Taconite Harbor

Overview

A company street on Lake Superior

Taconite Harbor was built for one job. In the fall of 1953 work began at Two Island, south of Schroeder, on a breakwater, a rail line down to the lake, a taconite loading dock and a power plant to ship Erie Mining Company's pellets. Construction crews lived in a trailer village of about 250 mobile homes. When the work was done, Erie Mining replaced it in 1957 with 22 prefabricated houses on two streets between Highway 61 and Lake Superior, with a fire hall, a community center, a playground, a ball field and tennis and basketball courts. Workers at the dock and plant paid $400 down and $100 a month.

The neighborhood lasted about 30 years. Taconite dust and noise drove some families out, in the 1970s by one account and the early 1980s by another, and the slump of 1982 cut the workforce to about 100. In 1986 LTV Steel Mining, which had taken over Erie, told the last 21 families to go. It offered each house for $1 to anyone who would move it, and several ended up in Silver Bay and along Highway 61. The last family left in June 1988, and by 1990 almost everything had been trucked away.

The industry outlived the town for a while. Trains ran taconite over the highway to the dock until 2008, and the power plant burned coal until 2016. Today the old plant site belongs to Minnesota Power and the land beside it to Cleveland-Cliffs. The Cook County EDA has drawn up redevelopment ideas, but as of June 2026 the property had not changed hands.

Timeline

Trailer camp, company street, empty lots

1. Fall 1953Work starts on the Two Island project south of Schroeder: a breakwater, a rail grade down to Lake Superior, a taconite loading dock and a power plant.
2. Mid-1954A trailer village of about 250 mobile homes houses the construction crews, with a dormitory building holding shops, a restaurant and a barbershop.
3. 1957Erie Mining Company trucks in 22 prefabricated three- and four-bedroom houses and lines them along two streets between Highway 61 and the lake. A fire hall and community center follow. Workers pay $400 down and $100 a month for the houses.
4. 1960s–1970sAt its busiest the neighborhood has as many as 74 children (Forgotten Minnesota) or close to 75 (Exploring the North Shore). Exploring the North Shore says taconite dust and noise start driving families away in the 1970s; Forgotten Minnesota puts that in the early 1980s.
5. 1982The taconite industry slumps and the workforce at the harbor is cut to about 100.
6. 1986The 21 families left are told to move. LTV Steel Mining offers each house for $1 if the buyer hauls it away. Some go to Silver Bay.
7. Jun 1988The last family leaves. A plan to turn the site into a limestone dump falls through.
8. 1990Most of the remaining buildings and homes have been moved off the site.
9. 2001Minnesota Power takes over the power plant. The DNR opens a public small craft harbor beside the old loading dock the same year.
10. 2008The Cliffs Erie Railroad stops running taconite from Hoyt Lakes over its three bridges across Highway 61.
11. 2016The coal-fired Taconite Harbor plant closes.
12. 2017A truck hits the middle railroad bridge over Highway 61, and the damaged bridge is removed.
13. 2023Minnesota Power begins taking the plant apart and decommissioning it.
14. Jun 16, 2026Consultants present two redevelopment visions for the 172-acre plant site to the Cook County EDA. Minnesota Power says it has no plans for the property.

What's left

Pavement in the brush

Nothing of the houses is left. The DNR's harbor page says the town stood just southwest of the harbor's upper parking lot, and that parts of paved streets, a basketball hoop and a few street lights remain; the page is undated. Forgotten Minnesota walked the site for a 2012 article and found two rows of crumbling pavement and curbs, a couple of rusty streetlights, sewer openings, the basketball court and a rhubarb plant in an old garden. The most recent report we found, from Duluth radio station B105 on October 15, 2025, says a single streetlight pole marks the start of the main street and the pavement is still there, with nature almost done reclaiming the rest. Its photos come from a Cascade Vacation Rentals video, which it doesn't date.

The power plant is a separate question. Wikipedia says only the foundations of a plant torn down in 2025 remain, but the citation it gives is a 2008 book. WTIP reported crews still dismantling equipment on August 6, 2024, and its June 2026 report says only that decommissioning began in 2023. We found no date for the end of demolition.

The 1955 USGS sheet in the historic maps below shows the new rail loop, the dock reaching out toward Gull Island and a cluster of buildings beside Highway 61, with Taconite Harbor labeled on the water. The 1954 sheet, at 1:250,000, shows Schroeder, Dyers Lake and Bear and Gull islands with no harbor yet. The 1977 sheet labels Taconite Harbor beside the rail loop.

• Pavement and curbs of two streets
• A streetlight
• Basketball court (reported 2012)
• Sewer openings
• Ore dock (Cleveland-Cliffs holds the dock and harbor rights)
• Power plant site (owned by Minnesota Power)

Historic maps

Taconite Harbor on USGS maps, 1954–1977

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19541:250,00019551:24,00019771:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Silver Bay is the closest city, about half an hour southwest on Highway 61. From Duluth it is a drive of about an hour and three-quarters up the North Shore. Both routes end on Highway 61 beside the townsite, at its GNIS point. The DNR's harbor sits at the bottom of the road down to the lake, and the old streets lie beside that road.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Taconite Harbor in photos

A streetlight left standing in the brush, December 2009

Visitor reports

Been to Taconite Harbor?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Taconite Harbor

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Minnesota index.

• Splitrock32.5 mi SW · Lake
• Chippewa City33.5 mi NE · Cook
• London37.2 mi SW · Lake
• Elcor70.6 mi W · St. Louis
• West Virginia76.6 mi W · St. Louis
• Fermoy81.2 mi W · St. Louis
• Spina84.5 mi W · St. Louis
• Harlis100.7 mi SW · Pine

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Taconite Harbor": fact sheet fields (remains).
2. Wikipedia, "Taconite Harbor, Minnesota", retrieved October 2026: the Cliffs Erie Railroad to 2008, the 2017 bridge strike, the plant foundations and basketball court, GNIS elevation and coordinates.
3. Forgotten Minnesota, "Taconite Harbor: Lake Superior's Ghost Town", January 4, 2012: the Two Island project, the trailer village, the 22 houses of 1957, rents, 74 children, the 1982 cuts, the 1986 order to 21 families, the $1 houses, the dump plan, June 1988, and the remains seen on site.
4. Exploring the North Shore, "Taconite Harbor Ghost Town", 2019, updated 2022: the pastel prefab houses, close to 75 children, dust and noise in the 1970s, houses moved to Silver Bay.
5. KAXE, "Committee members sought for the future of Taconite Harbor", September 12, 2025: last resident 1988, buildings moved by 1990, Minnesota Power ownership since 2001, plant closed 2016, decommissioning from 2023, the 172-acre site.
6. WTIP, "EDA reviews two redevelopment visions for Taconite Harbor site on Cook County's west end", June 19, 2026: Minnesota Power owns the plant site and Cleveland-Cliffs the adjacent land and harbor rights, the property has not changed hands, and the two visions.
7. B105, "Taconite Harbor: Nature Reclaims A Forgotten Minnesota Town", October 15, 2025: a single streetlight pole and the pavement remain (drawn from a Cascade Vacation Rentals video whose date it doesn't give).
8. WTIP, "Conveyor belt catches fire during decommissioning process at Taconite Harbor", August 6, 2024: crews still dismantling equipment at the plant; dismantling began in 2023.
9. Minnesota DNR, "Taconite Harbor: Small Craft Harbor", undated, read in a browser October 20, 2026: the harbor opened in 2001, the townsite southwest of the upper lot with paved streets, a basketball hoop and street lights, ramps and parking.
10. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, credited below. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• A streetlight left standing in the brush, December 2009: peterk17700, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The 1955 USGS sheet: the rail loop, the dock and the first buildings at Taconite Harbor: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Two Harbors 1954, 1:250,000; Schroeder 1955, 1:24,000; Grand Marais 1977, 1:100,000.