What to See in Ely - Top Sights and Attractions

Animal protection organization in the St. Louis County, Minnesota. The International Wolf Center is a research and educational organization based in Ely, Minnesota, United States, that, in its own words, "advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future." The Wolf Center operates an interpretive center in Ely open to the public, where visitors can view captive "ambassador wolves" in natural surroundings through large windows, and can learn about wolves through a variety of exhibits and programs. This organization lies within Superior National Forest. It also sponsors research symposia and offsite educational programs, publishes International Wolf magazine, and provides information about wolves via its website.

In response to wolf controversies, the Wolf Center does not take a stand on how wolves should be managed (such as by hunting or trapping), as long as healthy wolf populations are maintained. Its policy is to provide the most accurate, up-to-date information possible about wolves and let people make their own decisions.^[1]

Tanner's Hospital, later known as Carpenter's Hospital, is a former hospital building in Ely, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1901 as a moneymaking enterprise due to the high disease rate in the area. This was a consequence of low investment in sanitation infrastructure in the mining boomtowns of the Iron Range, where the long-term existence of any given community was unpredictable. It was later converted into the "Lakeview" apartments that existed from the 1950s to the 1980s. Tanner's Hospital was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 for its local significance in the themes of architecture, commerce, and health/medicine. It was nominated as an emblem of this early period of entrepreneurial medicine before health and wellness were seen as public concerns.^[4]

The Ely Community Center is a historic municipal building in Ely, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1938 with funding assistance from the Public Works Administration, one of many New Deal projects designed to provide both short-term employment and lasting benefits to a community. The Ely Community Center initially housed the public library, an auditorium, meeting rooms, and offices, as well as a cafeteria and public showers. The building's design mixed Art Deco with restrained Neoclassical formalism, a style that came to be known as PWA Moderne.

The Ely Community Center continued serving many of its original functions for the rest of the 20th century, with community organizations headquartered there into the 1990s and events still being held in the auditorium and cafeteria. The building was vacated in 2014, when the library moved to a newly built facility. In 2018 the Ely City Council voted to sell the building to the K America Foundation, which plans to use it for Korean culture and heritage camps.

The Ely Community Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 for its local significance in the themes of architecture, entertainment/recreation, and politics/government. It was nominated as a distinctive example of a local partnership with the Public Works Administration to create a multi-purpose municipal facility, and for its characteristic PWA Moderne architecture.^[5]