Hibbing Historical Society

08/28/2026

While our friends at the Hibbing Public Library are temporarily closed during abatement and renovations, we hope you’ll enjoy this history of the public library in Hibbing.

Join them when they re-open to appreciate the building, the artwork, and all the services they offer our community!

08/21/2026

Today's featured online resource is the Aubin panoramic series!

These 156 images from our collection are available for viewing on the Minnesota Digital Library website. When these were donated in 2017, we knew we would need help getting them to the point of public access. The negatives had been tightly rolled for storage, with some measuring over 5 feet in length! We worked to get them cleaned and cataloged, enabling the scanning to be done by the Minnesota Digital Library. Utilizing equipment more advanced than we have here at the museum, MDL created high-quality scans of each negative.

Our images are one of many collections on the free online database. We're grateful for partnerships like this which ensure digital preservation AND public access.

The panoramas feature topics like Bennett Park, the mining industry, and street views of North Hibbing. The website allows for zooming in and catching all those little details!

So jump in, and be sure to come back and tell us your favorite.

Click Browse by Contributor and find Hibbing Historical Society.
https://mndigital.org/

08/14/2026

Today in History…
Hibbing Daily Tribune:

August 14, 1913-
Hibbing Concert Band Director, William Ahola, advertises for needed musicians.

August 14, 1914-
Conrad B. Wolf, Superintendent of Parks, announces Bennett park opening, and types of tropical fruit able to be grown in Hibbing.

August 14, 1915-
Editors from the Waseca Herald sympathize with Hibbingites on small amount of mining money staying in town.

August 14, 1916-
W.C. Barrett and Thomas R. Dougherty advertise their livery and undertaking business – established in 1893.

08/07/2026

Originally held in Duluth, The St. Louis County Fair has been in existence since 1885. In 1906, Hibbing took over the fair after Duluth - according to the newspaper - failed to organize an event for two years. The original fairgrounds in Hibbing were built near the racetrack in Poole location that summer, and used annually until 1924. The 1925 fair was held at the "new" fairgrounds (which were still under construction) near what would become the Hibbing Community College. In 1999, the St. Louis County Fair officially moved to Chisholm, MN.

We hope you'll enjoy all there is to offer this weekend!

08/05/2026

07/31/2026

Next week!
Mark your calendars for our 133rd Birthday Party Celebration-

All are cordially invited to celebrate with us on Wednesday, August 5th on the beautiful City Hall lawn.

The Hibbing City Band will perform a variety of songs beginning at 6:30 p.m, with a short program at 7:00. Birthday cake and punch will be served! A limited number of chairs will be available, so feel free to bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.

Each year, new members join the ranks of those previously inducted into the Hibbing Hall of Service and Achievement, as part of the Birthday Celebration. Joining the previous 57 members of the Hall are this year’s deserving honorees:

Fio Ricci and Art Hill

07/24/2026

Finally Friday~
If you haven’t looked through these, you need to! They’re fun and informative (and sometimes weird), but most of all, they’re free. There is no login or subscription needed for the Digital Newspaper Hub. Part of what makes this project so special is the access it provides to our community – so make sure you’re utilizing this new historic resource.

New (old) editions of our Hibbing and Chisholm newspapers are available!

The papers now include:
Hibbing Sentinel (Hibbing, Minn.) 1894-1900
Hibbing News (Hibbing, Minn.) 1899-1902
Chisholm Herald (Chisholm, Minn.) 1904-1910
Mesaba Ore and the Hibbing News (Hibbing, Minn.) 1902-1920
Mesaba Miner (Chisholm, Minn.) 1917-1943
Hibbing Tribune (Hibbing, Minn.) 1907-1910
Hibbing Daily Tribune (Hibbing, Minn) 1910-1921

https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/browse.jsp

Many of you know that we started a campaign last year to raise funds toward digitizing our local newspapers. Generous community members, organizations, and foundations helped us gather almost $90,000 toward this project!

There are over 350,000 pages of our shared history to be digitized ($1 = 1 page), and we are still actively raising funds for Phase 2 of this project. You can donate on our website, send a check, or stop down and see us at the historical society.

6 more batches of newspapers will be coming online later in the year!

Thank you to Hibbing Foundation, Hibbing Taconite/Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., AAUW Hibbing Area - MN Branch, Lake Country Power, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation, Security State Bank of Hibbing, Chisholm Public Library, Chisholm Community Foundation, City of Hibbing Government, Hibbing Public Library, and Ben Owens Family Foundation for supporting this project.

07/17/2026

Our next event is Hibbing's 133rd Birthday Party Celebration!

The party will be held on Wednesday, August 5th on the beautiful City Hall lawn. Join us at 6:30pm for cake, punch, and the wonderful City Band, as we induct two more deserving nominees into our Hall of Service and Achievement: Fio Ricci and Art Hill.

07/10/2026

Thank you all for following Frank’s adventures over the 4th of July! He sure had a great time celebrating America’s 250th Birthday.

A few of you asked questions about the statue(s) of Frank Hibbing, and we wanted to share that info this week!

The sculptor of the statue(s), Robert Mitchell, was born and raised in Hibbing. After carving a life-sized statue of Abraham Lincoln out of ice and snow in their front yard one winter, his mother pushed him to pursue a career in art. He enrolled in the Minneapolis School of Art, and was in his senior year when he learned that the town of Hibbing was planning a memorial for its founder. Mitchell used photographs from Hibbing’s daughter, Marie Koller, to model an 18-inch version of Frank out of clay. He then cast a plaster model, bronzed it, and presented it to the memorial committee for consideration. That example was later given to the historical society and is the statue you’ve seen in our posts from last week.

The Memorial Committee awarded Mitchell the commission of a 6 and 1/2 foot likeness that was dedicated in October of 1941 and still stands in Frank Hibbing Park today.

Robert Mitchell also cast 250 miniature versions and busts (7-8 inches tall) to sell as souvenirs – examples of which can be found around the museum next time you visit.

Do you have one of the original minis on display somewhere?

This weekend, or anytime really, be sure to stop out at the park and see the life-sized version of Frank.

Happy Jubilee weekend, Hibbing!

07/05/2026