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 72 Bog State Recreation Area is located on Highway 72, immediately north of Waskish. Highway 72 crosses the Rainy River at Baudette. State Highway 72 was authorized as one of the first two Minnesota legislative routes in 1923. This portion of the route was located between Blackduck and Baudette. The route was paved by 1942. At one time, Highway 72 had continued farther north, extending over what is now State Highway 172 in Lake of the Woods County. The section of present day "Minnesota 172" between State Highway 11 (at Baudette) and Wheeler's Point (at Lake of the Woods) was originally