Published Aug. 31, 2003 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
The town would be forced to build its new city hall out of straw and dirt. Happy Moving Day! No, I’m not moving. And unless you’re wrapping this page around a priceless antique and packing it into a box as we speak, neither are you.
Monday is the 85th anniversary of the first building moving from historic North Hibbing to Hibbing’s current spot. As many of The Daily Tribune’s readers know, the town was relocated in the 1920s and ‘30s so mining companies could access rich ore reserves. Many structures were moved by rail and on rolling logs. Buildings that could not be moved were demolished, including a beautiful new Carnegie Library.
As part of the deal, the Oliver Mining Company agreed to build gorgeous new high school and city hall buildings for Hibbing.
When you think about it, this is quite an impressive thing. By the time it was asked to move, Hibbing had far exceeded its initial logging village status. Many of the buildings were large and heavy. One must wonder how powerful the mining companies must have seemed to people back then. Now, even the biggest employer in town probably couldn’t move so much as a tool shed from the Cobb-Cook neighborhood to Brooklyn without an unseemly petition citing concerns about sewer capacity.
The city has been through several booms and busts in the 85 years since the big move, but to date has not been asked to move again. Several town leaders continue to refer to the town as being “on the move,” but last I checked the place has stayed pretty still over the last several decades.
You don’t hear about towns moving much anymore. Not many companies are willing to pony up the cash to convince residents to pull up stakes. If any company actually did ask a town to move it would probably declare bankruptcy after the last building arrived in the new location. The company would then say that it was keeping competitive by eliminating its legacy costs. Meanwhile, the town would be forced to build its new city hall out of straw and dirt.
Such is the nature of modern business interests. Even though tycoons now deal in billions rather than millions, there seems to be much less innovation and whimsy in the way they stick it to little people.
When you think about it, moving Hibbing was a pretty gutsy thing – and it forever became a talking point for the people who live here and those who visit. In truth, the fact that Hibbing is “the town that moved” has an even greater impact because there probably won’t be another town like it for centuries to come.
So how about this: For the benefit of tourists and to foster morale in the city, let’s just keep moving.
No, no. I’m not repeating the old joke that our young people kept moving south after the big move in the ‘30s, but … oh, wait. I just did. Drat. Well, anyway, that’s not what I’m talking about.
Most would agree that moving the entire city of Hibbing would be both cost-prohibitive and annoying for most city residents. But what if we moved just one building every year or so, just to add variety? It doesn’t have to be the library or the Androy. It can be just any building. Instead of trying to jack up the major landmarks around town to move them a few miles down the road, we’ll just pick up a small old house and trot it down the main street as part of a big parade. We could roll it down Howard Street on timbers, just like the old days. People would cheer and every few years we’d tip one over and smash it into chopsticks just to demonstrate the difficulties many of Hibbing’s mobile residents had all those years ago.
City leaders still tout that fact that Hibbing is a “town on the move.” This is a clever statement, but why not back it up by moving a house each year, say for Mines and Pines or another major festival. Heck, they move houses all the time anyway. If they aren’t moving some house built in the late ‘30s, then we can just all cheer as they haul one of those pre-fab numbers through town. The point is it makes for a fun visual effect as we celebrate our past and future.
Well, it’s an idea. Meantime, enjoy the 85th year of the “new” Hibbing. Here’s hoping your house doesn’t tip over the next time you have to move.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for The Daily Tribune.