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The Chisholm cultural institution known until last summer as Ironworld will lay off 26 full-time staff members Friday and on Satuday close its doors to visitors. The Minnesota Discovery Center, originally a state-funded effort now struggling as a private nonprofit, has suffered in the economic downturn. But like the mines that anchor the Iron Range culture it celebrates, the center has come back from temporary closures before.
The center, which has existed in one form or another since 1977, has been planning a new children’s area at its centerpiece museum and has a fundraiser and holiday program on the calendar for December. The center also houses a 7,000-volume library and research center and hosts events throughout the year.
In January, the museum was scheduled to open an exhibit of photographs from Walden Woods in Massachusetts, a project involving the Walden Woods Project. That’s a cultural nonprofit (dedicated to preserving the place that Henry David Thoreau made famous) founded and supported by musician Don Henley.
Now would be a good time for a famous son or daughter of the Iron Range to do the same for the former Ironworld.
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3 Comments »
Comment posted November 20, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
I grew up in Duluth, which supplies the media outlets for the Range. During the late 70s and early 80s, the Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) got a lot of ink/airplay trying to rebuild the Range. Ironworld was one of their crowning achievements. I’ve never been there (I prefer individualized trips to the various open pit and underground mines) so the loss of the Minnesota Discovery Center doesn’t really affect me at all (other than to feel bad about the continued grief suffered by the Rangers).
Hopefully there’s a turnaround up there, if only for the sake of the people who need to work to live. The state sure doesn’t seem to have much sympathy for the Iron Range, which is a shame. I guess we’re all forced to wait for the day when the Range’s supply of resources become a national/internation demand again and they can pull themselves back up from the hole they’re in.
Comment posted December 1, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Where were rukevina and oberstar?
Comment posted February 23, 2010 @ 3:38 pm
I grew up in gilbert, hibbing and chisholm. I remember goin gon field trips to plant trees at Iron World every year for arbor day. It saddens me that this wonderful educational musuem is closing down. I was hoping to be able to take my daughter therer this summer when we travel from NC to Chisholm to see my father. Hopefully by then everything will work out and it will be ok. I miss living on the range and all the crazyness that accompanied it. I hope that people will still educate their children and the generations to come on how important the iron range was back in the day.
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