St Cloud

City and administrative headquarters of Stearns County, also in Benton and Sherburne counties, east-central Minnesota, on both banks of the Mississippi River, 97 km/60 mi northwest of Minneapolis; population (1990 est) 48,800. Nearby deposits of coloured granite were discovered in 1870 and local quarries have since dominated the economy, stimulating a building stone and monument industry.

St Cloud also has railway repair shops and factories making refrigeration equipment, paper, iron and brass products, and optical goods. It is the seat of St Cloud State University (1869). The Minnesota State Reformatory lies in the southeastern part. Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge and Sand Dunes State Forest are to the southeast.

History Laid out as a fur trading post in the 1850s, it emerged as a transportation and processing centre for regional agricultural goods, especially dairy products.