 a tornado struck St. Peter, killing six-year old Dustin Schneider, injuring dozens more and leaving half the city in ruins.

Education

Saint Peter is the home of Gustavus Adolphus College, a Lutheran-affiliated private liberal arts college founded in 1862.

Saint Peter is also home to St. Peter High School.

Hospitals

Saint Peter is home of the Minnesota Security Hospital where those declared by the state to be mentally ill and dangerous are committed.

Saint Peter is home to St. Peter Community Hospital. Nationally recognized as Mentor hospital by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, St. Peter Community Hospital provides healthcare in a home town environment.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.6 square miles (14.4 km²), of which, 5.4 square miles (14.0 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (2.52%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 9,747 people, 2,978 households, and 1,843 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,797.3 people per square mile (694.3/km²). There were 3,129 housing units at an average density of 577.0/sq mi (222.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.17% White, 1.57% African American, 0.43% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.25% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.04% of the population.

There were 2,978 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the city the population was spread out with 19.8% under the age of 18, 30.6% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 16.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,344, and the median income for a family was $51,157. Males had a median income of $33,618 versus $25,789 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,634. About 4.2% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.3% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.

Crime

Notable Residents

*Olive Fremstad, Opera Singer, Metropolitan Opera
*Steve Neils, Football Player, St. Louis Cardinals
*Maximilian Dick, Violinist, New York Philharmonic
*James M. McPherson, Civil War historian and author
*George Engesser, Circus entertainer, vaudeville
*Gideon Sprague Ives, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, 1891-1893, Mayor of St. Peter, 1885
*Lillien Cox Gault, Mayor of St. Peter, 1921-1922, Minnesota's first woman mayor. Daughter of E. St. Julien Cox.
*Eugene Saint Julien Cox, Politician, First Mayor of St. Peter, 1865-1867, State Legislature, Judge for 6th Judicial District. Impeached in 1880, impeachement overturned in 1881.
*John Denver, folk singer, whose wife Ann Marie Martell (Annie) was a St. Peter native. Ann Martell went to school and graduated from St. Peter High School, attended Gustavus Adolphus College where as a Sophomore she met John Denver. They were married on June 9 1967 in Christ Chapel which is on Gustavus Adolphus College campus. The singing group Peter, Paul, and Mary also sang at their wedding. The song they sang for the wedding was Leaving on a Jet Plane written by John Denver. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000135/bio IMBD Bio]
*Megan Vogel, basketball player, 19th pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft for the Washington Mystics
*Andy Schroeder, Nick Miller, John Grabow, Nick Haggenmiller, Great Trekkers, see Great Trek description above.
*Rick Rude, professional wrestler
*E.A. Rogers, founder of the Junior State of America

See also

* St. Peter Sandstone
* Gustavus Adolphus College
* Linnaeus Arboretum, on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College
* 1998 Comfrey – St. Peter tornado outbreak - article on the 1998 tornado.

External links

* [http://www.ci.st-peter.mn.us/ St. Peter official website]
* [http://tourism.st-peter.mn.us/ St. Peter, Minnesota tourism]
* [http://www.stpeterschools.org/ St. Peter Public Schools official Website]