The campus started near the Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River, but people moved about 1 mile (1.6 km) over to the place it is today. The old site is now a small park. They closed during the American Civil War, but they opened again in 1867 when John S. Pillsbury gave some money. They were bigger by 1869, so they stopped being called preparatory school and started being called a college instead. Today there are so many buildings, there are some on both sides of the Mississippi River. The part with buildings on the east side of the river is called the ""East Bank"", and the part with buildings on the west side of the river is called the ""West Bank"".