Historical and cultural advocates, including former Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich, had long dreamt of a place that would honor the contributions of the people of the Iron Range region. In 1977, Minnesota Discovery Center became that place and opened its doors to the world. Originally named the Iron Range Interpretative Center, it was owned and operated by the State of Minnesota under the governance of the Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board and funded as a part of the Taconite Assistance Area. At that time, 34 exhibits detailed the development of Minnesota’s Iron Range.
In 1980, the Iron Range Research Center was opened on the IRIC campus. Other additions over the years included a 1,500 seat amphitheater, Ironworld USA Railroad connecting Glen Location and Festival Park, and the Minnesota Civilian Conservation Corps History Center. In October 2003, Iron Range Resources Commissioner Sandy Layman appointed the Ironworld Task Force to consider Ironworld's future. The result was the formation of Ironworld Development Corporation, 501(c)3 non-profit organization created to govern, manage and promote the assets of Ironworld. In April 2007, Ironworld officially transitioned from a unit of the State of Minnesota and the IRR to a non-profit museum.
Minnesota Discovery Center is a nonprofit institution and the state's largest museum complex outside of the Twin Cities metro area. Comprised of a Museum, Research Center and Park and encompassing 660 acres, Minnesota Discovery Center tells the story of the Iron Range - "The Land, The Mines, The People and The Work" - through exhibits, interpretation, programming and research materials. The Center highlights the story of the predominantly European immigrants who migrated to this region at the turn of the 20th century to find work in the burgeoning iron ore industry.
Minnesota Discovery Center's Museum is a 33,000-square-foot facility that houses artifacts, examines mining methods, explores regional geology and hosts travelling exhibits that help illuminate the spirit and sensibilities of Iron Range pioneers and their descendants. A special area of the museum is dedicated to the life and work of Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich, a Hibbing native. The Iron Range Research Center is a 14,000-square-foot facility that includes a special library and archives that collects historically significant written, oral and visual records of Minnesota's Iron Ranges and the Taconite Assistance Area. The 7,000 volume library focuses on the regional and local history of northeastern Minnesota. Over the past 20 years it has become a premiere destination for those seeking regional genealogical data. As a sanctioned government records repository, the archives contains more than 4,000 collections, including: records from local and regional units of government, personal and family papers, organizational and corporate records, topographic and mining maps, photographs and regional oral histories.
My VisitWe arrived at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm and our group would ride the trolley first so we walked to the trolley stop and waited for it to arrive.
Across the highway the Iron Man Monument which stands at eighty-five feet tall as a monument to the miners of Minnesota’s Iron Range. The nearly thirty-year story of its creation reveals northeastern Minnesotans' commitment to recognizing their history, expanding local heritage tourism, and diversifying their economy beyond the mining industry.
The origin of the Iron Man Memorial can be traced back to conversations between World War II veterans and citizens on the home front of the Mesabi Iron Range. Both groups wanted to honor the contributions of the local mining industry to the Allied victory as well as the broader industrial development of the United States. They also sought to memorialize fathers, uncles, and grandfathers who had worked for generations in the area's open pit and underground mines. In 1958, the Minnesota Museum of Mining in Chisholm submitted a proposal to the Centennial Statehood Commission asking for $21,875 dollars to fund the creation of an iron miner statue. The commission rejected the proposal and limited finances within the mining museum put the project on hold. The idea and determination of its backers, however, remained.
n 1973, Chisholm was the first city in the state to apply for and receive official Bicentennial Community status from the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. This required the city government to assemble a committee representative of a cross-section of its citizens to plan at least three projects related to bicentennial celebration themes. The idea of an iron miner memorial surfaced again as a project with potential to impact the community beyond 1976 (no direct funding was received from either the state or national bicentennial organizing bodies, however, for the effort). Members of the Iron Ore Miner Memorial Committee reached out to artists across the country sharing their vision for a statue depicting iron miners of the early twentieth century. Miners of this era wore oilskin helmets lit by candles and carried pick axes, shovels and lunchpails to work. Committee members ultimately hired sculptor Jack E. Anderson of Michigan, whose Shrine of the Snowshoe Priest in L'Anse had the realist style they wanted for the iron man.
Minnesota Discovery Center trolley 606 "Mesaba", nee Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways 606 built in 1929 approached the station.
Our group boarded the trolley for our two-and-a-half-mile mile trip.
The line on which we would be travelling.
We left the boarding area.
An Armstrong turntable.
Our train dropped down the grade.
A small yard.
A former trolley stop.
The former Pillsbury mine pit.
Our route takes a curve.
The straightest piece of track on this line.
Passing the trolley shops.
Mine equipment.
The Glen station.
The Pillsbury mine pit.
Mine buildings.
Old mining building foundations.
The Minnesota Discovery Center across the Pillsbury mine pit.
The old water tower foundations.
The trolley returned towards the switch for the loop.
We reached the switch that completes the loop.
The Pillsbury mine pit.
The side of the pit.
Our route returned to Chisholm.
The Iron Man Monument before we returned to where we started.
Our trolley back at the boarding area. Our group was given a buffet lunch then I went into the museum and watched two films, one about the building of the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railroad and the other about the construction of the Duluth & Iron Range Railway.
The Pillsbury mine pit as seen from the museum.
The buses that brought us here. After looking at the displays, I returned to the bus for some more rest then once everyone was back aboard, we returned to Duluth.
I went over to the Minnesota Transportation Museum to look for a book and took one picture then returne to the Best Western for a few minutes before going back to the Radisson to wait for Joe Harper so we couuld chase the dinner train "The Viking". I waited for 45 minutes but Joe never arrived, so at 5:30 PM, I walked over to the station and up on the bridge to see Soo Line 4-6-2 2719.
My first picture of Soo Line 4-6-2 2719 built by American Locomotive Company in 1923. I walked over to the parking structure for my next picture.
Soo Line 4-6-2 2719.
Soo Line 2719 backs "The Viking" out of Duluth Union Station.
The steam engine led "the Viking" to Two Harbors tonight then returned to the Best Western and worked on stories the rest of the evening.
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