<P> The Minneapolis--Saint Paul area is home to 18 of Minnesota's 19 Fortune 500 headquarters - UnitedHealth Group, Target, Best Buy, CHS, 3M, US Bancorp, Supervalu, General Mills, Land O'Lakes, Ecolab, CH Robinson Worldwide, Ameriprise Financial, Xcel Energy, Thrivent Financial, Mosaic, Patterson, Securian Financial and Polaris . A number of private companies are also headquartered in the Twin Cities area, including Cargill, the country's largest private company, Carlson, Radisson Hotel Group, Mortenson, Holiday Stationstores, and Andersen . Foreign companies with U.S. headquarters in the Twin Cities include Aimia, Allianz, Canadian Pacific, Coloplast, Medtronic, Pearson VUE, Pentair and RBC . </P> <P> The Twin Cities's economy is the 13th largest in the U.S. and ranks second in the Midwest . The Minneapolis--St. Paul area also ranks as the second largest medical device manufacture center in North America and the fourth - biggest U.S. banking center, based on total assets of banks headquartered in the metro area, ranking behind New York, San Francisco, and Charlotte, N.C. metropolitan areas . </P> <P> The first European settlement in the region was near what is now known as the town of Stillwater, Minnesota . The city is approximately 20 miles (30 km) from downtown Saint Paul and lies on the western bank of the St. Croix River, which forms the border of central Minnesota and Wisconsin . Another settlement that began fueling early interest in the area was the outpost at Fort Snelling, which was constructed from 1820 to 1825 at the confluence of the Minnesota River and the Mississippi River . </P> <P> Fort Snelling held jurisdiction over the land south of Saint Anthony Falls, thus a town known as Saint Anthony grew just north of the river . For several years, the only European resident to live on the south bank of the river was Colonel John H. Stevens, who operated a ferry service across the river . As soon as the land area controlled by Fort Snelling was reduced, new settlers began flocking across to the new village of Minneapolis . The town grew quickly, and Minneapolis and Saint Anthony eventually merged . On the eastern side of the Mississippi, a few villages such as Pig's Eye and Lambert's Landing developed and would soon grow to become Saint Paul . </P>

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