Nashwauk, MN

Nashwauk is an Itasca County city of 970 residents in the 2020 census, on the Iron Range where U.S. Highway 169 and Minnesota State Highway 65 meet. Loggers arrived in the 1880s, then iron ore changed the pace of settlement: the first ore shipped from the Hawkins mine in 1902, the town was platted that year, and Nashwauk incorporated in 1903. Its name is believed to come from a New Brunswick river and an Algonquin word meaning "land between."

Mining built the early town, which had waterworks by 1904, electric streetlights by 1906, and a sanitation system by 1908. Today Nashwauk-Keewatin schools, city utilities, fire and ambulance services, and the Nashwauk Area Chamber connect the city to a wider group of northern Minnesota communities. The city also maintains a sliding hill, disc golf course, campground, and Fourth of July activities. The mining past remains visible in the city's map. Nashwauk's old timber-to-taconite story still sits underneath a practical present-day town map.