1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 561
When the so-called "Little Giant of the North" first became president
of the Village of Hibbing, there were only one and a half miles of pavement;
today there are fifteen miles. In addition, there are twenty-six miles of
graded and gravelled streets. In 1912 there were not more than seven miles
of concrete sidewalks; today there are twenty-twp miles. Then fnll account
must be taken of forty miles of water mains and sanitary and storm sewers.
* * * a beautiful park system has been developed. First came
Mesaba Park, in the very heart of the village, with greenhouse, grassy lawns,
shrubbery, flowers, rustic seats and a bandstand. It was a small, but very
attractive, breathing place. * * *
Then came Bennett Park, 61 acres in area and developed at a cost of
$300,000, as artistic as anything ancient Greece ever possessed * * * neat
fences, * * * driveways, * * * bandstand, * * * White-way, * * *
conservatory, * * * refectory, a swimming and wading pool for children,
apparatus * * * for children's games, and fifteen out-of-door picnic stoves
for the use of picnic parties. Athletic Park, embracing 20 acres, improved
at a cost of $20,000 * * * for baseball, basket ball, * * * a warming
house for winter skating, and other features. * * *
* * * a public library building that cost $250,000. * * *
* * * a complete new water system, at a cost of $750,000.
An up-to-date electric power and municipal heating plant * * * the
admiration of engineers of international fame; its cost was $l,3(X),0O0. A municipal
gas plant * * * $289,000; and a city incinerator, cost $55,000.
* * * a detention hospital, finished in 1920, at a cost of $35,000. * * *
* * * a newer, bigger, and carefully-planned town (on the new townsite)
Sout'h Hibbing.
The most recent aim of the Power administration is to bring into
operation a city form of government, which "will bring in much outlying
territory, and make a city of about twenty square mil'es." Certainly,
the advance of Hibbing during the years of the Power administration
has been rapid. And, fundamentally, Victor L. Power
seems to be obsessed by the desire to institute public improvements
which will bring to the realization of the alien people who have been
attracted to the district by the opportunity of work (which it must
be admitted is lucrative) in the mines, that their lot in America is not
merely a day of toil and a night of domestic sc}ualor. The wonderful
schools of Hibbing and other range places, and the parks, libraries,
and suchlike provisions have their elTect. Hibbing is no longer a
"mining camp" ; it is a metropolitan, cosmopolitan city, in which the
horny-handed miner may, and does, hold. his head high, and provide
for his family a typical x\merican home. Hibbing has changed. Not
many years ago "Hibbing, as a town, looked little better than some
of the mere mining camps, ramshackle and tough in exterior, and
with housing conditions of a kind that put the blush of shame on the
slums of our biggest cities." Today Hibbing is an object lesson in
what is possible in "the Melting-Pot of the VVorld."
Of course, all the credit is not due to the Power administration ;
the mining companies are deserving of part. Without the co-operation
of the mining companies, such advancement would be impossible,
and it will probably be admitted that they have gone "more than
half-way" in recent years— since they reached the point where they
appreciated that the mining company did not have supreme jurisdiction
over all the affairs of the miner that life and limb have right of
place even before the vital interests of great industrial enterprises.
New Hibbing is a convincing demonstration of the good that comes by
union of classes, by co-operation of employer and employee. All
prosper; and accomplish marvels.
There is little more space available, so the remaining historical
records must l)c briclly stated.
Annexations and Additions.—The I'illsbury addition was the first
made to the boundaries of the village of Hibbing; that comprised forty