The Territory of Minnesota was an

organized incorporated territory of the United States The territory of the United States and its overseas possessions has evolved over time, from the colonial era to the present day. It includes formally organized territories, proposed and failed states, unrecognized breakaway states, internatio ...

that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was

admitted to the Union Admission to the Union is provided by the Admissions Clause of the United States Constitution in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, which authorizes the United States Congress to admit new states into the Union beyond the thirteen states that a ...

as the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and the western portion became unorganized territory and shortly after was reorganized as part of the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

History

The Minnesota Territory was formed on March 3, 1849, encompassing the entirety of the present-day state of

and the majority portions of modern-day

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

east of the

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and White Earth Rivers. At the time of formation there were an estimated 5,000 settlers living in the Territory. There were no roads from adjoining

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. The easiest access to the region was via

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...

, of which the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

was primary. The primary mode of transport was the

riverboat A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury ...

. Minnesota Territory had three significant pioneer settlements: St. Paul, St. Anthony/

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and Stillwater, plus two military reservations: Fort Snelling and Fort Ripley. All of these were located on waterways. A reservation for the Winnebago people had been created at Long Prairie in 1848. The Chippewa Agency, at Crow Wing, was founded in 1852. The Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies were created in 1853. All of these were also located adjacent to waterways. The primary territorial institutions were in the three main settlements. St. Paul was made the territorial

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, Minneapolis was selected as the site of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, and Stillwater was chosen for the Territorial Prison. The military reservations were federal land, of which the Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory still exists. Fort Ripley is now part of

Minnesota National Guard The Minnesota National Guard is a state-based military force of more than 13,000 soldiers and airmen, serving in 61 communities across the state. Operated in the U.S. state of Minnesota, it is a reserve component of the National Guard (United ...

's Camp Ripley. The first school in the Territory was located at Fort Snelling, as was the first Post Office.Colbruno, Michael "Lives of the Dead: Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland." December 12, 2009.
Retrieved March 5, 2015. The first justice of the peace in Minnesota was at Mendota, as was the first church, St. Peter's Catholic Church, which was built in 1840. The first territorial governor,

Alexander Ramsey Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 April 22, 1903) was an American politician, who became the first Minnesota Territorial Governor and later became a U.S. Senator. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 18 ...

, requested that Congress approve funds for five military roads in the Territory: Mendota/Fort Snelling to the confluence of the Big Sioux River with the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

; Point Douglas to Fort Ripley; Fort Ripley Road/Swan River to Long Prairie Indian Agency; and Point Douglas to Superior.A History of Minnesota's Highways Part One, Streets MN webpage, Monte Castleman, February 9, 201

/ref> A budget was approved in 1850 for four of these roads, with the Point Douglas–Fort Ripley Military Road being the first. Additional funds were later appropriated for a survey of the route to the Big Sioux/Missouri, the Fort Ridgely and South Pass Wagon Road and the Wagon Road from Fort Ripley to

Fort Abercrombie Fort Abercrombie, in North Dakota, was a United States Army fort established by authority of an Act of Congress, March 3, 1857. The act allocated twenty-five square miles of land on the Red River of the North in Dakota Territory to be used for ...

. Private trails were cut as well, the most well known of which was Dodd Road from 1853. It was named after its builder, Captain William B. Dodd, and significant portions of it still exist. When the region was still part of the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized and incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belm ...

, the

Red River Trails The Red River Trails were a network of Red River ox cart, ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony (the "Selkirk Settlement") and Fort Garry in Canada under British Imperial control (1764-1867), British North America with the head of naviga ...

were further developed by Joe Rolette. There were three main trails, now identified as the West Plains Trail, East Plains Trail, and Woods Trails. They connected Fort Garry and the Selkirk Settlement in British North America with Fort Snelling and the American Fur Trading Company at Mendota. Later, the Oxcarts became synonymous with St. Paul's Kellogg Street and the riverboat landing on the Mississippi River. Fort Ripley lay along the East Plains Trail. In 1850, 10 years after the end of the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a k ...

(1790–1840), of the three churches with regular services in the Minnesota Territory, 1 was

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, 1 was

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

, and 1 was

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The Roman Catholic diocese of Saint Paul of Minnesota was established by Pope Pius IX on July 19, 1850, and consisted of the entirety of the Minnesota Territory. Because of this original territorial designation, to this day the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis continues to oversee the Catholic dioceses in the Dakotas within its ecclesiastical province. In the

1850 United States census The 1850 United States census was the seventh decennial United States Census Conducted by the Census Office, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 23,191,876—an increase of 35.9 percent over the 17,069,453 persons ...

, the nine counties in the Minnesota Territory reported the following population counts:

Territorial Governors

Territorial Secretaries

* Charles K. Smith, 1849–1851 *

Alexander Wilkin Alexander Wilkin (December 1, 1819 – July 14, 1864) was a soldier during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Wilkin also played a role in the development of the Minnesota Territory, having been its second territorial secreta ...

, 1851–1853 * Joseph Rosser, 1853–1857 * Charles L. Chase, 1857–1858

Territorial Attorneys General

* Lorenzo A. Babcock, 1849–1853 * Lafayette Emmett, 1853–1858

Congressional Delegates

* Henry Hastings Sibley, 31st Congress, 32nd Congress, 1849–1853 * Henry Mower Rice, 33rd Congress, 34th Congress, 1853–1857 * William W. Kingsbury, 35th Congress, 1857–1858

References

External links

Minnesota historic documents (incl. Organic Act, Enabling Act, Act of Admission and territorial maps)
*
Debates and proceedings of the Constitutional convention for the territory of Minnesota, to form a state constitution preparatory to its admission into the Union as a state
' {{coord, 46, N, 97.4, W, scale:3000000, display=title 1849 establishments in Minnesota Territory 1858 disestablishments in the United States Former organized territories of the United States Camp Ripley Training Center