The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-07-04

opened CIlc mlre. he was In charge OF
the Chandler up to the time the prop
erty became absorbed by the United
States Steel Corporation and the Oliver
Iron Mining Company. Alex McCurdy
was in charge of the surface work at
the Chandler with George Palmere as
chief clerk. Others who succeeded
George Palmere in the Chandler Office
were Archie Chisholm, Henry Chinn
and Herb Kelly. Jos. Sellwood was in
charge of the mine as superintendent
The Pioneer was constantly develop
| ing under Capt Harvey who was later
succeeded by Capt. Haney and who in
turn was followed by Capt. James Del
Vecchio with Capt. Argyle as mining
| captain. Later Captains Gilbert and
Sturdevant superintendent the work at
this property. Capt. Haney also sue
ceeded Capt. Harvey at the Zenith
mine. Later Capt. Nick Cowling had
charge of the Zenith. At this time the
Bradley brothers of Duluth had lease
on this property.
1t may not be generally known, but,
| Ely had commercial Sawmill in the
early days of its existence The mill
was operated by Walter and Harry
Nee. It's location was northwest from
| the railroad "Y" near the second
house west as the city is now located
"Chet" Rogers, now of Virginia, was
| the first sawyer with M. Schneider as
millwright.
During 1888, DR.. Fred Barrett of
Tower established the first newspaper
in Ely. The paper was known as the
| Ely Iron Home. The Office of publi-
cation was located in Block II. on the
| second lot of block where the Shipman
Hospital now stands. DR.. Barrett was
sccceeded by Jock ROBBIE and he in
turn by WinSlow Lewis. In 1890 Peter
Schaefer took charge of the paper and
| remained as its manager, editor, type
| setter and pressman until 1892 when
| he sold the property to Blumberg &
ROBBIE who had established the Ely
Times. In 1895, Mr.. Schaefer again
entered the Ely field and established
The Ely Miner which is still existing
The first City Hall was erected on
Lots 8 and 4, Block 16, where now is
located the residence of L. j. White
Later the building was moved to Lot T.
Block Is of the Original Plat. The
/, City offices and council chamber re-
manned in that location until in 1893
the building RACED on the site upon
which we are now standing, was built
under the incumbency of Grant Nc
Mahan as mayor, and Thos Jury as
contractor.
The election of officers following the
petition for the Incorporation of the
Village of Ely which was approved by
the county board on April 16, 1888. An
election was held on June 81, 1888 and
Of1 nh 70. f1~n xysl 70,
the election held in May, n votes were
cast for the Incorporation and the fol-
lowing month in the village election
the vote was as follows: John Pen
gilly So and Asa Camp 81 for Presi-
dent; JAS Thompson 113, August Fen
ske Ill, Sam Brown Sc, Allan Poirier
SIS for Treasurer; Louis Sletten lis,
Elijah G. Davey lis for Justice of the
Peace; j. H. Murphy lis, Joseph Hop
perton ITO for Constable.
John Pengilly was the first president
of the new village followed by Ed.
Cram Alex Lawson and later Chas. G.
Shipman who held Office until the 1891
Legislature by special act created Ely
a city. At the same time the NUM-
cipal court was created by special act
| and H. Van Blarcom became Judge.
During the process of exploration
work at the Pioneer and Zenith a
Townsite was laid out at Spalding
Several buildings were erected there
but later were. removed and became a
part of Ely.
The total valuation for taxable pur-
poses of Ely in 1889 was $202,914 The
levy that year was s6,838.20 for general
purposes. In 1891 when the city was
created the territory was enlarged to
embrace the mining property. In 1915
the valuations were $2,259,9 1924. In 1919
the total valuation of the city was
$4,035, 1876 in real property and $732, 800
for personal property. This valuation
was continually increased and 1929
| showed more than double the amount
of the 1919 valuation or So, 143,788
The Pioneer was the first hotel in
Ely conducted by R. B. Whiteside.
DR.. Anderson was the first physician
| in Ely and was succeeded by ChaS. G.
| Shipman who remained until 1908
when he disposed of his hospital to
Drs. Ayres & Parker.
| The Catholics under Rev. Jos. F..
| Buh, built the first church in Ely The
| first Protestant church services were
held by Rev. Freeman who conducted
services in the Central school building
| Samuel Ely Polkinghorne was the
| first white child born in Ely His
mother, Mrs. Eliza Polkinghorne, is
now a resident of Hibbing.
| The first bank was established in
1889 by o. D. Kinney and Jos. Sell
wood. 1t was at the beginning a
/ private bank but was in 1895 changed
to a State Bank. In 1907 it again
changed and became the First Nat
ional. The First State Bank was es-
tablished in 1907.
The first school in Ely was the old
Central building now used as a Com
munity Service Center The school,
at that time was a one room affair
with Miss Ella Wilson, who later be-
came Mrs A. j. FenSke, as teacher.
The growth of Ely has not beer
marked with any boom. The growth
has been constant with the merits Of
the city and the surrounding country
The census returns for Ely read a.
follows:
Ao0o, .'...'.. ~
1900, ................'... ..... 3,71'
1910, 3,97
1920, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 400.
| 1o20 ers