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.