Minnesota Brown

Minnesota Brown: Modern Life on the Iron Range

Tag: Hibbing

  • Would the real Iron Man please stand up?

    Would the real Iron Man please stand up?

    Residents of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range know the iconic image of the Iron Man Memorial situated along Highway 169 in Chisholm. This statue, the third-tallest free-standing statue in America (a very distant third, behind the Statue of Liberty and the Arch of St. Louis), was dedicated in 1987. It took 11 years to commission and…

  • Hibbing demolishes landmark Dupont building

    Hibbing demolishes landmark Dupont building

    I wrote two months ago about the city of Hibbing’s plans to demolish the landmark Dupont Blasting Powder power station. I wrote then with hope the city would reconsider its decision. The Hibbing Historical Society took a stab at preserving the site somehow, but lacked funds to pay for a study. When those efforts failed…

  • This blasted husk of a building is our coliseum

    This blasted husk of a building is our coliseum

    Last Sunday, my old neighbor and Hibbing Daily Tribune staff “curmudgeon” (that is his actual byline) penned a wonderful but disturbing column. He reported that the ruins of the old Dupont power house by Carey Lake in Hibbing might have to be demolished, presumably for safety reasons. Lynch also shared a wonderful collection of archived…

  • The night the Soviets occupied Hibbing

    I was absolutely floored by this item on the new Minnesota-based “Historically Inclined” blog by Jayson Hron. He describes in exquisite, luscious detail the frigid January 1959 night when the Soviet hockey team played an exhibition game in Hibbing, whipping a young American team in the Memorial Building arena. You must read this and you…

  • Another thought on early GOP politics in Range history

    Another thought on early GOP politics in Range history

    Folks seemed to like my Aug. 2 post “Silent Cal at the Hull Rust Mine” detailing the visit of President Calvin Coolidge to the Iron Range on that same date in 1928. I gave a brief overview of the Republican politics in the early 20th century on the Range. David Bednarczuk wrote me with this…

  • Silent Cal at the Hull Rust Mine

    Silent Cal at the Hull Rust Mine

    On this date in 1923, Warren Harding, an amiable, if corruptible president who sometimes questioned his own abilities to govern, died of a heart attack in San Francisco. Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in during the night by his own father, a notary public. On this same date in 1928, President Coolidge became the…

  • Bob Dylan’s boyhood synagogue for sale on Iron Range

    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…