Ely, Minnesota
Ely | ||
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FIPS code 27-19142[3] | | |
GNIS feature ID | 0661205[2] | |
Website | www.ely.mn.us |
Ely (
Located on the
Ely's main street has nature outfitters, outdoor clothing stores, and restaurants. State Highway 1 (
History
The first Europeans to explore the area were
When the
That year the miners incorporated the town of Florence, population 177, near the east side of Shagawa Lake on a site now known as Spaulding. Florence was named after the daughter of the Chandler mine's Captain Jack Pengilly (also the town's first mayor). After ore was discovered farther west, the town relocated, changing its name as well. Since it was discovered that the name "Florence" was already used by another village in Minnesota, "Ely" was chosen in honor of mining executive Samuel B. Ely, a big promoter of Vermilion Range ore who lived in Michigan. (He is not known to have visited his namesake town.)[6] In 2020, The Ely Echo wrote:
- The name Ely stems from the "Isle of Eels," a wetlands near Cambridge, England. In historic times,those lakes swarmed with the slithery fish (similar to eelpout) that provided sustenance for ancestors of Samuel B. Ely. His clan arrived in the states (from Ely, England) in the 1600s (one ancestor was a close associate of George Washington). Samuel, a mining executive, financed the railroad to Ely in 1888 which launched our town. He embraced Ojibwe culture and applied native names to some of his mining projects, including Ontonagon (hunting river) & Ishpeming (heaven), Michigan. Samuel's great grandson, Courtland Ely III, was Grand Marshal at Ely's 1988 Centennial Parade, stayed with Schurkes at Wintergreen & was given keys to the city by Gov. Rudy Perpich (an Iron Ranger from Hibbing).[7]
The original town site consisted of 40 acres. A man named McCormick opened the first grocery store in a small log building. A. J. Fenske built the first frame building in the fall of 1887; he also opened a hardware and furniture store. The Pioneer Hotel was also built that year at the corner of Sheridan Street and Fourth Avenue. The first school opened in 1889 in a small frame building on Second Avenue; its enrollment was 112 during the first season.
According to a history written in 1910, "The first religious service was conducted by Father Buh, who came from Tower for that purpose, and the Catholic congregation erected the first church. The first Protestant minister was Rev. Mr. Freeman, who arrived in time to hold an Easter service in 1889, and located here permanently, organizing the Presbyterian church. There are now six churches, representing as many different faiths.
Soon other mines opened in Ely: The Pioneer Mine (1889), the Zenith (1892), the Savoy (1899), and the Sibley (1899). The Pioneer was by far the most productive, producing 41 million tons or 40% of the Vermilion Range's entire output. Eventually 11 mines opened near Ely. In 1967 the Pioneer mine closed. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and its offices house the Ely Arts & Heritage Center.[6]
Originally the mining was an open-pit operation, but when the abundant ore was mined out, deep shafts were made to start mining underground. With the need for wooden support beams to keep the tunnels from collapsing and for lumber to meet the needs of the ever-expanding growth in the area, the logging and milling industries grew. Logging continues in the region, though on a limited scale and only for paper pulp—the major operations virtually disappeared by 1920 when the area's tree reserves were depleted.[8]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 2.74 square miles (7.10 km2); 2.73 square miles (7.07 km2) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.03 km2) is water.[9]
Ely is 100 miles (160 km) north of Duluth, 117 miles southeast of International Falls, and 244 miles (393 km) north of Minneapolis–Saint Paul.
Environment
Copper mining controversy
Since the 1960s, as Iron Range mines began closing, leaving only a few in operation, Ely, like many northern Minnesota communities, faced economic decline. Duluth, on the shores of Lake Superior, has built a tourist trade that has helped to sustain its economy. Ely, seen as the gateway to the
In October 2021, the Biden administration filed an application for a "mineral withdrawal" that will put a hold on the development of the mine proposal while the environmental impacts are studied. The Obama administration had launched a similar study, but 24 weeks into the 28-week study the newly elected Trump administration ended it, allowing the plans for the mining operation to continue. The completed study could lead to a 20-year ban on mining upstream from the BWCAW.[13] The Trump mineral leases were judged illegal, and in January 2022 the Biden administration canceled two Twin Metals mineral leases. The Timberjay called the Biden administration's decision a "potentially fatal blow to [a] proposed copper-nickel mine."[14]
Climate
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On the Köppen climate classification, Ely falls in the warm summer humid continental climate zone (Dfb). Summertime is warm (sometimes hot) and wintertime is cold (sometimes severely) and drawn out, sometimes beginning in October and lasting well into April.
On February 13, 2021, Ely set a new daily record low for the city with an actual air temperature of -50F.
Climate data for Ely, Minnesota, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1998–present | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 47 (8) |
62 (17) |
76 (24) |
81 (27) |
94 (34) |
97 (36) |
99 (37) |
97 (36) |
93 (34) |
84 (29) |
72 (22) |
51 (11) |
99 (37) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 36.4 (2.4) |
41.5 (5.3) |
57.0 (13.9) |
67.7 (19.8) |
83.5 (28.6) |
85.5 (29.7) |
89.8 (32.1) |
88.5 (31.4) |
83.7 (28.7) |
71.9 (22.2) |
54.5 (12.5) |
39.3 (4.1) |
91.3 (32.9) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 15.2 (−9.3) |
22.8 (−5.1) |
36.3 (2.4) |
50.6 (10.3) |
65.2 (18.4) |
75.4 (24.1) |
78.9 (26.1) |
77.9 (25.5) |
67.6 (19.8) |
51.6 (10.9) |
34.5 (1.4) |
20.7 (−6.3) |
49.7 (9.8) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 4.1 (−15.5) |
9.0 (−12.8) |
23.4 (−4.8) |
38.0 (3.3) |
51.6 (10.9) |
62.1 (16.7) |
66.1 (18.9) |
65.1 (18.4) |
55.7 (13.2) |
42.0 (5.6) |
26.5 (−3.1) |
11.8 (−11.2) |
37.9 (3.3) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | −6.9 (−21.6) |
−4.9 (−20.5) |
10.4 (−12.0) |
25.4 (−3.7) |
38.0 (3.3) |
48.9 (9.4) |
53.3 (11.8) |
52.2 (11.2) |
43.8 (6.6) |
32.4 (0.2) |
18.6 (−7.4) |
2.9 (−16.2) |
26.2 (−3.2) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | −29.2 (−34.0) |
−28.3 (−33.5) |
−17.6 (−27.6) |
6.5 (−14.2) |
26.3 (−3.2) |
37.1 (2.8) |
45.9 (7.7) |
42.6 (5.9) |
32.5 (0.3) |
21.1 (−6.1) |
−0.5 (−18.1) |
−20.0 (−28.9) |
−32.1 (−35.6) |
Record low °F (°C) | −45 (−43) |
−50 (−46) |
−32 (−36) |
−12 (−24) |
22 (−6) |
29 (−2) |
38 (3) |
30 (−1) |
26 (−3) |
5 (−15) |
−16 (−27) |
−39 (−39) |
−50 (−46) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 1.06 (27) |
0.79 (20) |
1.34 (34) |
2.27 (58) |
2.99 (76) |
4.23 (107) |
4.50 (114) |
3.41 (87) |
4.82 (122) |
2.87 (73) |
1.70 (43) |
1.32 (34) |
31.30 (795) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 13.8 (35) |
9.3 (24) |
8.4 (21) |
7.7 (20) |
0.3 (0.76) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
2.1 (5.3) |
9.8 (25) |
13.2 (34) |
64.6 (164) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 11.4 | 9.1 | 8.6 | 9.5 | 14.0 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 12.2 | 14.4 | 10.0 | 11.4 | 139.2 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 12.1 | 8.7 | 5.7 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 6.8 | 11.7 | 50.7 |
Source: |
Demographics
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1890 | 901 | — | |
1900 | 3,717 | 312.5% | |
1910 | 3,572 | −3.9% | |
1920 | 4,902 | 37.2% | |
1930 | 6,156 | 25.6% | |
1940 | 5,970 | −3.0% | |
1950 | 5,474 | −8.3% | |
1960 | 5,438 | −0.7% | |
1970 | 4,904 | −9.8% | |
1980 | 4,820 | −1.7% | |
1990 | 3,968 | −17.7% | |
2000 | 3,724 | −6.1% | |
2010 | 3,460 | −7.1% | |
2020 | 3,268 | −5.5% | |
U.S. Decennial Census |
2000 census
As of the
There were 1,912 households, out of which 21.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.6% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.9% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.72.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 17.8% under the age of 18, 16.2% from 18 to 24, 21.6% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,615, and the median income for a family was $36,047. Males had a median income of $34,559 versus $18,833 for females. The
2010 census
As of the
There were 1,681 households, of which 19.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 51.6% were non-families. 45.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.93 and the average family size was 2.66.
The median age in the city was 45.3 years. 16% of residents were under the age of 18; 13.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.3% were from 25 to 44; 27.4% were from 45 to 64; and 22.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.7% male and 50.3% female.
2020 census
As of the
Arts and culture
Ely hosts many community events in Whiteside Park, such as the Blueberry Arts Festival in July,[20] the Harvest Moon Festival in September, and the Winter Festival in February. There is also an Ely-only artist gallery, Art & Soul Gallery.[21]
Ely's post office contains two tempera-on-plaster murals, Iron-Ore Mines and Wilderness, painted by
North American Bear Center
Ely is home to the North American Bear Center, which opened in 2007. It is an interactive museum and educational facility featuring American black bears. The center, the only science/nature museum of its kind, is dedicated to helping people learn from the bears themselves about bear behavior, ecology, and their relations with humans. A wall of windows overlooks a 2.5-acre naturally forested enclosure with a pond and waterfalls, which is home to four resident bears. There are also exhibits, a theater, children's activities, and interpretive nature trails.[23][24]
International Wolf Center
The International Wolf Center is one of the world's leading organizations dedicated to educating people about wolves. Founded in 1985 by a group of biologists led by
Arts & Heritage Center
The Ely Arts & Heritage Center is in the historic Pioneer Mine complex. It is managed by a nonprofit arts organization, Ely Greenstone Public Art. It offers classes, exhibits, and festivals.[25]
Dorothy Molter museum
The Dorothy Molter cabin and museum are in Ely. Known as the "Root Beer Lady", Molter lived for 56 years on Knife Lake in the BWCAW. She gradually gained national prominence and extensive coverage in media, books and documentaries, and over the years tens of thousands of canoeists stopped by to visit and drink her homemade root beer. Molter first visited her future home (The Isle of Pines Resort) on Knife Lake in 1930 and it became her home in 1934. Until the mid/late 1940s, the Isle of Pines resort was typical of many north woods resorts. It was reachable by seaplanes and motorboats, and later by snowmobiles as they came into use.
After the BWCAW was designated, nearly all motorized transportation to Molter's lodge was eliminated, and residences, buildings, business and the few roads from the wilderness were removed, leaving Molter as the only full-time resident in a wilderness area three times the size of Rhode Island. After her death, her cabin was dismantled and moved to Ely. Her residence and a second cabin of hers were reconstructed there, and the Dorothy Molter Museum was established to preserve her legacy.
Ely-Winton History Museum
The Ely-Winton History Museum is on the Vermilion Community College Campus. It depicts local history through displays, photographs, and oral histories. Logging and mining histories are told using geological samples and old logging and mining tools. Examples of past businesses are demonstrated as well as the importance of women on the frontier. In 2018 the museum opened an exhibit of paintings representative of Ely mining history, featuring the works of Albin Zaverl. It also has a collection of the work done by Ojibwe artist Carl Gawboy, who grew up in Ely.[26][27] The museum offers programs about the history of the area twice a month during the summer. The museum mission statement reads:[28]
- The mission depicts local history through artifacts, photographs, oral histories, numerous videos/DVDs; displays include Ojibwe, fur trade, mining, logging, immigration, voyageurs, and Footprints Across The Wilderness, the history of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with a new exhibit each summer. They cover the history of the area from prehistoric times through mining, immigration and logging. Arts displays include Carl Gawboy and Albin Zaverl.
Historically significant structures in and around Ely
The
The
Tanner's Hospital is a former hospital building built in 1901 as a moneymaking enterprise due to the area's high disease rate, a consequence of low investment in sanitation infrastructure in the mining boom towns of the Iron Range, where the long-term existence of any given community was unpredictable.
The Bull-of-the-Woods Logging Scow is a small paddle steamer wrecked in Burntside Lake. It was built around 1893 for one of the lumber companies in the area. There were at least a few of these vessels, locally known as "alligators" or "gators", in operation in northeastern Minnesota in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They could tow timber rafts, hoist logs, navigate shallow waters, and even pull themselves across dry land. It is the only known surviving example of its type.
Parks and recreation
There are many Minnesota wilderness hiking trails in the Ely area. Echo Trail (Saint Louis County Road 116), considered one of Minnesota's most scenic trails, is a former logging road that runs north and west out of Ely and provides the primary access to the lakes of the western BWCAW. The trail is a 72-mile (116-km) road on asphalt and gravel through the wilderness of the Superior National Forest and Kabetogama State Forest.[29]
Trezona Trail offers historic views of the old iron ore mining operations that first brought new immigrants to the area.
The
A paved biking trail, the Mesabi Trail, begins in Ely and stretches across the
In 2015, the Ely Marathon began, sending runners from the north side of Burntside Lake down the Echo Trail and into the city. It has become an annual event and grown to include several races. The marathon is known as the world's only marathon with a "canoe portage" category and holds the world record time for a marathon-length canoe portage.
Attractions
Ely is the largest "jumping off" town for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and a major one for Quetico Provincial Park. The BWCAW is renowned as a destination for canoeing and fishing on its many lakes, and is the nation's most-visited wilderness. With extensive outfitting and other services, Ely can credibly be claimed to do the most wilderness canoe outfitting of any town or city in the world.
Longtime Ely resident Sigurd F. Olson was instrumental in creating the BWCAW. A writer, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness, he served for more than 30 years as a wilderness guide in the lakes and forests of the Quetico-Superior country of northern Minnesota and southwestern Ontario. He worked for the protection of the Boundary Waters, helped draft the Wilderness Act of 1964, and helped establish Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. He was known honorifically as the Bourgeois—a term the voyageurs used for trusted leaders.
Camp Widjiwagan
Camp Widjiwagan is a wilderness camp for girls and boys on Burntside Lake. The camp is nationally recognized for its canoeing and backpacking programs; it also has an environmental education program, the Widjiwagan Outdoor Learning Program. During the summer it runs canoe and backpacking programs offered at several degrees of experience, with more advanced trips for experienced campers. Environmental education programs are held during the fall, winter and spring, with students studying wilderness survival, plant and tree identification, basic hiking skills, animal tracking, the night sky, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. Master builder of wood-and-canvas canoes Joe Seliga lived in Ely and was an instructor at the camp. When he died in 2005, Camp Widjiwagan received his canoe form.
Hegman Lake pictographs
The
Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base
The Boy Scouts of America's national Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base is a base for canoe trips and winter camping, activities and training.
Education
The Ely Public School District includes two public schools for primary and secondary education.[32]
- Ely Memorial High School (Grades 6–12)
- Washington Elementary School (Grades Pre-K-5)
Ely is home to Minnesota North College – Vermilion, formerly named Vermilion Community College.[33]
Ely has a public library, the Ely Public Library,[34] which is part of the Arrowhead Library System.[35] Originally housed in the Ely Community Center, the library moved to a new, separate facility in 2014.[36][37]
Media
Ely is served by two community-oriented newspapers, the Ely Echo and the North Country Angler, and a radio station, WELY.
Notable people
- Jessica Biel – actress, born in Ely
- Barker-Karpis Gang. After successfully evading prosecution, Brown settled in Ely as a liquor store owner.
- National Geographic
- Jim Klobuchar – journalist, father of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
- Daren Streblow – comedian
- Lynn Rogers – black bear expert
- Patrick Roger Vail - Minnesota politician and businessman
Famous hoaxes
People from Ely, with the support (and often assistance) of the city council, have created various hoaxes as a way of garnering free publicity for the city. One was that of a fictional family that "paints the leaves" of trees every fall. The fictional family was retiring from the business, and wanted people to send in a "color application" if they wanted to help carry out the tradition.[38][39] Previously, a story was released about Ely seceding from the United States to be part of Canada. Both hoaxes were featured on Ely's Chamber Of Commerce website, www.ely.org. In 2009, Ely made a tongue-in-cheek international bid to host the 2016 Olympics, with a man allegedly already employed with a bucket to drain Miner's Lake south of town in order to provide stadium seating. This hoax became widely known throughout Minnesota, and was often reported on radio stations. Shirts, bumper stickers, signs, and even interstate billboards bearing the slogan "Ely in 2016" became commonplace throughout the state.[40]
References
- ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ely, Minnesota
- ^ a b "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ "Minnesota Pronunciation Guide". Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
- ^ a b "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "It all began with mining" (PDF). Ely Minnesota History. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 22, 2020. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
- ^ Schurke, Paul. "The rich legacy of the White Iron Chain of Lakes". The Ely Echo. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
- ^ "A Brief History of Ely" Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Zenith City Online
- ^ "US Gazetteer files 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
- ^ "Conflicted Over Copper: PolyMet copper-nickel mine has been trapped in litigation". Great Lakes Now. June 12, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
- ^ Kraker, Dan. "Bill to ban copper-nickel mining draws sharp contrast between Boundary Waters, Iron Range". MPR News. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
- ^ Hemphill, Stephanie. "At the edge of the Boundary Waters, miners probe for copper, nickel". Minnesota Public Radio. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. June 23, 2010.
- ^ Karnowski, Steve. "Biden Administration Delivers Serious Blow to Minnesota Mine". U.S.News. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
- ^ "Biden administration cancels Twin Metals mineral leases". Timberjay. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ "Temperatures plummeted to as low as 50 below zero in Minnesota on Saturday morning". MPR News. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
- ^ "Minnesota's All-Time Record Low". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ^ "NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ "Station: Ely, MN". U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
- ^ Berry good time set at Ely Blueberry Fest - Mesabi Daily News: Local
- ^ "Still crazy after all these years". The Timberjay. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
- ISBN 9780415968263.
- ^ North American Bear Center « Ely Minnesota
- ^ "North American Bear Center - Home". Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Join Ely Greenstone Public Art AND Ely Arts & Heritage Center « Ely Greenstone Public Art". Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
- ^ "Albin Zaverl mining artwork exhibit opens at Ely Winton Historical Society". The Ely Echo. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Duluth artist Carl Gawboy honored with county arts excellence award". Duluth News Tribune. November 11, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Ely-Winton Historical Society". Museum. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ The Echo Trail: Ely to Orr via St. Louis County Road 116 | Crane Lake Minnesota Scenic Byways | Trails.com
- ^ "MESABI TRAIL". Mesabi Iron Range. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ^ Breining, Greg (February 17, 2010). "Trekking with Wolves". The New York Times.
- ^ "Ely Public Schools". Independent School District 696. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Vermilion". Minnesota North. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Ely Public Library". Ely Public Library. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Arrowhead Library System". sites.google.com. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Ely, MN - Ely Public Library". www.ely.org. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Check out our new library, and say thanks to those responsible | The Ely Echo". www.elyecho.com. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Ely re-brands Fall as "Getup" as in Getup for a visit this Autumn". Archived from the original on August 26, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
- ^ Leaf Coloring in Ely, Minnesota - YouTube
- ^ Kaiser, Emily (April 1, 2009). "Ely goes all out for the 2016 Olympic bid". Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2013.