EVELETH'S ORIGINAL TOWNSITE

Although the first buildings were erected in 1892, Eveleth did not get its name until the following year. Prospector David T. Adams was the main promoter of the new townsite. Adams, along with Neil McInnis, had built a mining camp near present-day Northside Park after establishing mines near Virginia. The town's namesake was Erwin Eveleth, a timber cruiser from Michigan. About 200 people lived in Eveleth in the summer of 1893, but the population shrank due to an economic panic. The first village officers were not elected until October 1894.

​​As the economy recovered, Eveleth soon had saloons, stores, electric lights, a water system, a village hall and jail, churches, and a school. The population reached 1000 by the end of the decade. When iron ore was discovered under the townsite, the village moved up the hill to its present location starting in 1899. Eveleth was incorporated as a city in 1902.
​Photos courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, University of Minnesota Duluth, General Historic Photo Collection.

MOVING EVELETH

"Not infrequently some house, in which there was a sick man, woman or child to whom we had been called, the next day would be somewhere between the old and new location, or at its final destination, and not always easy to find. But the people where we were needed would be on the look-out for us and would pilot us to the proper place and everyone took the situation good naturedly. 
Before the town was moved, we had acquired sidewalks and electric lights and it was some time before we were so well equipped again." 
​--Dr. Charles W. More, "Notes on the Early History of Eveleth," 1926
Photos courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, University of Minnesota Duluth, General Historic Photo Collection.
As early as 1895, townsite organizers realized that insufficient exploration had been done when Eveleth was first platted. In order to access valuable iron ore, most of the town's buildings would have to be moved. The First Addition to Eveleth was platted on August 31, 1896, extending the city limits east to Adams Avenue and north to Jackson Street.

Negotiations with property owners took several years, so it was not until the summer of 1899 that the first buildings were moved. Structures were moved by jacking them up and rolling them on logs. The July 7, 1899 issue of the Virginia Enterprise said, "Eveleth is moving, but slowly. Most of the work may be done on sleighs." The largest of the buildings, which held a bank, a newspaper office, and a drug store, was transported in two sections. James H. Flinn installed a steam hoist on Adams Avenue to help pull buildings up the hill. One account says a total of 107 homes and businesses had been relocated by the end of 1900.
It was not often recorded where buildings ended up after they left Old Town, but some sources do provide some information:
  • Dr. More's first hospital, an empty one-story structure, was later used as a house at 424 Jones Street. His second hospital, which he had built specifically for hospital purposes, was moved to 412 Jones Street, then to Carlson's Addition where it became a store and Nemanick's Tavern.
  • An essay by Dr. More suggests that the Tower Hotel in Old Town is now Paul's Market, and the building presently on the southeast corner of Grant and Jones was the aforementioned building that was moved in two sections.
  • The Village Hall was relocated to the site of the present City Hall. When the new City Hall was built, it ended up at 502 Grant Avenue, where it served as a movie theater, a saloon, and an auto garage. It is no longer standing.
  • The Methodist Episcopal church, once located south of Fayal Road near Carrie Avenue, was moved to Adams Avenue, where it later formed the rear section of a new church.
Sources:
History of Eveleth, Minnesota Margaret E. More, 1947
"Notes on the Early History of Eveleth" Dr. Charles W. More, 1926