Saint Peter was founded in 1853 by Captain William Bigelow Dodd, who claimed 150 acres 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. The town site was platted and surveyed in 1854 by Daniel L. Turpin. In 1855 a group of St. Paul businessmen became interested in promoting the town formed the Saint Peter Company, the town was renamed St. Peter. The president of the Company was Willis GormanWillis A. Gorman, Territorial Governor of Minnesota. In 1857 an attempt was made to move the capital from St. Paul to St. Peter. graft (politics)Gov. 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 - a city in the central region of the territory - was seen as more accessible to the far-flung territorial legislators than St. Paul, which was in the extreme eastern portion of the territory, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. A bill was passed in both houses of the Territorial Legislature and was awaiting Governor Gorman's signature. A member of the Territorial Council (Senate) Joseph J. Rolette of Pembina (now in North Dakota), the son of a Canadian fur trapper and chairman of the enrollment committee, 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. One might say that the bill was an attempt to "rob Paul to pay Peter". Today, St. Paul is the second largest city in the state (second only to neighboring Minneapolis), while St. Peter is a relatively small rural town. In 1866 the Legislature established the first "Minnesota Asylum for the Insane." in St. Peter. Later known as the St. Peter State Hospital and now as St. Peter Regional Treatment Center. In 1851 the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed between the Dakota Indians and the U. S. Government just one mile north of St. Peter. The Nicollet County Historical Society—Treaty site History Center is located near the site of the treaty signing. The promises of the treaty were not kept. The Dakota Indians became angered and by 1862 the Dakota Conflict began in Cottonwood County. In August 1862 the Indians attacked the German settlement of New Ulm, a company of volunteers from St. Peter headed by Captain William B. Dodd, St. Peter's founder went to the defense of New Ulm. Captain Dodd was killed on August 23, 1862, he was briefly buried in New Ulm. On November 11, 1862, Captain 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. Captain Dodd, his wife Harriet and two children are buried behind the present stone church built in 1869-70 at 118 North Minnesota Avenue. St. Peter is known as the home of five Governors: *Territorial **Willis Arnold Gorman, served 1853-1857 *State **Henry Adoniram Swift, served 1863-1864 **Horace Austin, served 1870-1874 **Andrew Ryan McGill, served 1887-1889 **John Albert Johnson, served 1905-1909 The most famous governor, John Albert Johnson, was born in St. Peter in July 28, 1861 to Swedish-born parents. Because of sad family circumstances, John 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 Democratic paper. In 1899 he was elected to the State Senate, he served until 1903. In 1904 he was elected as Minnesota's 16th Governor, he was reelected in 1906 and 1908. He was being considered as a possible candidate for President of the United States in 1912, but he died as the result of an operation for intestinal adhesions in Rochester, Minnesota on September 21, 1909. Dr. William W. Mayo and Dr. Charles Mayo, who came from Le Sueur, nine miles north of St. Peter, and friends of the Governor performed the operation. After lying in State in state capitol rotunda, Governor Johnson's body was taken to St. Peter for burial. The funeral held at the Union Presbyterian Church was the largest ever in St. Peter, he was buried near his parents in Greenhill Cemetery in St. Peter. He was survived by his wife Elinore 'Nora' Preston Johnson. Other famous residents from St. Peter include: *Olive Fremstad, Opera Singer, Metropolitan Opera *Steve Neils, Football Player, St. Louis Cardinals *Maximilian Dick, Violinist, New York Philharmonic *James M. McPherson, Civil War historian and author *George Engesser, Circus entertainer, vaudeville *Gideon Sprague Ives, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, 1891-1893, Mayor of St. Peter, 1885 *Lillien Cox Gault, Mayor of St. Peter, 1921-1922, Minnesota's first woman mayor. Daughter of E. St. Julien Cox. *Eugene Saint Julien Cox, Politician, First Mayor of St. Peter, 1865-1867, State Legislature, Judge for 6th Judicial District. Impeached in 1880, impeachement overturned in 1881. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%2C_Minnesota