Saint Paul, which sits mostly on the east side of the river, has a smaller business district, many tree-lined neighborhoods, and a large collection of late-Victorian architecture.

Minneapolis was strongly influenced by early Scandinavian and Lutheran settlers, while Saint Paul was settled predominantly by the French, the Irish, and German Catholics.

Both urban areas are home to new immigrant communities, including Mexicans, Somalis, Hmong, Indians, Ethiopians (particularly Oromo), Vietnamese, Cameroonians, and Liberians.

[9] The Grand Excursion, a trip into the Upper Midwest sponsored by the Rock Island Railroad, brought more than a thousand curious travelers into the area by rail and steamboat in 1854.

Much commercial rail traffic also ran through the area, often carrying grain to be processed at Minneapolis mills or delivering other goods to Saint Paul to be transported along the Mississippi.

In an effort by the rail companies to combat the rise of the automobile, some of the earliest streamliners ran from Chicago to Minneapolis/Saint Paul and eventually served distant points in the Pacific Northwest.

[11] But by the 1980s and 1990s, Minneapolis and Saint Paul were often cited as former Rust Belt cities that had made successful transitions to service, high-technology, finance, and information economies.

[12] In May and June 2020, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area became a focus of international attention after MPD officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost ten minutes.

In terms of development, the two cities remain distinct in their progress, with Minneapolis absorbing new and avant-garde architecture while Saint Paul continues to carefully integrate new buildings into the context of classical and Victorian styles.

Owing to their northerly latitude and inland location, the Twin Cities experience the coldest climate of any major metropolitan area in the United States.

[30] The Twin Cities area takes the brunt of many types of extreme weather, including high-speed straight-line winds, tornadoes, flash floods, drought, heat, bitter cold, and blizzards.

(See: Department of Natural Resources - Cold Outbreak: January 27-31, 2019) A normal growing season in the metro extends from late April or early May through the month of October.

The MPR program A Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Minnesota native Garrison Keillor, aired live for many years from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul.

The Current and the Walker Art Center host the annual music festival Rock the Garden, which features nationally recognized and local artists.

The festival has been held annually since 2008 and has featured artists such as Lizzo, Hippo Campus, Chance the Rapper, Bon Iver, The Flaming Lips, Wilco and Sonic Youth.

Many Twin Cities residents own or share cabins and other properties along lakes and forested areas in central and northern Minnesota, and weekend trips "up North" happen in the warmer months.

[42][43] The Twin Cities is one of 12 American metropolitan areas with teams in all four major professional sports—baseball (MLB), football (NFL), basketball (NBA) and ice hockey (NHL).

It remained the top-rated newscast in the 9:00 hour long after it gained competition from then-Fox affiliate WFTC (which launched a standalone news department in April 2001, later absorbed into KMSP's existing news operation after Fox acquired both stations that year from Clear Channel Television and United Television, respectively) and independent KSTC (which began airing a newscast produced by sister station KSTP in 2001).

In the 1980s, KTMA (later KLGT and KMWB, now WUCW) created a number of low-budget shows, including Mystery Science Theater 3000, a satirical B-movie showcase that achieved cult classic status during its 1989–96 national cable run on Comedy Central.

The short-lived Let's Bowl started on KARE and later ran on KLGT and St. Cloud-licensed KXLI-TV (channel 41, now Ion O&O KPXM-TV), before airing on Comedy Central from 2001 to 2002; it was a panel discussion featuring critical and humorous analysis of TV commercials.

The advertising-focused panel discussion series Mental Engineering originated on the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) cable access channel in 1997 before being syndicated nationally to PBS member stations from 2001 to 2008.

Similar in format to then-competitor CNN Headline News (now HLN), ANC produced rolling half-hour national newscasts that were syndicated to local stations (most of which, as KSTP did throughout its existence, aired them as overnight filler programming); Hubbard shut down most of CONUS's operations and ANC in 2002, citing the dominance of network-run affiliate wire services (such as CNN Newsource), but it maintains a digital archive of its news library.

Founded in 1981 by then-Hubbard President Stanley S. Hubbard, USSB and competitor DirecTV used the Digital Satellite System (DSS) infrastructure, allowing customers to optionally subscribe to both services.

About 93% of the metropolitan area's population is native to the United States, including 0.6% born in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, or abroad to American parents.

Foreign companies with U.S. headquarters in the Twin Cities include Aimia, Allianz Life, Canadian Pacific, Coloplast, Medtronic, Pearson VUE and Pentair.

[71] A few decades later, Art Deco brought several structures that survive today, including St. Paul City Hall, the Foshay Tower, and the Minneapolis Post Office.

In Minneapolis, the trend has been toward sleek lines and modern glass facades, while Saint Paul tends to follow a more traditional style to better accompany its older structures.

Saint Paul and especially Minneapolis underwent massive urban renewal projects in the post-World War II era, so a vast number of buildings are now lost to history.

The METRO Blue Line LRT (light rail) began operations in June 2004, connecting downtown Minneapolis, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the Mall of America in Bloomington.

It was followed by the METRO Red Line BRT (bus rapid transitway) in 2013 connecting the Mall of America with Lakeville along Cedar Avenue through the southern suburbs.