In 1950, rumors spread that the long period of mine inactivity in Republic was ending, and Cleveland Cliffs soon began a major expansion program that reopened the mine as an open pit operation producing pelletized ore. The project required moving about half of Republic’s homes to a site about 3 miles south and demolishing many others, including the Republic Central School. Between 1955 and 1973, about 90 homes, most of them on company land, were successfully moved by the Schutte Moving Company of Wausau, Wisconsin. The largest and last building moved was Bethany Lutheran Church, after its bricks and steeple were removed and its stained glass windows were boarded up. Following several years of negotiations, a new school was built in South Republic in 1962-63, and after an extended Christmas vacation, classes began there in February 1964. The changes brought more job opportunities for many years, a fine new school at a reasonable cost, and better housing for many, but they also left the community geographically divided and its business section economically troubled.