 Most of the population of the region in earlier decades followed traditional tribal religious practices . However , Roman Catholicism had been known in the area long before its acquisition by the U.S. because of the many French traders who lived and <unk> there . Catholic missionary activity among the Métis expanded greatly in the early 19th century with the Catholic Church becoming particularly established in Saint Paul . <unk> was rather a much newer phenomenon though some Protestant missionaries had entered the region in the early 19th century as well . The first Protestant church appeared in 1848 ( Market Street Church , Saint Paul ) . The waves of immigration in the 1850s , however , would rapidly make <unk> the largest religious group . 
