Savage is a suburban city 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Scott County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city is situated on the south bank of the Minnesota River in a region commonly referred to as South of the River, comprising the southern portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States. The population of Savage was 21,115 at the 2000 census; the Census Bureau estimated its 2006 population at 27,292. Minnesota State Highway 13 and County Road 42 are two of the main arterial routes in the city. Interstate 35W and U.S. Route 169 are in close proximity to the city. The landing point for Irish and Scottish immigrants in 1800, Savage has grown into a developing bedroom community, absorbing population growth from Burnsville, its larger neighbor to the east. Once a shipbuilding port for the U.S. Navy, Savage is now an industrial manufacturing job center in the southern metro. The city is still relatively undeveloped, rural, and wild with sections of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve within its borders. Previously named Hamilton after the city in Ontario, Canada, the town was renamed Savage after Marion Willis Savage who owned and trained the nationally celebrated racing horse Dan Patch.