Charlemagne Tower Made Tracks To The Future

 

Mary is familiar to area residents for her "Years of Yore" articles about Iron Range history in the Mesabi Tribune and affiliated newspapers.  Mary holds leadership roles in the Hibbing Historical Society and represents the Society on the St. Louis County Historical Society Board of Governors.

 

After graduation from Hibbing High School, Mary attended the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, earning degrees in English, Speech/Theatre, and Secondary Education.  She taught Senior English for 18 years at Hill-Murray High School in St. Paul.  She then taught classes about Minnesota history and research for four years at the Minnesota Historical Society's History Center in downtown St. Paul.  She and her husband Joe returned to her hometown in 2003 where they owned and operated Howard Street Booksellers until 2015.  Although they no longer have a storefront, they continue to order books for individuals and organizations.  They also give tours of Historic Hibbing, Bob Dylan's Hibbing, and the magnificent Hibbing High School.

 

 

So who was this man with the remarkable name of Charlemagne Tower?  What did he have to do with the iron ore that brought so many of our ancestors to Minnesota's Arrowhead region?  Discover the man who never put foot in Minnesota but definitely left his footprints here.