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History · Biwabik Township

1 of Biwabik Township’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the St. Louis County 4-H Club Camp. Most of Biwabik Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1900.

1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Biwabik Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

Where Biwabik Township’s name came from

How did Biwabik Township get its name?

Biwabik Township’s name is derived from the Ojibwe word for 'iron', biiwaabik.

Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Biwabik Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,024 in 1920; 961 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Biwabik Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Biwabik Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Descri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Biwabik Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,024

Peaked at 2,024 in 1920; 961 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Biwabik Township’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Biwabik Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Biwabik Township.

Read it all →

Daniel R. Curtin, Wisconsin State Assemblyman and businessman, at one time owned the town site of Biwabik, Minnesota. For 10 years, Curtin was in the lumber and mining business.

Biwabik is a town full of firsts. Biwabik was the first to incorporate as a village on the Iron Range in September 1892. It was also the first Iron Range town to be served by two railroads, the Duluth and Iron Range and the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway. Biwabik had the first large mine on the Mesabi and it was the first on the Iron Range with a steam shovel to mine.

An F3 tornado destroyed homes in the northern and northwestern parts of Biwabik on October 6, 1900, killing ten people in and near the city and injuring 70; six deaths were in one family.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Biwabik Township, 1850 to 1951

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Minnesota - St. Louis County - ED 69-10, …
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902In the archiveThe Biwabik Mine
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 2,024
  6. 1937In the archiveVacant building. Biwabik, Minnesota
  7. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Biwabik Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Minnesota - St. Louis County - ED 69-10, ED 69-11, ED 69-12, ED 69-231,…18501940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Minne…
1900s–1930s3 items
The Biwabik Mine1902The Biwabik MineVacant building. Biwabik, Minnesota1937Vacant building. Biwabik, MinnesotaUntitled photo, possibly related to: Vacant building. Biwabik, Minnesota1937Untitled photo, possibly related to: Vacant building.…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today14 recent
Welcome sign2026Welcome signOld City Hall2026Old City HallOld City Hall & Fire Department, Biwabik, Minnesota 012026Old City Hall & Fire Department, Biwabik, Minnesota 01Little Free Library2026Little Free LibraryBiwabik, Minnesota 052026Biwabik, Minnesota 05Biwabik, Minnesota 042026Biwabik, Minnesota 04Biwabik, Minnesota 032026Biwabik, Minnesota 03Biwabik, Minnesota 022026Biwabik, Minnesota 02Biwabik Park Gazebo-022026Biwabik Park Gazebo-02Biwabik Park Gazebo-012026Biwabik Park Gazebo-01Untitled photo2025Untitled photoBiwabik moose2020Biwabik mooseCity of Biwabik Public Works Garage, Minnesota2017City of Biwabik Public Works Garage, MinnesotaMNMap-doton-Biwabik2005MNMap-doton-Biwabik
On the map

Biwabik Township on the map, 1951 to 1969

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Biwabik Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Biwabik Township on the 1951 USGS mapBiwabik Township on the 1969 USGS map1951Gilbert sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Biwabik Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Minnesota - St. Louis County - ED 69-10, ED 69-11, ED 69-12, ED 69-231,…
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Minnesota - St. Louis County - ED 69-10, ED 69-11, ED 69-12, ED 69-231,…, 1850

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Biwabik Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Biwabik Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1985
St. Louis County 4-H Club Camp
St. Louis County 4-H Club Camp
Buildings
St. Louis County 4-H Club CampBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BiwabikIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWhite Township1 historic placeA−Gilbert1 historic placeBVirginia18 historic placesAWuori TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Biwabik Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Biwabik Township?

One place: the St. Louis County 4-H Club Camp (listed 1985).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (15), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.