St. Cloud. An incorporated city of 2,200 inhabitants at the junction of the Brainerd and St. Vincent branches of the St. P. & P. R. R., in the eastern part of Stearns county, of which it is the seat. Also located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Sauk rivers, the latter of which drives 2 flouring mills in the neighborhood. There are also 2 saw mills, 3 planing mills, 2 foundries and machine shops, a plow factory and a spoke factory operated by steam. Contains also 2 banks, 3 hotels, 3 breweries, 3 newspapers, a United States land office, and a church each of Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Catholics. St. Cloud is highly favored in being the seat of educational institutions. One of the three Normal schools of the State is situated here. It occupies a fine structure, employs 7 instructors, and had an average attendance in 1877 of 146 pupils. A cut of this institution may be seen on the opposite page. It has in addition 2 superior graded schools, the public school buildings of the city having cost about $30,000. Also a Catholic seminary. Exports, flour, wheat, lumber, spokes, sash and blinds, etc. Telegraph, Northwestern. Express, American. Stages tri-weekly to Paynesville, Richmond, Two Rivers, Fair Haven and Maine Prairie. Daily mail by rail from north, east and west. (Minnesota State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1878-9, Volume 1, R. L. Polk & Co., and A. C. Danser, Detroit, Michigan, Page 487)