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- Director [[Stephen Sommers]] attended [[Cathedral High School]] in St. Cloud. He then attended college at nearby [[College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University|St. John's University]].
- Director [[Stephen Sommers]] attended [[Cathedral High School]] in St. Cloud. He then attended college at nearby [[College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University|St. John's University]].


- Writer/Director [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027850/ Wendell Jon Andersson] was born and raised in St. Cloud. He attended [[Technical Senior School]]. He wrote and directed feature film [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120525/ "With or Without You"] and worked on the Comedy Central television program [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]].
- Writer/Director [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027850/ Wendell Jon Andersson] was born and raised in St. Cloud. He attended [[Technical Senior School|Tech High School]]. He wrote and directed feature film [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120525/ "With or Without You"] and worked on the Comedy Central television program [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]].
- Actress [[June Marlowe]], who played Miss Crabtree on [[The Little Rascals]], was from St. Cloud.
- Actress [[June Marlowe]], who played Miss Crabtree on [[The Little Rascals]], was from St. Cloud.

Revision as of 04:32, 15 March 2009

St. Cloud, Minnesota
City
5th Avenue c. 1910
5th Avenue c. 1910
Official seal of St. Cloud, Minnesota
Seal
Nickname: 
The Granite City
Location in the state of Minnesota.
Location in the state of Minnesota.
CountryUnited States
StateMinnesota
CountiesStearns, Benton, Sherburne
Founded1856[1]
Government
 • MayorDave Kleis
Area
 • City
30.9 sq mi (80.1 km2)
 • Land30.2 sq mi (78.1 km2)
 • Water0.8 sq mi (2.0 km2)
Elevation
1,030 ft (314 m)
Population
 (2000)
 • City
59,107
 • Density1,959.9/sq mi (756.7/km2)
 • Metro
167,392
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes
56301, 56302, 56303, 56304, 56393, 56397, 56398
Area code320
FIPS code27-56896Template:GR
GNIS feature ID0650559Template:GR
Websitewww.ci.stcloud.mn.us
Red River cart at Saint Cloud

St. Cloud (/ˌseɪntˈklaʊd/) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 63,702 at the 2000 census, making it the third largest city in the state outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It is the county seat of Stearns CountyTemplate:GR. It is named after the city of Saint-Cloud, France (near Paris), which was named for the 6th-century French monk Clodoald.

Though mostly in Stearns County, the city also extends into Benton County and Sherburne County. One of the fastest-growing cities in the state, St. Cloud is surrounded by a small metropolitan area, with Waite Park, Sauk Rapids, Sartell, St. Joseph and St. Augusta directly bordering the city, and Foley, Kimball, Clearwater, Clear Lake, Rockville, and Cold Spring nearby. With 167,392 residents at the 2000 census, the St. Cloud metropolitan area ranks behind only Minneapolis-St.Paul and Duluth-Superior in population.

St. Cloud is located 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis-St. Paul along Interstate 94, U.S. Route 10, and Minnesota State Highway 23. The St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is made up of Stearns and Benton Counties.[2] The city was included in a newly defined Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud Combined Statistical Area (CSA) in 2000, even though commuting criteria did not require mandatory inclusion. St. Cloud has never been part of the 13-county Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington-WI "Metropolitan Statistical Area," a more commonly used definition of large urban areas.[3] The boundary between the two government-designated areas is unclear because Sherburne County is considered part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area yet contains part of the city of St. Cloud.

The Mississippi River flows through the city, breaking into a series of channels just downstream from the St. Cloud dam, a city-owned structure featuring hydroelectric generators that can produce up to 9 megawatts of electricity.[4] [5] The Mississippi's 30 "Beaver Islands" lie at the southern end of the city.[6]

History

Minnesota was organized as a territory in 1849. The St. Cloud area had been opened to legal ownership by non-Native Americans following treaty negotiations with the Winnebago tribe in 1851 and 1852.

St. Cloud was a waystation on the Middle and Woods branches of the Red River Trails between the Canadian border at Pembina and St. Paul. The cart trains often consisted of hundreds of ox carts; the carters would camp west of the city and cross the Mississippi in St. Cloud or in Sauk Rapids, just to the north.

The City of St. Cloud was incorporated in 1856. It developed from three distinct settlements, known as Upper Town, Middle Town, and Lower Town, that were established beginning in 1853.[7] The remnants of the deep ravines that separated the three are still visible today. Middle Town was settled primarily by Catholic German-Americans, who were attracted to the region by Father Francis Xavier Pierz. Lower Town was founded by settlers from New England and the mid-Atlantic states. Upper Town, or Arcadia, was plotted by General Sylvanus Lowry, a slave-holding Southerner from Kentucky. Lowry was St. Cloud's first mayor, serving only one year.

Lowry battled Abolitionist newspaper editor Jane Grey Swisshelm. At one point Swisshelm's newspaper office was broken into and the press thrown into the Mississippi. St. Cloud's experience with slavery was brief. Nearly all of the Southerners left the St. Cloud area when the Civil War broke out. Lowry died soon after in 1865.

Stephen Miller served a two-year term as Minnesota governor beginning in 1864, the only citizen of St. Cloud to hold the office. Miller was a "Pennsylvania German businessman", lawyer, writer, active abolitionist, and personal friend of Minnesota Governor Ramsey. He was on the state's Republican electoral ticket with Abraham Lincoln in 1860.[8] With no previous military experience, Miller enlisted as a private in the Minnesota's First Regiment of Volunteers, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel and eventually "Brigadier General of Volunteers".[9] After fighting at Bull Run and in eight other battles, Miller became ill and later transferred to another unit, missing the regiment's famous charge at Gettysburg. His son Wesley, who had enlisted with his father, was killed in the battle.[10] While in military service, Miller also served as commander of Mankato's Camp Lincoln, where 38 Dakota men were executed for their role in the Dakota War of 1862.

Although he never attended college, as governor Miller supported higher education, including the state "Normal" schools, one of which later became St. Cloud State University. In his final legislative address as governor, he made a strong but unsuccessful argument for a black suffrage amendment to the state constitution.

St. Cloud was named after Saint-Cloud, the Paris suburb, by John Wilson, a Maine native with French Huguenot ancestry. Wilson later said that his decision came from his interest in Napoleon, whose favorite palace was located in Saint-Cloud.

Steamboats once docked at St. Cloud, although river levels were not reliable. Granite quarries have operated in the area since the 1880s, giving St. Cloud its nickname, "The Granite City."

In 1917, Samuel C. Pandolfo started the Pan Motor Company in St. Cloud. Pandolfo claimed that St. Cloud would become the new Detroit for all the Pan-Cars produced. He was later convicted and imprisoned for attempting to defraud investors.[11][12]

Courtroom scenes in the Disney Film The Mighty Ducks were filmed in St. Cloud, and a few cut scenes were filmed at the Municipal Athletic Center (MAC).

- Marshall Eriksen, of the TV show How I Met Your Mother, is originally from St. Cloud.

- Juno was partially set in St. Cloud. None of the shooting actually took place in the city, however.

- The song "On A Bus To St. Cloud", by Gretchen Peters, is on Trisha Yearwood's 1995 album "Thinkin' About You".

- Academy Award winner Gig Young was born in St. Cloud and once worked at the Paramount Theater as an usher.

- In the movie 1408, St. Cloud is mentioned as one of the scariest places the protagonist has visited.

- Director Stephen Sommers attended Cathedral High School in St. Cloud. He then attended college at nearby St. John's University.

- Writer/Director Wendell Jon Andersson was born and raised in St. Cloud. He attended Tech High School. He wrote and directed feature film "With or Without You" and worked on the Comedy Central television program Mystery Science Theater 3000.

- Actress June Marlowe, who played Miss Crabtree on The Little Rascals, was from St. Cloud.

- Judith Guest and Rebecca Hill's novel Killing Time in St. Cloud is set in the eponymous city.

Transportation

St. Cloud is a regional transportation hub within Minnesota. Major roadways including Interstate Highway 94, U.S. Highway 10, and Minnesota State Highways 15 and 23 pass through the city.[13]

Bus service within the city and to neighboring Sartell, Sauk Rapids, and Waite Park is offered through St. Cloud Metro Bus which was recognized in 2007 as the best transit system of its size in North America. The Metro Bus Transit Center in the downtown area is also shared with Greyhound Lines and Jefferson Lines. Several rail lines run through the city as well, which is a stop on Amtrak's Empire Builder line. A commuter rail line running from the Twin Cities known as the Northstar Corridor will reach the city in a second phase.

St. Cloud is also home to St. Cloud Regional Airport, which makes daily connecting flights to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on Northwest Airlines.

Education

The city of St. Cloud is home to the St. Cloud Area School District, which serves St. Cloud, St. Augusta, Clearwater, Waite Park, St. Joseph, Haven Township and of course St. Cloud itself. The District [1] has 8 elementary schools, a new K-8 in St. Joseph, and two major public high schools, St. Cloud Technical High School and St. Cloud Apollo High School. St. Cloud also has a major private high school, Cathedral High School. Both public high schools offer a broad selection of Advanced Placement courses, and rank high in the state in number of AP tests taken and of test takers. [2] St. Cloud Tech is the older of the two, opening in 1917, and is located just west of downtown on the city's south side. Apollo opened in 1970 and serves the expanding north side of the city. Other high schools and secondary schools that serve the city of St. Cloud include St. Robert Bellarmine's Academy, St. Cloud Christian School, Immaculate Conception Academy, and St. Cloud Alternative Learning Center. The nearby cities of Sauk Rapids and Sartell also each have their own school districts and high schools, bringing the number of public high schools in the metropolitan area to four.

Colleges

The St. Cloud area is home to a number of several higher education facilities, including the second-largest university in the state, St. Cloud State University. As of 2007, 17,892 students attend SCSU. Other post-secondary institutions and campuses in St. Cloud proper include St. Cloud Technical College (SCTC), Rasmussen College, Globe University/Minnesota School of Business, and the College of St. Scholastica. Additionally, the College of St. Benedict (a private Catholic Liberal Arts college) is located in nearby St. Joseph while its sister school, St. John's University, is in nearby Collegeville.

Politics

St. Cloud is in Minnesota's 6th congressional district, currently represented by Michele Bachmann (R). St. Cloud is partly in Minnesota House of Representatives district 15A, currently represented by Steve Gottwalt (R), and partly in 15B, currently represented by Larry Haws (DFL). State Senate District 15 is represented by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark (DFL).

In the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama and Joe Biden won 54% of the vote in the city of St. Cloud, and John McCain and Sarah Palin 46%.[14]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 30.9 square miles (80.1 km²), of which 30.2 (78.1 km²) are land and 0.8 (2.0 km²) (2.62%) water.

The area of former Saint Cloud Township in Stearns County, now divided between the cities of Saint Cloud and Waite Park, is located in Township 124 North of the Arkansas Base Line and Range 28 West of the 5th Principal Meridian.

Climate

St. Cloud lies in the cool summer-type Humid continental climate zone (Köppen Dfb), with warm, humid summers and very cold winters with heavy snowfall. January is the coldest month, with an average high temperature of 19°F (-7°C) and an average low temperature of -1°F (-18°C). July is the warmest month, with an average high of 82°F (28°C) and an average low of 58°F (14°C).

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Avg high °F (°C) 19 (-7) 26 (-3) 38 (3) 55 (13) 69 (21) 77 (25) 82 (28) 79 (26) 69 (21) 56 (13) 37 (3) 23 (-5)
Avg low temperature °F (°C) -1 (-18) 7 (-14) 19 (-7) 32 (0) 44 (7) 53 (12) 58 (14) 55 (13) 46 (8) 34 (1) 20 (-7) 5 (-15)

Demographics

St. Cloud is the principal city of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Benton and Stearns counties[15] and had a combined population of 167,392 at the 2000 census.Template:GR

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 59,108 people, 22,652 households, and 12,254 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,959.9 people per square mile (756.7/km²). There were 23,249 housing units at an average density of 770.9/sq mi (297.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.75% White, 2.37% African American, 0.72% Native American, 3.11% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.58% from other races, and 1.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.33% of the population.

There were 17 households out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.9% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the city the population was spread out with 20.8% under the age of 18, 24.1% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 101 females there were 101.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,346, and the median income for a family was $50,460. Males had a median income of $33,670 versus $23,759 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,769. About 5.0% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.

Sites of interest

Media

The main newspaper is the St. Cloud Times. The St. Cloud Diocese also publishes the St. Cloud Visitor, which serves the regional Catholic community.

Television station KPXM (channel 41), an "ion" network affiliate, is licensed to the city, though the signal also reaches the Twin Cities region. Low-power stations are: WCMN (channel 13) which is not always on the air, K19BG (channel 19) a TBN affiliate, and KTCJ (channel 30) a digital-only Christian. Additional, St. Cloud State University students operate cable-only UTVS (channel 21), which includes local news.

Radio stations include:

AM
FM

Minnesota Public Radio began in nearby Collegeville at St. John's University.

Sister cities

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Saint Cloud, Minnesota.

See also

References

  1. ^ Dominik, John J. (1986). That You May Find Healing. St. Cloud, Minn: St. Cloud Hospital. p. 5.
  2. ^ Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development "Metropolitan Statistical Areas"
  3. ^ Metro Council website, Twin Cities Metropolican Area Geographic Definitions, "Definitions Used By The U.S. Census Bureau"
  4. ^ City of St. Cloud, Public Utilities, Hydroelectric Services
  5. ^ John Weeks, The Bridges and Structures of the Mississsippi River Headwaters, A Detailed Look At The Bridges, Dams And Other Structures On The Mississippi River In The Headwaters Region From Lake Itasca To Minneapolis First Edition — November 2007.
  6. ^ Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, "Mississippi River", "St. Cloud to Anoka"
  7. ^ 3 Towns Into 1 City, A Narrative Record of Significant Factors in The Story Of St. Cloud Minnesota.
  8. ^ John J. Dominik Jr., "Three Towns Into One City, St. Cloud Minnesota, 1976, St Cloud Area Bicentennial Commission, page 13
  9. ^ Minnesota Historical Society "Governors of Minnesota, Stephen Miller, Fourth State Governor"
  10. ^ First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Stephen Miller.
  11. ^ "Pan History". St Cloud Antique Auto Club, Inc. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  12. ^ Automotive History Online, Pan Motor
  13. ^ "St. Cloud, Minnesota". Google Maps. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
  14. ^ County of Stearns, Minnesota, election results.
  15. ^ METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS AND COMPONENTS, Office of Management and Budget, 2007-05-11. Accessed 2008-07-30.

Template:Mapit-US-cityscale

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