Ely, Minn., is one of those far-flung communities that stoke the imagination of the big outside world while remaining the entire planet to the people living there.
Like any small town, you take the bad with the good. I never lived in Ely, but have family connections there. My great-grandmother lived just outside town on Highway 1 until she was almost 100. She was a mystical person who seemed to live between two dimensions. She saw spirits and had dreams of biblical scope and duration. We didn’t see her very often, but the visits were memorable.
My grandfather worked in one of the old underground mines, so my frame of reference for Ely was grounded in its past. I used to go up there every year for speech meets. In fact, I made friends with some of the Ely speech kids, even taking one to my Cherry High School senior prom. The night didn’t go so well. Bringing her home was my longest drive to Ely.
Today’s column isn’t about the old Ely. Rather, it’s about the one that’s there now. In my more recent trips up the road (considerably less awkward by comparison) I’ve seen a renaissance of sorts, one that deserves inspection.
That’s significant because, in the news, Ely is just ground-zero for the debate over copper-nickel mining. It’s “jobs” vs. “the environment.” Or “crunchy granola eaters” vs. “the good old boys.” Those elements are there, but the full picture is so much more interesting.
Read “Ely’s bustling art scene salves conflict and unites community,” in the Tuesday, July 29, 2025 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
