Iron Range - Cities

Cities

The Iron Range contains several smaller cities. Some of the more significant communities in the region include:

• Aitkin (pop. 2,165) is located on the western edge of the Cuyuna Range. Aitkin was the birthplace of stage and film actor Warren William.
• Babbitt (pop. 1,475)
• Bovey (pop. 804) is located along U.S. Highway 169 between Coleraine and Taconite. Bovey was the birthplace of NHL goaltender Adam Hauser, San Francisco politician Richard Hongisto, and Eric Enstrom – photographer of the famous 1918 photograph "Grace."
• Buhl (pop. 1,000) is located along U.S. Highway 169 between Chisholm and Virginia. Buhl is known for its fine water and claims "The Finest Water in America" on its water tower.
• Chisholm (pop. 4,976) is the geographic center of the Mesabi Range, home of the Chisholm Bluestreaks. It is the home of Ironworld Discovery Center, the Minnesota Museum of Mining, and the Iron Range Research Center. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, subject of the motion picture "Field of Dreams" settled in Chisholm. The motion picture "North Country" was also partly filmed in Chisholm.
• Coleraine (pop. 1,970) is referred to as the "start place of the Iron Range." The town was built in the early 20th century to accommodate the miners of the Oliver Iron Mining's Canisteo Mine. John Greenway was the superintendent of the mine; Greenway School District in Coleraine is named for him.
• Crosby (pop. 2,386) is an old mining boomtown on the southwestern edge of the Iron Range, home of the Crosby-Ironton Rangers.
• Duluth (pop. 86,265) The fourth largest city in the state, while not part of the Iron Range, is a destination for much of its product. The port of Duluth allows for the iron ore to be easily shipped through the Great Lakes system. Recently tourism has become more prominent in the local economy. While not a mining town, its prominence as a major shipping port for the Iron Range warrants its mention here.
• Ely (pop. 3,460), in the Vermillion Range, is perhaps best known as the most popular entry point for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
• Eveleth (pop. 3,718) is where U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and seven others died in a plane crash in 2002 two miles away from the municipal airport. It also the site of the conflict that resulted in the Supreme Court case Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. and the film North Country. It is also home of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
• Grand Rapids (pop. 10,869) is named for the local rapids in the Mississippi River, which was the uppermost limit of practical steamboat travel during the late 19th century. Today, those rapids are hidden underneath the dam of the Blandin Paper Mill, which has its papermaking facilities in downtown Grand Rapids. To the proximate north and northeast of the city are the iron mines, which are declining in importance today. The current economy has a large tourist footing, with many local resorts, golf courses, and regional hunting and fishing. Grand Rapids was the birthplace of entertainer Judy Garland.
• Hibbing (pop. 16,361) is the largest city by area in the state of Minnesota and is the former boyhood home of Bob Dylan, basketball great Kevin McHale and the location of the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine, is one of the largest open pit iron mines in the world. Hibbing is also the birthplace of Roger Maris.
• Kinney (pop. 169) is an old mining boomtown on the Iron Range, located between Buhl and Mountain Iron.
• Mountain Iron (pop. 2,869) is home to Minntac, the world's largest taconite processing plant.
• Nashwauk (pop. 983) is a small town between Grand Rapids and Hibbing, 4 miles from Keewatin. There are a few pit lakes in the area that now hold, bass, Lake Trout, and Northern Pike. Currently (2010), Essar Minnesota SteelLLC