The most delightful resort near Minneapolis or St. Paul is Lake Minnetonka (eight hundred and twenty feet above the sea), which lies fifteen miles to the west. The lake is singularly irregular in outline, and with a total length of twelve to fifteen miles has a shore line of perhaps one hundred and fifty miles.
Minneapolis is the foremost city in the world in flour and lumber products. The flour mills, perhaps its most characteristic sight, are congregated on the banks of the Mississippi, near St. Anthony’s Falls. Other important industries are the manufacture of agricultural implements and machinery, bread and baking products, cars and general shop construction, food preparations, foundry products, furniture, fur goods, dressed fur, malt liquors, patent medicines, and printing and publishing.
The Falls of St. Anthony were named in 1680 by Father Hennepin. In 1819 Fort Snelling was built by the United States government. Though a large mill was built as early as 1822, it was not till 1850 that a permanent settlement was made. In 1856 Minneapolis was incorporated as a town on the west bank of the river, and in 1867 it was incorporated as a city. St. Anthony on the east bank was annexed in 1872.
Nashville, Tenn. [The “Rock City”; first named as a settlement, Nashborough, in honor of Francis Nash of North Carolina, a brigadier-general in the Continental Army. In June, 1784, changed to Nashville.]
It is the capital of Tennessee, on the navigable Cumberland River, two hundred miles above the Ohio, and one hundred and eighty-five miles by railroad southwest of Louisville. The city, which is one of the principal railroad centers in the Southern states, is built mainly on the left bank of the river, which is crossed by a suspension bridge and a railroad drawbridge to the suburb of Edgefield. Nashville is a handsome, well-built town, and it is, perhaps, the most important educational center in the South.
The most prominent building in the city is the State Capitol, conspicuously situated on a hill. In its grounds are a bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, and the tomb of President Polk, whose home stood at the corner of Vine and Union Streets. Among the other chief buildings are the Court House, the Custom House, the Parthenon, used for exhibitions of art, Greek plays by students, etc., the Vendome and Bijou Theaters, the Carnegie Library, the Board of Trade, the First National Bank, and the Stahlman Building.
At the head of the educational institutions stands Vanderbilt University, endowed by Cornelius Vanderbilt with one million dollars. In the campus is a colossal statue of the founder, by Moretti. Other well-known institutions are the Peabody Teachers’ College, Boscobel College, Belmont College, the Saint Cecilia Academy, Radnor College, Buford College and Ward’s Seminary.
There are also several large colleges for colored students.
Among the places of interest near Nashville are the Hermitage, the home of General Andrew Jackson, eleven miles to the east.
Nashville occupies a foremost place among the manufacturing centers of the country. It is the fifth boot and shoe market in the United States, the largest candy and cracker manufacturing city in the South, and does an enormous wholesale dry goods, grocery, and drug business. It carries on an extensive trade in cotton and tobacco; while its manufactures, which are rapidly extending, include cotton, flour, oil, paper, furniture, timber, leather, iron, and spirits. The iron interests of the South are largely controlled here.