Copycat suburbs

Visitors to the Twin Cities will hear "South Minneapolis," North Minneapolis," "Northeast," "Near North" tossed around. All refer to sections of the City of Minneapolis.

Over in St. Paul, you may hear "West St. Paul," "South St. Paul," "North St. Paul," and "St. Paul Park." All of which are completely separate municipalities that are suburbs of the City of St. Paul. Adding to confusion is the fact that the names aren't the most accurate descriptions of their geographical relationship to the City of St. Paul.

And still, that's not confusing enough! The City of St. Paul has a neighborhood named the "West Side," which is the part of the city on the south side of the Mississippi River. At least it borders the City of West St. Paul. There is another neighborhood of St. Paul called the "North End." The "North End" is nowhere near the City of North St. Paul. Indeed, the City of North St. Paul doesn't even border St. Paul; neither does "St. Paul Park" border St. Paul or any St. Paul named suburb.


Who wins? Is St. Paul so great that many of it's surrounding suburbs are St. Paul wannabes trying to emulate their wondrous neighbor? Is Minneapolis so great that it's clear that there is no competition? Perhaps the Minneapolis suburbs have such strong identities there is no need to adopt "Minneapolis?"

One thing is certain, most suburbs on either side of the metro area were not very creative in coming up with names. You have the boring-yet-brimming-with-optimism names, like Golden Valley, Richfield, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, and New Hope. And inoffensive names that were clearly picked by the same committee that designed the Canadian flag: Maplewood and Maple Grove. All very distinctive.

At some important point in the past, more people wanted to be associated with St. Paul than Minneapolis.

Despite the ensuing confusion, St. Paul wins.

Minneapolis: 1 / St. Paul: 2