On this date in Minnesota History: June 1

June 1, 1838 - On or around this date, Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, completed building a small shack on a tract of land at the entrance of what was known as Fountain Cave on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just upstream from what is now Downtown Saint Paul. This shack, “according to a historical publication by Albert A. Jones, dated 1892, became the first habitation, and the first business house of Saint Paul.”

Parrant is “recognized as being the first person of European descent to live within the borders of what would eventually become” the capital city of Minnesota. Called Pig’s Eye because he was blind in one eye, Parrant gained a somewhat dubious reputation with law enforcement, most likely due to his dabbling as a part-time bootlegger.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Parrant

Fountain Cave, site of the first saloon in St. Paul, Minn., operated by Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fountain_cave--near_St._Paul,_by_Whitney_%26_Zimmerman.jpg