ABC's
of
Virginia,
Minnesota,
History
Mr. Holmes' 5th Grade class at the James Madison Elementary School has
written an alphabetical history of Virginia's past from information they
have gathered from local historians and writings, a visit to the Heritage
Museum located in Virginia, and from interviews with the people of the
town.
Virginia, Minnesota's history dates back to the late 1800's. Located
on the Mesabi Iron Range, the town was born soon after the discovery of
iron ore and with the beginning of the logging of the white pine forests of
Northern Minnesota. Virginia once held the world's largest white pine
sawmill and the iron ore taken from the surrounding mines helped the United
States to win two world wars. Immigrants from around the world came to
Virginia to find job opportunities in the mines and mills and to start a
new life in the fledgling town. While life wasn't always easy in those
rough and tumble beginnings, the citizens' determination and hard work
established the city as an important hub on the Iron Range which Virginia
remains to this day.
The class would like to thank Harry Lamppa and Eric Peterson from the
Virginia Area Historical Society for their assistance with this project and
they also thank David Bolton and his Computer Science class for helping the
kids put this project on the internet.
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March 1997