 Saint Anthony , on the east bank of the Mississippi River later became part of Minneapolis , and was an important lumber milling center supplied by the Rum River . In 1848 , businessman Franklin Steele built the first private sawmill on the Saint Anthony Falls , and more sawmills quickly followed . The oldest home still standing in Saint Anthony is the Ard Godfrey house , built in 1848 , and lived in by Ard and Harriet Godfrey . The house of John H. Stevens , the first house on the west bank in Minneapolis , was moved several times , finally to Minnehaha Park in south Minneapolis in 1896 . 
