St. Peter is a city and the county seat of Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. It lies 10 miles north of Mankato and is the third largest city in the Mankato metropolitan area. The population was 12,066 at the 2020 census. It is home to Gustavus Adolphus College.
U.S. Highway 169 and Minnesota State Highways 22 and 99 are three of the city's main routes. St. Peter is known for being located on the scenic Minnesota River valley, being home to the St. Peter State Hospital Museum, the Traverse Des Sioux historic site and the St. Peter Armory. Also, St. Peter's sister city is Petatlán, Guerrero, Mexico.
Geography St. Peter is located at (44.3294980, -93.9658367).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Climate
Demographics
As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 4,014 estimated households in St. Peter with an average of 2.25 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $65,042. Approximately 17.5% of the city's population lives at or below the poverty line. St. Peter has an estimated 65.5% employment rate, with 31.3% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 90.2% holding a high school diploma.
The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (87.5%), Spanish (5.4%), Indo-European (2.1%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.7%), and Other (4.3%).
The median age in the city was 35.0 years.
Racial and ethnic composition +St. Peter, Minnesota – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop. 2000 Pop. 2010 % 2000 % 2010 White alone (NH) 9,037 9,6989,451 92.72% 86.62%78.33% Black or African American alone (NH) 152 367855 1.56% 3.28%7.09% Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 26 4788 0.27% 0.42%0.73% Asian alone (NH) 147 179291 1.51% 1.60%2.41% Pacific Islander alone (NH) 2 09 0.02% 0.00%0.07% Other race alone (NH) 4 616 0.04% 0.05%0.13% Mixed race or multiracial (NH) 83 181301 0.85% 1.62%2.49% Hispanic or Latino (any race) 296 7181,055 3.04% 6.41%8.74% Total 9,747 11,19612,066 100.00% 100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, there were 12,066 people, 3,708 households, and 2,269 families residing in the city. The population density was . The median age was 31.9 years, with 20.3% of residents under age 18 and 14.8% age 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 97.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.1 males.
94.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 5.5% lived in rural areas.
Among households, 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 44.9% were married-couple households, 16.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 3,902 housing units at an average density of . Of the housing units, 5.0% were vacant; the homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 2.7%.
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 11,196 people, 3,491 households, and 2,150 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,697 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 90.13% White, 3.3% African American, 0.57% Native American, 1.61% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 2.35% from some other races and 2.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 6.41% of the population.
There were 3,491 households, of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.4% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.99.
The median age in the city was 27.5 years. 19.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 27.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22% were from 25 to 44; 19.9% were from 45 to 64; and 11.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.
2000 census As of the 2000 census, there were 9,747 people, 2,978 households, and 1,843 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,129 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.17% White, 1.57% African American, 0.43% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.25% from some other races and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.04% of the population.
There were 2,978 households, out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 19.8% under the age of 18, 30.6% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 16.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $40,344, and the median income for a family was $51,157. Males had a median income of $33,618 versus $25,789 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,634. About 4.2% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.3% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over. History
St. Peter was founded in 1853 by Captain William Bigelow Dodd, who claimed north of what is now Broadway Avenue. He named the new settlement Rock Bend because of the rock formation at the bend of the Minnesota River. Daniel L. Turpin platted and surveyed the town site in 1854. In 1855, a group of St. Paul businessmen interested in promoting the town formed the Saint Peter Company, and the town was renamed St. Peter. The president of the company was Willis A. Gorman, Territorial Governor of Minnesota. Many of St. Peter's streets were named after streets in New York City, including Park Row, Chatham, Broadway, Nassau, and Union. Dodd was originally from Bloomfield, New Jersey. His second wife, Harriett Newell Jones, a native of Cabot, Vermont, was living in New York at the time of their marriage at the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City, which helped fund the church in St. Peter that shares its name.
St. Peter was located along the Minnesota River, a major tributary of the Mississippi River, and flowed down a wide valley carved by the Glacial River Warren, when it emptied Lake Agassiz. One mile north of where St. Peter was founded, was Traverse des Sioux, a trading site used by Native Americans from before contact, that later became a major transhipment point for the fur trade, bringing furs from the Red River Valley and the watershed of Lake Winnipeg into the Mississippi River Valley. Traverse des Sioux had been a trading area and a ford over the Minnesota River that had been used by Native Americans before the contact period. During the era of steamships, was the farthest up river that larger steam ships could operate.
The Two Fingers band of Sioux from St Peter's made news in 1855.Frontier Indians, Weekly National Intelligencer, April 8, 1854, Image 6, Chronicling American, 2024, Library of Congress
In 1857, an attempt was made to move the Territory of Minnesota's capital from St. Paul to St. Peter. Gorman owned the land on which the bill's sponsors wanted to build the new capitol building, and at one point had been heard saying, "If the capitol remains in Saint Paul, the territory is worth millions, and I have nothing." At the time, St. Peter, in the territory's central region, was seen as more accessible to far-flung territorial legislators than St. Paul, which was in the extreme east of the territory, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. A bill passed both houses of the Territorial Legislature and was awaiting Gorman's signature. The chairman of the Territorial Council's Enrolled Bills Committee, Joseph J. Rolette of Pembina, took the bill and hid in a St. Paul hotel, drinking and playing cards with some friends as the city police looked fruitlessly for him, until the end of the legislative session, too late for the bill to be signed. Rolette came into the chamber just as the session ended. Today, St. Paul is the state's second-largest city (after neighboring Minneapolis), while St. Peter is a relatively small rural town.
In 1851 the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed between the Sioux (Dakota) and the U.S. Government one mile (1.6 km) north of St. Peter. The Nicollet County Historical Society-Treaty Site History Center is near the site of the signing. But the treaty's promises were not kept. The Dakota became angered and the Dakota War of 1862 began in Cottonwood County. In August 1862 the Dakota attacked the German settlement of New Ulm. A company of volunteers from St. Peter, headed by Dodd, St. Peter's founder, went to New Ulm's defense. Dodd was killed on August 23, 1862, and briefly buried in New Ulm. On November 11, 1862, Dodd was buried with high military honors in St. Peter on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Communion, Episcopal, on land he donated to the church. Dodd, his wife Harriet and two children are buried behind the present stone church built in 1869–70 at 118 North Minnesota Avenue.
In 1866, the legislature established the first "Minnesota Asylum for the Insane" in St. Peter. It was later known as the St. Peter State Hospital, and is now called the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.
On July 1, 1892, the Sontag Brothers, John Sontag and George Contant, and their partner, Chris Evans, tried to rob a train between St. Peter and Kasota along the Minnesota River. The bandits acquired nothing of value, but their activities came under the review of Pinkerton detectives, and both were apprehended in June 1893 in what is called the Battle of Stone Corral in California.
Governors St. Peter is known as the home of five governors: Territorial Willis Arnold Gorman (1853–1857) State Henry Adoniram Swift (1863–1864) Horace Austin (1870–1874) Andrew Ryan McGill (1887–1889) John Albert Johnson (1905–1909)
The best-known of these, Johnson, was born in St. Peter to Swedish-born parents on July 28, 1861. Because of family circumstances, he offered to help his mother raise the family. He left school at a young age and held a variety of jobs. In 1887, he was hired as editor of the St. Peter Herald, the local newspaper. In 1899, he was elected to the State Senate, and served until 1903. In 1904, he was elected Minnesota's 16th governor. He was reelected in 1906 and 1908. He was considered as a possible candidate in the 1912 presidential election, but died as the result of an operation for intestinal adhesions in Rochester, Minnesota, on September 21, 1909. Drs. William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo, who came from Le Sueur and were friends with Johnson, performed the operation. After lying in state in the Capitol rotunda, his body was taken to St. Peter for burial. The funeral, held at Union Presbyterian Church, was St. Peter's largest ever, and he was buried near his parents in Greenhill Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Elinore "Nora" Preston Johnson.
List of mayors of St. Peter, Minnesota