Duluth and Iron Range Depot

Two Harbors owes its existence to the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad, established in 1883 to carry iron ore from the Vermilion Range for shipment through the Great Lakes to steel mills. The railroad selected Agate Bay, renamed Two Harbors in 1888, as its terminus because it lay relatively close to the mines and because its clay-bottom bay, unusual along Lake Superior's rocky shore, made construction easier. By 1907, as the line handled more than 8,000,000 tons of iron ore annually as well as freight and passengers, a depot was built that also housed the railroad's headquarters and corporate offices in a 110' x 44', two-story brick building. After a 1937 merger with the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway, the line became the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway and continued local passenger and freight service until 1960. In 1961, the railroad permitted the Lake County Historical Society to open a museum in the depot, a fitting use because Thomas Owens, superintendent of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad, had helped establish the Historical Society in 1925. Ownership of the building passed to the Society in 1980.

Two Harbors, Minnesota · United States