Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Biwabik

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Biwabik

Biwabik’s post office opened in 1893, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 1900.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Biwabik’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Biwabik began, and where its name came from

When was Biwabik founded?

1893

The Biwabik post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Merritt (1892), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 1,299 in 19002020 census: 961133 years

How did Biwabik get its name?

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

Founding year: the first Biwabik post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Biwabik’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 1 old photo is 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.Old housesHalf of Biwabik’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Biwabik’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 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, 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’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Biwabik came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Biwabik.

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, 1850 to 1950

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. 1892Post officeThe Merritt post office opens
  4. 1893Post officeThe Merritt post office closes
  5. 1893Post officeThe Biwabik post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 2,024
  8. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Biwabik, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. 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…
Today11 recent
Little 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 on the map, 1950 to 1983

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

Biwabik on the 1950 USGS mapBiwabik on the 1969 USGS mapBiwabik on the 1983 USGS map1950Biwabik 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.

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’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Biwabik’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Merritt, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Merritt
1892–1893
Biwabik
1893–today
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Belgrade
Gone or out of use
Ajax MinemineBiwabik MinemineCanton MinemineMary Ellen PitmineMerritt Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Biwabik
Lakeside

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

White Township1 historic placeA−Biwabik Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Biwabik’s history

What year was Biwabik founded?

The Biwabik post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.