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COLUMN: History echoes through our modern democracy
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 24, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. History echoes through our modern democracyBy Aaron J. Brown Maybe you’ve got a book like this in your house, a big one: heavier than most new computers, too big to hide. For me this book was “The Rise…
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100 years young, a new Iron Range century
Matt Nelson has a nice story in the Saturday, July 9 Hibbing Daily Tribune about a woman celebrating her 109th birthday in this Iron Range town (subscription link). Here’s a excerpt: Signie Burke has lived through two world wars, 19 U.S. presidents, and has been retired for 44 years. Hibbing’s oldest native celebrated her 109th…
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History shows copper mining has always been tricky business
Historian Jeff Manuel is an occasional contributor to this blog and today presents a fascinating historical take on the issue of nonferrous mineral mining in northeastern Minnesota. Recent debate over possible nonferrous/copper-nickel mining in northeast Minnesota has largely framed the issue along the predictable jobs versus the environment divide. Although Minnesotans will ultimately have to…
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The Range builds America, again, tonight
Reminder: The film “Iron Range: Minnesota Building America” will be screened tonight in Chisholm, with introduction by Range historian Pam Brunfelt. Related posts: No related posts.
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Iron Range film to screen at MN Discovery Center Saturday
Those looking to bone up on Range history (I’m looking at you, most of the people running for Congress) can take in this excellent film next week at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm. I’ve seen it several times now and it will absolutely reshape your view of the region in the context of American…
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Iron Range past, present, future subject of new radio documentary
The following is a press release from 91.7 KAXE regarding an upcoming radio documentary about the Iron Range by Milt Lee. I spoke with Milt with for this piece and am greatly looking forward to his take on the region. Iron Range Radio Documentary Debuts on 91.7 FM“Ranger in My Heart” Seeks the Region’s People,…
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The immigrant journey on the Iron Range shown anew
A new exhibit opens this weekend at the Minnesota Discovery Center (formerly Ironworld) in Chisholm. My Iron Range history hero Pam Brunfelt opens the exhibit Saturday. Journey Stories exhibit to open at Minnesota Discovery Center Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm will host the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street exhibit Journey Stories January 29 through…
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Seeds of "military industrial complex" found in northern Minn. boat house
If you’re a fan of politics or history you might recall the legendary quote from President Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address delivered 50 years ago today. The speech warned of the rise of a “military industrial complex” that would grow to drain our federal budget by entangling us in a series of nonstop overseas entanglements. Eisenhower’s…
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In honor of the Pioneer
MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on efforts in Ely to turn the old Pioneer Mine site into a culture and heritage center. A quasi-high-end hotel with convention facilities now sits across the street from the Pioneer Mine, the culmination of an immigrant miner’s dream. That is, provided the immigrant miner had the foresight to encourage his…
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GUEST POST: Putting Oberstar’s Pork in Context
This is the latest in a semi-regular series of Iron Range posts from historian Jeff Manuel. News coverage of Representative Jim Oberstar’s loss to Chip Cravaack on Tuesday has emphasized Oberstar’s long record of using earmarks to fund projects in Minnesota’s Eighth District. The Star Tribune called Oberstar “a powerful transportation committee chairman who has…
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Milford Mine site now open to public
The first phase of a memorial site for the Milford Mine disaster of 1924 is complete in Crow Wing County. The Milford tragedy took the lives of 41 miners on the Cuyuna Range, one of the three major historic iron ranges in northern Minnesota. A park commemorating something so awful might not be the ball…
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Bob Dylan’s boyhood synagogue for sale on Iron Range
The synagogue where Bob Dylan and his family attended services when Bob was growing up on Minnesota’s Iron Range is for sale again. The former Agudath Achim Synagogue in Hibbing has been remodeled into a residential home but key attributes remain from its time as the site of young Robert Zimmerman’s bar mitzvah, including the…
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Awesome lecture to be dropped like hot on Saturday
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” ~Abraham Lincoln “The richest village in the world.”~Hibbing’s reputation during the tenure of 10-time village president Victor Power “The Iron Range will never, never, never be the same.”~Gov. Rudy Perpich, after the iron mining collapse of 1982. “Don’t call it a comeback.…
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GUEST POST: Taconite Roads: what’s old is new
The following is part of an occasional series of guest posts from historian Jeff Manuel. Thanks, Jeff! File this one under everything old is new again. Aaron’s recent post about a company hoping to use overburden and tailings as road construction material reminded me of several old efforts to use mining byproducts in road construction.…