| Olcott Park | |
|---|---|
 A gazebo at the center of Olcott Park | |
 | |
| Type | City park |
| Location | Virginia, Minnesota, United States |
| Coordinates | 47°31′45″N92°33′00″W / 47.52917°N 92.55000°W Coordinates: 47°31′45″N92°33′00″W / 47.52917°N 92.55000°W |
| Area | 40 acres (16 ha) |
Olcott Park is a city park in Virginia, Minnesota, United States. [1] [2]
Olcott Park was named after William J. Olcott, an officer of the Oliver Iron Mining Company. [3] In 1905 the company first leased the land to the city for $1 a year if the city would pay taxes on it. The city purchased the land in 1939 for $9,015.
The Olcott Park in Virginia, Minnesota is a 40-acre (16 ha) amount of land on the north side of town. It is bordered by 9th St. N and Essentia Health/Virginia Regional Medical Center on the north and the Calvary Cemetery on the west. On the east it is bordered by N 9th Ave W, and a city museum (Heritage Museum). On the south, the park is bordered by Parkview Learning Center and some little-league baseball fields.
Along with a large playground area, the park also boasts a bandstand in its center where Virginia City Band performances take place in the summer. In the northern region of the park, a fountain still stands today that was built during the Great Depression and renovated in 2019. Also, a structure in the southern edge of the park still stands that held monkeys and bear cubs prior to World War II.
The Olcott Park Greenhouse is a 4,500-square-foot (420 m2), city-operated greenhouse located in the Olcott Park at N. 9th Avenue W. and 7th Street N. in Virginia, Minnesota, United States. [4] It is open to the public year-round without charge.
This three-room greenhouse dates from the 1930s. Its central room contains a good collection of exotic plants, ranging in size from small specimens to mature Ponderosa lemon trees bearing fruit, with cacti and succulents, large agave, palm, and ficus specimens. Historically it was the site for huge begonia shows which attracted thousands of visitors. The north and south greenhouses were used to raise bedding plants for flower beds throughout the city.
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. Commodities shipped from the Port of Duluth include coal, iron ore, grain, limestone, cement, salt, wood pulp, steel coil, and wind turbine components. Duluth is south of the Iron Range and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
St. Louis County is a county located in the Arrowhead Region of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 200,231. Its county seat is Duluth. It is the largest county in Minnesota by land area, and the largest in the United States by total area east of the Mississippi River, ahead of Aroostook County, Maine.
Grand Rapids is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, United States, and it is the county seat. The population is 11,126 according to the 2020 census. The city is named for the 3.5-mile (5.6 km) long rapids in the Mississippi River which was the uppermost limit of practical steamboat travel during the late 19th century. Today the rapids are hidden below the dam of UPM Paper Company.
Trout Lake Township is located in north central Minnesota in Itasca County, United States. It is bordered by the City of Coleraine to the west and north, City of Bovey on the north, an unorganized township on the east, and Blackberry Township to the south. Town government was adopted on March 6, 1894. The population was 1,056 at the 2020 census.
Ely is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,268 at the 2020 census.
Virginia is a city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States, on the Mesabi Iron Range. With an economy heavily reliant on large-scale iron ore mining, Virginia is considered the Mesabi Range's commercial center. The population was 8,423 at the 2020 census. Virginia is just south of the Superior National Forest and about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canada–United States border at International Falls, Minnesota, and 55 miles (89 km) northwest of Duluth, Minnesota. Virginia is a part of the Duluth metropolitan area and U.S. Highway 53 runs through town.
Two Harbors is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Minnesota, United States, along the shore of Lake Superior. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 census. Minnesota State Highway 61 serves as a main route in Two Harbors. Gooseberry Falls State Park is 13 miles (21 km) to the northeast and the city is home to a cargo shipping port for mined iron ore.
The Mesabi Iron Range is a mining district in northeastern Minnesota following an elongate trend containing large deposits of iron ore. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. First described in 1866, it is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States. The district is located largely in Itasca and Saint Louis counties. It has been extensively worked since 1892, and has seen a transition from high-grade direct shipping ores through gravity concentrates to the current industry exclusively producing iron ore (taconite) pellets. Production has been dominantly controlled by vertically integrated steelmakers since 1901, and therefore is dictated largely by US ironmaking capacity and demand.
The term Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants Range batholith. These cherty iron ore deposits are Precambrian in the Vermilion Range and middle Precambrian in the Mesabi and Cuyuna ranges, all in Minnesota. The Gogebic Range in Wisconsin and the Marquette Iron Range and Menominee Range in Michigan have similar characteristics and are of similar age. Natural ores and concentrates were produced from 1848 until the mid-1950s, when taconites and jaspers were concentrated and pelletized, and started to become the major source of iron production.
The Duluth MN-WI Metropolitan Area, commonly called the Twin Ports, is a small metropolitan area centered around the cities of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. The Twin Ports are located at the western part of Lake Superior and together are considered one of the larger cargo ports in the United States. The Twin Ports are close to many natural attractions such as the North Shore, the Apostle Islands, and the Superior National Forest.
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is a botanical garden on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., near Garfield Circle.
The Arrowhead Region is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, so called because of its pointed shape. The predominantly rural region encompasses 10,635.26 square miles (27,545.2 km2) of land area and includes Carlton, Cook, Lake and Saint Louis counties. Its population at the 2000 census was 248,425 residents. The region is loosely defined, and Aitkin, Itasca, and Koochiching counties are sometimes considered as part of the region, increasing the land area to 18,221.97 square miles (47,194.7 km2) and the population to 322,073 residents. Primary industries in the region include tourism and iron mining.
The North Shore of Lake Superior runs from Duluth, Minnesota, United States, at the western end of the lake, to Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Ontario, Canada, in the north, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in the east. The shore is characterized by alternating rocky cliffs and cobblestone beaches, with forested hills and ridges through which scenic rivers and waterfalls descend as they flow to Lake Superior.
The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is a railroad museum in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
Munsinger Gardens and Clemens Gardens are two distinct but adjacent gardens on the banks of the Mississippi River northwest of the intersection of University Drive SE and Kilian Blvd SE, and along the southernmost portion of Riverside Drive SE, in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The gardens are open every day from 6:00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m., spring to fall. There is no admission fee.
Hill-Annex Mine State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, interpreting the open-pit mining heritage of the Mesabi Range. The park is located north of the city of Calumet, in Itasca County, Minnesota. The park provides access to fossil material exposed by mining from the Cretaceous era Coleraine Formation.
The U.S. State of Minnesota is the northernmost state outside Alaska; its isolated Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods is the only part of the 48 contiguous states lying north of the 49th parallel north. Minnesota is in the U.S. region known as the Upper Midwest in interior North America. The state shares a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and Wisconsin on the northeast; the remainder of the eastern border is with Wisconsin. Iowa is to the south, North Dakota and South Dakota are to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are to the north. With 87,014 square miles (225,370 km2), or approximately 2.26% of the United States, Minnesota is the 12th largest state.
Morgan Park is a neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
The St. Louis County Depot is a historic train station in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It was built as a union station in 1892, serving seven railroads at its peak. Rail service ceased in 1969 and the building was threatened with demolition until it reopened in 1973 as St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center . Train service also resumed from 1974 to 1985, by Amtrak.
William James Olcott was an American football player and mining and railroad executive in the Mesabi Range. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1881 to 1883 and was captain of the 1882 and 1883 teams. After receiving his degree, he worked in the iron ore mining industry for more than 40 years. He was president of the Oliver Iron Mining Company from 1909 to 1928 and president of the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway from 1901 to 1909.