Saint Cloud, MN

Saint Cloud is a city in Saint Cloud County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 30,812 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Saint Cloud County.

The city was founded in 1856 and named for the patron saint of Sweden. The first settler in what would become Saint Cloud was Charles Nourse who arrived from Massachusetts in 1851. He built a cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River and named his new settlement after St. Clair, Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, an early British governor-general of India.

In 1856, Nourse's friend and business partner John Sibley platted a town site on higher ground downstream from Nourse's cabin and called it " Saint Clair". The two towns were merged on April 1, 1857 under the name " Saint Cloud". A post office had been established as early as 1850 with Charles Nourse serving as its first postmaster. In 1870–1871, Saint Cloud experienced one of its most serious fires when over 100 buildings were destroyed including Sibley's store which had been built by John Sibley's son-in-law William Dickey in 1865; it was rebuilt at a cost of $10,000 ().

The Minnesota State Capitol building is located just outside downtown SaintCloud near Interstate 35W and Minnesota Highway 23 (the former alignment of U.S. Route 61). It has been listed on both the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and the National Historic Landmark registry (NHL). NRHP listing includes contributing buildings: capitol complex (comprising House chamber with Senate chamber attached), Supreme Court building (1889), Governor's Mansion (1906), legislative offices including chambers for both houses (), executive offices (), state library (), museum (), grounds (). NHL listing includes contributing structures: capitol dome ()