Keewatin…an Ojibway name, spelled giwedin by Baraga’s Dictionary, meaning north, also the north wind. It was the name of a former large district of Canada at the west side of Hudson Bay. The word is spelled Keewaydin, as it should be pronounced, in Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha”, with translation as “the Northwest wind, the Home wind,” – MINNESOTA GEOGRAPHIC NAMES, by Warren Upham. Minnesota Historical Society, 1969.

Lumbering was the industry that first attracted laborers and settlers to the Keewatin area but it was the development of the mining industry by the Pillsbury, Longyear and Bennett families that built the village and gave it stability and permanence.

To serve the needs of miners of the recently opened Saint Paul Mine (1905), a town was platted just south of the mine and near the Great Northern Railroad spur, built in 1902 to serve Nashwauk – despite the fact that this located the town in a huge cedar swamp. The Saint Paul Mine was located just north of the platted village limits but the village limits actually went north and west enough to incorporate any mining Locations that might become involved. Main Street was placed in a North-South direction since most of the early businesses and travel was northerly to the Stevenson mine and on to Hibbing. This has caused confusion with many visitors now because the present roads were built to connect Keewatin with Nashwauk and Hibbing, which places travel in an East-West direction. Our Main Street still is considered the North-South First Street.

The name Apollo was first decided upon for this new town but the name of Keewatin prevailed. Keewatin means “Northwest Wind” in Ojibway (Chippewa), and is also the name of the area rock formation which contains the iron ore. The filing for incorporation was done December 30, 1905 and this created much controversy until an election to adopt the incorporation was approved on July 31, 1906. The Pillsbury family, later known as the Sargent Land Company, joined the Longyear and Bennett families in incorporating the village near the railroad. Most of the original records and abstracts were held by the Sargent Land Company.

The mining history of Keewatin is a part of the general survey of the western Mesaba Range. In 1886, Mr. D. T. Adams tested for iron ore across the range as far as Coleraine. His maps were the basis of the initial mining operations and their accuracy insured use for many years. In 1900, the Stevenson Mine began operating and, with it, came the need for housing. Known as the Stevenson Location, this was the commercial center of the area immediately west of Hibbing. Many of the early settlers of Keewatin originally were residents of Stevenson. The Forest Mine began shipping ore in 1904; it was located just south of Stevenson Mine but about a mile and one half north of Keewatin. The Saint Paul Mine, which began shipping ore in 1905, was started as an underground mine as were most of the mines in the area. Mr. E. F. Remer was the mine’s Superintendent. The underground operations were so wet that enormous amounts of water had to be pumped out. Stripping the mine to prepare for open pit operations began about 1911. A total of 5,670,939 tons of iron was shipped from the Saint Paul Mine before it closed in 1964.

The education concerns of the village resulted in the formation of School District #9 in 1907. A two-story wooden school building was erected and by 1910 there were 194 students and five teachers. In 1910 a four- classroom school was approved for the Saint Paul Location. The cost of this structure was $22,000 and it was made available for night school classes. The first brick school building was built in 1914 for 150 pupils. Also established were the School Gardens under the Agriculture Department of the District.

An early concern of the City Council that first year was where to hold meetings where it was warm. Most of the early meetings were held at the Saint Paul Mine offices because Mr. Remer was the first elected Mayor. The next order of business seems to have been providing health officers and liquor licenses. Of course, there was prostitution; which was legislated against by ordinance #4. Most of the first 24 ordinances dealt with behavior. It is interesting that even in 1906 the licensing of dogs was considered essential. After the usual ordinances to try to control human behavior, the council let bids for wooden sidewalks to not only connect the Main Street but also the schools and Saint Paul Location. Since there was no community water available until 1910, it was considered a necessary daily chore to haul water from Welcome Lake. Those with horses usually were very cooperative but some were greedy and charged for their services. Eventually the Saint Paul Mine installed water for their Captain and foremen in their houses and placed spigots on the streets for the miners’ families. Outhouses were the normal toilet for everybody until a sewage system was installed with a water system in 1910. Mr. Frank Harrison was hired in 1906 to install some gas lighting on cedar poles along the Main Street. The Bray Mine and the Mississippi Mine opened about 1910 and each had Locations, which needed service from Keewatin. The boardwalk was extended to the Mississippi Location.

Most of the early settlers were of English and Irish descent with a lot of Scandinavian people thrown in. This changed as mining changed and the demand for more workers brought many from Italy, Croatia and Slovenia to this area. There were many boarding houses to house the miners and the Finnish people ran to the best ones. They usually provided saunas also.

The only means of transportation available for the early settlers of Keewatin, besides walking, was either horse and buggy or train. Most of the supplies came by way of the Great Northern Railroad which at that time made only three trips a week. As there was no depot at first, the freight was dumped along the track to be claimed later by the storekeepers. A boxcar was finally brought in to serve as a depot and a real one built in 1911. The “Merry Widow” made its daily stop and people would run down to meet it.

Life in the early days was decidedly primitive according to our present ideas. There were many fights, which included guns and knives. Murder was not uncommon. The good times were usually get-togethers in the homes of friends where they talked about the old country and sang or listened to accordion music. The early dances were held in the Wooden School, in the Finn Hall and in the Village Hall after it was built in 1910.

With the advent of modern transportation, mining “Locations” were no longer needed, and the people moved to Keewatin with their houses. The entire community can be traced back to its origins at the various Locations. Each Location had certain styles of houses and, as one drives through the streets of Keewatin, one can see homes that originated at the Bray, Bennett, Mississippi, Sargent and the Saint Paul Locations. There are Captain’s houses and foreman’s houses and miner’s houses but they all mix well to make Keewatin an interesting mining community.

The first shacks are still present on Fourth Street even though they have been stuccoed over to meet current needs. The first real home that was built in Keewatin is still occupied. On First Street you can still find the original wooden paving blocks that were laid in 1910 so that the horses’ hooves would be protected and the mud eliminated. There are still remnants of the guard posts at the entrances of the school, which together with the fencing kept the cows out of the school grounds. Everyone had a cow, pig and chickens because there was no refrigeration even after electricity became available. Because cows were herded wherever there was grass, all homeowners fenced their property – even today there are many fenced yards.

Most of the Italian immigrants were particularly fond of wine and many of the early grocery operators offered railroad cars of grapes every fall together with tons of sugar so that wine could be fermented and the population could forget the hardships of living in a mining town.

Keewatin, today, is a thriving bedroom community of Hibbing with Keewatin Taconite enjoying a busy year of mining in Itasca County. The population remains stable at 1164 people even though the business area is quite diminished. Keewatin is a Star City indicating that it has many local citizens trained in promoting economic growth. Keewatin is an official member of “Celebrate Minnesota” and looks forward to many years of good living.