Published November 21, 2004 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
It’s been a rough month for history buffs in Hibbing.
First, Reader’s Digest (that scurrilous rag!) published a list of “five museums to avoid” which included our very own Greyhound Bus Origin Center. If you missed the article, it was right before the heartfelt story of a pregnant cancer patient trapped beneath a boulder (abridged version).
The article implied that 12 hours on an actual Greyhound Bus would be more interesting than Hibbing’s bus museum. This is an interesting shift from four years ago, when Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dave Barry labeled the museum as an especially zany form of political pork.
As bus center director Gene Nicolelli told me then, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. And he’s probably right. We’ll get some folks traipsing through here this summer checking off the “museums to avoid” list. And won’t THEY be surprised when the bus center proves to be vastly MORE interesting (albeit much less smelly and socially awkward) than a real Greyhound bus ride.
Meantime, in “New South Hibbing,” the Hibbing Historical Society also struggles. As the organization’s annual dinner approached this past Thursday, membership was in danger of falling below 100.
Director Heather Jo McLaughlin told me they are pushing hard for new members. It seems unfortunate that a town with as rich (and/or odd) history as Hibbing would have to fight to keep a historical museum open.
You’ll find a many notable things in the Hibbing Historical Society Museum beneath the Memorial Building’s west side, including two revolvers and an account of Minnesota’s only known duel, right here in Hibbing.
In 1910, two roommates, Sam Kacich and Pete Radovich, solved a dispute the “old timey” way – a bloody duel in the name of gentlemanly conflict resolution. The pair had a few drinks, drew up an agreement, purchased revolvers, before Kacich shot and killed Radovich, who managed to wound Kacich in the arm. Fortunately they had deliberately staged the gun battle close to the police station, to ease the eventual burden on law enforcers.
Interestingly, Kacich was acquitted of murder on the grounds of self-defense. This clever argument came from his defense attorney, Victor Power, who went on to become mayor and a titan of local and state politics in the early 1900s. Power was twice recruited but ultimately did not serve as the GOP nominee for governor, and his early death prevented him from attaining statewide office. Is it possible that the powerful enemies he made as Hibbing mayor had a role to play in his “natural” death? Well, that’s a theory you can discuss at the museum.
Fact is, Hibbing has an unusual, fascinating history (and I mean that in a real way, not in an “inside-flap-of-a-brochure” way). In addition to duels and rotund late mayors, Hibbing’s rich background boasts (in no particular order) mines, timber, buses, political graft and Bob Dylan. We already celebrate these things separately – mines and timber at the museum, buses at the Greyhound Origin Center, Dylan during “Dylan Days,” political graft at city hall. (HA! I kid. Seriously, guys, congrats on the election).
Consider this: Hibbing has a lot of vacant buildings. I am proud to report that they are not filled with hobos yet. Let’s take advantage of this. Why can’t we find a way to have a creative arts center that honors Bob Dylan combined with a historical museum? Money, sure, but the ticket to money is effort. The secret to a good community is hard-working people who know where they’ve been and where they want to go. This is just something to think about.
Meantime, support the facilities we already have by stopping by some of our local, more-interesting-than-a-long-bus-ride museums. You just might be surprised what you find.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.