Minnesota Saint Paul, in east-central Minnesota along the banks of the Mississippi River, has been Minnesota's capital city since 1849, first as capital of the Territory of Minnesota, and then as the state capital since 1858. Saint Paul is adjacent to Minnesota's most populous city, Minneapolis; they and their suburbs are known collectively as the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, and home to about 54 percent of the state's population. The remainder of the state is known as "Greater Minnesota" or pejoratively "Outstate Minnesota". The state has 17 cities with populations above 50,000 (as
Minnesota State Highway 44 had continued farther west, extending over what is now "County Highway 44" in Fillmore County. The section of present-day "County 44" between Harmony and U.S. Highway 63 (south of Spring Valley) was designated Highway 44 between 1972 and 1995. Minnesota State Highway 44 Minnesota State Highway 44 (MN 44) is a highway in southeast Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with U.S. 52 in Canton Township, near Prosper, and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 16 in Hokah, near La Crescent. Highway 44 is in length. Highway 44 serves as an east–west route between