Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. This name is a combination of the Indian word minni water and the Greek polis, meaning city. The first house was built here in 1849. The town was incorporated In 1867. St. Anthony, a very old town on the east bank of the river and directly at the Falls of St. Anthony, was incorporated in 1856 and merged with Minneapolis in 1872. St. Anthony city was named from the Falls, and the falls were named by the early French missionaries and explorers for St. Anthony of Padua. The falls were first seen by these missionaries on St. Anthony’s day.
citation
Chicago and North Western Railway Company (1908). A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. p. 184.
related
Minneapolis (Wikipedia)Minneapolis (/ˌmɪniˈæpəlɪs/ (listen) MIN-ee-AP-əl-iss), officially the City of Minneapolis, is a city in the state of Minnesota and the county seat of Hennepin County. As of the 2020 census the population was 429,954, making it the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th-most-populous in the United States. Nicknamed the “City of Lakes”, Minneapolis is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks, and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins as the 19th century lumber and flour milling capitals of the world, and, to the present day, preserved its financial clout. It occupies both banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota.
Saint Anthony Falls (Wikipedia)Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony (Dakota: Owámniyomni, lit. ‘whirlpool’), located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800s, various dams were built atop the east and west faces of the falls to support the milling industry that spurred the growth of the city of Minneapolis. In 1880, the central face of the falls was reinforced with a sloping timber apron to stop the upstream erosion of the falls. In the 1950s, the apron was rebuilt with concrete, which makes up the most visible portion of the falls today. A series of locks were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s to extend navigation to points upstream.