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The 1980s were rather moribund times in Ely.
Not long into the decade, Reserve Mining shut down and with it went hundreds of jobs in the region.
House prices collapsed in Babbitt and school enrollment there plummeted with class sizes of 100 or more shrinking and never recovering, to the point where some school classes there now struggle to reach double digits.
It was similar in Ely, as the city had well over 5,000 residents when the decade began with school enrollment of nearly 1,300 students.
A decade later there were 926 students in the Ely schools and the slide has continued, with barely over 500 students on campus this spring.
The business climate in Ely took a serious hit as well during the decade. It got so bad that the Ely Echo ran a couple of pages of photos, all filled with businesses that had closed for good.
While never the same, Reserve eventually reopened as Cypress and later Northshore Mining, but with a fraction of the employees it had during its heyday.
The 1990s brought some promise to the region. School enrollments continued to decline, but not quite at the pace of the decade before, and Ely saw new development including attractions such as the International Wolf Center and the brand-new Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort, now known of course as the Grand Ely Lodge.
Amid the economic recovery, and the opening of a few other new businesses in town, the Ely Echo in 1995 launched its first Progress Edition.
It included 16 pages worth of stories and photos, describing activity on Ely’s business scene that was quite opposite of what occurred the decade before.
There’s no doubt that Ely has had its ups and downs since then. Population and school enrollments have continued to dwindle, and there remain far fewer of those good-paying mining jobs that sustain Iron Range communities, including Ely.
Yet Ely has managed to survive amid the challenges, in part due to business owners and entrepreneurs who continue to invest in Ely and believe in Ely.
It’s been our pleasure to highlight those changes and improvements on the business scene every year since 1995, except for a Covid-related postponement in the dismal spring of 2020.
Over time our Progress Edition has grown, and for the last few years has encompassed two weeks with 24 pages or more of updates and photographs.
The first half is included in this week’s paper and it was our pleasure to write about and feature business owners who have picked up the torch and believe in Ely. We also highlight projects - such as the Harvey Street improvements or the opening of Happy Days Learning Center - that are pivotal to our community’s viability as a place to live and work.
Ely has its continued obstacles, but it remains the best place in Minnesota - or beyond - to call home.
The Progress Edition delivers that message each year.
