Tower, Minnesota
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Tower is a city located in Saint Louis County,
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 ...
, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 430. State Highways 1 ( MN 1), 169 ( MN 169), and 135 ( MN 135) are three of the main routes in Tower. Tower is located on the southern shore of
Lake Vermilion Lake Vermilion is a shallow freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Nee-Man-Nee, which means “the evening sun tinting the water a reddish color”. French fur traders translated this to th ...
.


History

The city was incorporated March 13, 1889, which makes it the oldest city in the
Arrowhead region The Arrowhead Region is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, so called because of its pointed shape. The predominantly rural region encompasses of land area and includes Carlton, Cook, Lake and Saint Louis counties. ...
. It owes its establishment to the
Soudan Mine The Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a Minnesota state park at the site of the Soudan Underground Mine, on the south shore of Lake Vermilion, in the Vermilion Range (Minnesota). The mine is known as Minnesota's oldest, deep ...
, and was named after mining financier
Charlemagne Tower Charlemagne Tower (April 18, 1809 – July 25, 1889''New York Times,'' July 26, 1889, page 4.) was an American lawyer and businessman active in acquiring land in the Schuylkill Valley in Pennsylvania and serving as an officer for coal and railr ...
. Tower is home to the Tower Train Museum; near the museum is McKinley Monument, the first erected in honor of former U.S. President
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
shortly after his assassination in 1901. President McKinley was in office from 1897 to 1901. Tower set the Minnesota record for coldest temperature on February 2, 1996, when the temperature dropped to -60 °F (-51 °C). This was the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States east of the Great Plains. Tower and the Embarrass Valley to the south are the coldest inhabited locations in the Lower 48 states, based on average winter temperatures.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the city has a total area of , is land and is water.


Climate

Tower has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dfb''), with long, bitterly cold winters and warm summers. January averages , and lows reach on 67 nights annually. Highs only reach the freezing point 18–19 days during December to February, and in combination with a seasonal snowfall of , snow cover is thick and long−lasting. Spring, and more especially autumn, are short but mild transition seasons. July averages , with highs reaching on only 3.2 days annually, with only about four-fifths of all years seeing temperatures that high. Summer nights are cool despite the warm days, with the average window for freezing temperatures August 25 thru June 22. Precipitation averages about per year, and is concentrated in the warmer months. The all−time record high temperature is , while the all−time record low is , a range of , the second highest temperature variation in the state behind Federal Dam, Minnesota. Tower is slightly colder than
International Falls International Falls (sometimes referred to as I-Falls) is a city in and the county seat of Koochiching County, Minnesota. The population was 5,802 at the time of the 2020 census. International Falls is located on the Rainy River directly acro ...
, but a half of a degree warmer overall than Embarrass.


Entertainment and sports

Fortune Bay Resort and Casino is located a few miles west of Tower. It is near
Lake Vermilion Lake Vermilion is a shallow freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Nee-Man-Nee, which means “the evening sun tinting the water a reddish color”. French fur traders translated this to th ...
, a well-known lake which attracts tourists and locals alike. The casino is owned and operated by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. Tower has a simple sports ground with bleacher stands, close by the Tower School. At Lake Vermillion, a run tournament named after the lake is staged every year.


Education

Tower is part of the St. Louis County school district based in
Virginia, Minnesota Virginia is a city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States, on the Mesabi Iron Range. With an economy heavily reliant on large-scale iron ore mining, Virginia is considered the Mesabi Range's commercial center. The population was 8,423 ...
. In town there is the Tower-Soudan Elementary School that serves students K–6. Students 7–12 are transported to other secondary schools nearby as Tower-Soudan does not have a secondary school at this point. Outside of the district, Tower has a public charter school that serves students 7–12, called Vermilion Country School. Based in the old PowerRain building, this project-based secondary school was set up by parents and townspeople who advocated for a local secondary school. Opened in 2013, VCS graduated their first 6 seniors in May 2014.


Demographics


2020 census

As of the 2020
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
, there were 430 people living in an estimated 240 households in Tower.


2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 500 people, 265 households, and 126 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was . There were 331 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.6%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 2.4% Native American, 0.6%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.2% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.2% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race were 1.2% of the population. There were 265 households, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.5% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 52.5% were non-families. 45.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.89 and the average family size was 2.61. The median age in the city was 48.4 years. 18.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.6% were from 25 to 44; 30% were from 45 to 64; and 24% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.8% male and 49.2% female.


2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 479 people in the city, organized into 233 households and 137 families. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 176.8 people per square mile (68.2/km). There were 295 housing units at an average density of 108.9 per square mile (42.0/km). The racial makeup of the city was 97.70%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 1.46% Native American, 0%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 0.84% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 0.00% from two or more races. 1.88% of the population were
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race. 31.4% were of
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
, 13.7%
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
, 11.1%
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, 8.6%
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, 6.6% Slovene and 5.8%
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
ancestry according to
Census 2000 The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...
. There were 233 households, out of which 20.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 37.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 22.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the average family size was 2.69. In the city, the population was spread out, with 18.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 24.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $26,429, and the median income for a family was $37,500. Males had a median income of $35,000 versus $21,875 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the city was $17,169. 10.7% of the population and 3.7% of families were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
. Out of the total population, 12.5% of those under the age of 18 and 10.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


Media

Tower is served by an award-winning newspaper, the Timberjay. The Timberjay is published weekly, with a circulation of over 1000.


References


External links

*
Photos taken in Tower
– photos taken during August 1937 – from the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Lake Vermilion Chamber of Commerce website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnesota, Tower
Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
Cities in St. Louis County, Minnesota Cities in Minnesota