Formerly Ironwold Discovery Center, this facility began as a way of celebrating the ethnicities that migrated to this region at the turn of the 20th Century to find work in the burgeoning iron ore mines and related industry. Today, the Minnesota Discovery Center Museum is a 33,000 square-foot facility that houses artifacts, examines mining methods, explores regional geology, and hosts traveling exhibits that help illuminate the spirit and sensibilities of the region’s immigrant people and their descendants. Their stories document the development of the “Iron Range”, a region that would become the nation’s largest producer of iron ore. A special area of the museum is dedicated to the life and work of Minnesota’s Longest-Serving Governor, Rudy Perpich, an Iron Range native.
Our facility began as a way of celebrating the ethnicities that migrated to this region at the turn of the 20th Century to find work in the burgeoning iron ore mines and related industry.
Today, the Minnesota Discovery Center Museum is a 33,000 square-foot facility that houses artifacts, examines mining methods, explores regional geology, and hosts traveling exhibits that help illuminate the spirit and sensibilities of the region’s immigrant people and their descendants. Their stories document the development of the “Iron Range”, a region that would become the nation’s largest producer of iron ore. A special area of the museum is dedicated to the life and work of Minnesota’s Longest-Serving Governor, Rudy Perpich, an Iron Range native.
The Minnesota Discovery Center’s museum features permanent exhibits about Iron Range history, including interactive displays that help explain and explore taconite mining and the people who worked in the region’s mines. Our Immigration Area includes information about the nationalities that came to the Iron Range at the turn of the last century, and includes a listening station where visitors can hear the sounds of a train station during that era. A Depression-era shanty illustrates the conditions of many out-of-work miners and others on the Iron Range at the time. In the Hall of Labor, visitors hear representations of miners tell about working underground, receiving their wages and striking for better conditions. Other areas of the museum examine ore transportation, logging, early education on the Range and other aspects of regional life through World War II. An exhibit about the geology of the region can be found in Geology Hall, while recordings, videos, artifacts and artisan demonstrators help bring the story of Iron Range pioneers, miners and many others to life.
Beginning May 29, 2010, our museum, mini-golf, gift shop, and trolley are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. We are closed on Mondays. Our research center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 1-800-372-6437 or visit mndiscoverycenter.com for more information.