Minnesota State Highway 135 (MN 135) is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

in northeast

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, which runs from its interchange with U.S. Highway 53 in the city of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and continues northeast to its northern terminus at its intersection with

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

Tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

. The route is also known as the historic Vermilion Trail from Biwabik to

. Highway 135 is also known as "Main Street" within the city of Biwabik. Highway 135 was originally designated 35 until it was re-numbered to avoid confusion with Interstate Highway 35. Between

and Gilbert, the highway twice crosses the

Laurentian Divide The Laurentian Divide also called the Northern Divide and locally the ''height of land'', is a continental divide in central North America that separates the Hudson Bay watershed to the north from the Gulf of Mexico watershed to the south and the ...

Route description

Highway 135 serves as an east–west and north–south route between the cities of

, Gilbert, Biwabik,

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, and

in northeast Minnesota. The route changes direction to north–south as it approaches

and continues as north–south to its northern terminus in

. The highway is officially marked as a north–south route by its highway shields from beginning to end. The route is legally defined as

Constitutional Route In the U.S. state of Minnesota, a legislative route is a highway number defined by the Minnesota State Legislature. The routes from 1 to 70 are constitutional routes, defined as part of the Babcock Amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution, p ...

35 in the Minnesota Statutes.

History

The highway was authorized as ''State Highway 35'' on November 2, 1920. Originally, it began at Highway 18 on the northwestern shore of

Mille Lacs Lake Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large but shallow lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul m ...

near

Nichols Nichols may refer to: People *Nichols (surname) *Nichol, a surname Places Canada * Nichols Islands, Nunavut United States * Nichols, California, an unincorporated community * Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, California * Nichols, Connecticut * Nich ...

. It ran north to Grand Rapids and turned east-northeast through the Iron Range to Ely. By 1923, the only paved portion was from Grand Rapids to Chisholm, and the highway was still unimproved for several miles north of Hill City. This segment was graveled that year, and the portion from Chisholm to Aurora was paved as well. The highway was paved from Tower to Ely in the late 1920s. When U.S. Route 169 was marked within Minnesota in 1930, it was routed along Highway 35 from its southern terminus to its junction with State Highway 11 near Virginia. It was paved from Aitkin to its first crossing with the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and bituminous surfaced along the remaining portion of the roadway from Garrison to Grand Rapids in 1931, and rerouted south of its former alignment between Keewatin and

Hibbing Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. The city was built on mining the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range and still relies on that industrial activity today. At th ...

in 1932. Highway 35 was truncated to its current extent in 1934, replaced by U.S. 169 west and south of Virginia and by the newly-marked State Highway 1 east of Tower. The highway was realigned near Embarrass in the 1950s. In 1951, the segment south of present-day County Road 21 was realigned west of its original alignment, shortening the road by nearly two miles; this section was paved in 1952. Also that year, the portion north of County 21 was realigned, shortening the roadway by one mile. This segment was paved in 1954,making the route paved in its entirety. The highway was re-numbered as ''135'' in 1958 to avoid duplication with Interstate Highway 35 that was being built in

during that time. In 1964, the highway underwent a significant realignment; instead of entering downtown Aurora, it was rerouted to turn northward at the city limit and travel several miles before making a sharp curve eastward to rejoin its existing route. This change lengthened the highway by nearly 2½ miles. Billed as a scenic route, it opened to traffic that autumn. Also that year, the highway was extended through the city of Virginia as a business route to U.S. 53 after construction of the U.S. 53 bypass around the city. This business route had followed both ''2nd Avenue'' and ''9th Street North'' in Virginia until it was removed in 1996. The highway was rerouted between Gilbert and Biwabik in 1972. Where the original route had turned northeastward at its junction with Highway 37, it now traveled southeast and crossed to the south side of the

Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&IR) , informally known as the Missabe Road, was a railroad operating in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin that used to haul iron ore and later taconite to the Great Lakes ports of Duluth and Two Harbor ...

for several miles before turning to the north, crossing the railway again, and rejoining its original alignment in Biwabik. The Minncor mine now exists in place of parts of the original routing. The northern terminus of the highway was rerouted in 2010 and shifted 0.08 miles westward, following Pine Street to its junction with Highway 1 instead of crossing the East Two River on Enterprise Drive. A new roadway was later constructed even further west, bypassing Tower city streets altogether.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline}
Highway 135 at ''The Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page''
135 Transportation in St. Louis County, Minnesota U.S. Route 169 U.S. Route 53