I am in Hibbing High School, a mansion of a building. I look around in awe—a century-old tribute to the city and its iron industry: original artwork, Tiffany Studios-stained glass, ornate ceilings, and brass fixtures. I am with Joe and Mary Keyes, local Iron Range tour guides. Before meeting them, I perused the itinerary they had set out for me and tried to understand what I would see. When I started the tour, I soon began to appreciate their enthusiasm for this part of the state, its rich history, its natural beauty, and this fantastic home of education.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
We met at the Hibbing Historical Society Museum, where Mary explained Old Hibbing. She said the original community was right on top of a rich iron deposit, and the town had to move. The museum showed, through displays and photos, how mine owners gave their employees their homes if they would move them to the new location and how city buildings, including the high school, were rebuilt at the expense of mine owners.
Iron Range refers to several elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior. The largest is the Mesabi Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota. First described in 1866 as the chief iron ore mining district in the United States, it is located mainly in Itasca and Saint Louis counties and has been mined since the late 1800s.
Our first tour stop after the museum is the Hull—Rust—Mahoning Mine viewing area. The mine is one of the world’s largest open pit mines, and the viewing area is a great vantage point to watch two-story haul trucks and super-sized electric shovels go about Hibbing Taconite’s mining operations. Taconite is an iron-bearing rock with iron minerals interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate. Massive trucks and shovels are displayed in an adjacent park, offering a close-up of the mining operation.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
Hibbing has a lot more to explore than the mine, though. It’s the former home of music legend Bob Dylan, basketball great Kevin McHale, baseball player Roger Maris, and the birthplace of the Greyhound Bus Lines.
The historic downtown includes various sites that Dylan once frequented. His boyhood home on Bob Dylan Drive is near Hibbing High School. I am curious about touring Hibbing High School. What could be so great about a high school? One step inside the front door proved this is indeed a unique destination. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its $4 million (equivalent to $62.8 million today) construction was bankrolled in 1920 by mining companies to appease townspeople forced to move their homes from North Hibbing to make way for mining operations.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
The school features a lavishly decorated 1800-seat auditorium patterned after the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The hall also contains a 1900-pipe organ from the Barton Organ Company. The chandeliers, which cost $15,000 each in the 1920s, feature cut glass from Belgium and are insured for $250,000. Tiffany Studios made the exit signs.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
The mining company proved everything to students, including its amazing architecture.
Virginia Heritage Museum
After bidding farewell to Joe and Mary, I head for the Virginia Heritage Museum in nearby Virginia. This charming little complex in Olcott Park includes the former park superintendent’s residence, a Finnish-style log house, and a 1930s tourist cabin.
My guided tour began in the main building. Here, a young enthusiast champion of the museum pointed out community exhibits and explained their significance. Artifacts and photos help explain the community and the pine business as they relate to Virginia. For example, Virginia is the White Pine Capital of the World.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
Outside, she points out the innovative fire alarm that would telegraph the firehouse in an emergency and the tourist cabin used in the Park when travel became more popular nationwide.
Cabin displays include farm implements and kitchen tools. And a wringer washing machine that still works. The museum is excellent for anyone learning about Virginia and Iron Range.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
While in the city, visit Canelake’s Candies on Chestnut Street. It is the oldest candy shop in the state, serving customers since 1905. This delightful store has impressive selections of candy, fun souvenirs, and a soda shop.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
My last stop is Minnesota Discovery Center, the state’s largest museum complex outside the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area. The Iron Range Center, which encompasses 660 acres and includes a museum, research Center, and Park, tells the story of the Iron Range—”The Land, The Mines, The People, and The Work.”
The museum includes artifacts and historical photos, examines mining methods, and explores regional geology. The museum highlights the story of the predominantly European immigrants who migrated to this region at the turn of the 20th century to find work in the iron industry. Beautiful exhibits and displays honor the area’s history and heritage.
The research center, with a unique library and archives, offers historically significant written, oral, and visual records of the Iron Range. The 7,000-volume library focuses on the regional and local history of northeastern Minnesota. Many visitors visit to research their family genealogy.
After an hour in the museum, it was time to take the trolley to a mining community known as the Glen Location. Visitors can explore the many buildings, including a 1903 location house, bunkhouse, and 1905 Finnish boarding house.
Photo by Marilyn Jones
When You Go
My adventure ended too soon. Iron Range, an umbrella term for the area, offers so much more to experience. In addition to the cities offering fantastic shopping, restaurants, and attractions, there are excellent sports opportunities, including fishing, hiking, and mountain biking in the summer and snowmobiling, ice skating, skiing, and snowshoeing in the winter.
Go, learn, and have fun—the beautiful Iron Range and all it has to offer are waiting.
