IRRR board approves wide-ranging development grants across the Iron Range

The biggest check in the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board’s latest round of spending went to the Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club, which won $500,000 for a new shared club facility, a sign that recreation infrastructure remains a priority alongside basic public works across the East Range and North Woods.

The board approved the package at its May 27 meeting, spreading money across nine projects in St. Louis County and nearby Iron Range communities. Fall Lake Township received $200,000 for road improvements, a $150,000 award will help Cook with wastewater treatment and sewer line work, and St. Louis County Schools was granted $15,000 for door replacement at Northeast Range School. Those are the kinds of projects that rarely draw attention until they start failing, but they carry immediate consequences for access, public health and day-to-day operations.

The strongest local-development bets in the batch center on places where residents gather. Ely got $50,000 for new pickleball courts, while Hoyt Lakes picked up $60,000 for updates to the Hoyt Lakes Ice Arena and $100,000 to reconstruct the historic Civilian Conservation Corps pavilion. Veterans on the Lake received $200,000 for facility improvements and expansion. Together, those awards point to a development strategy that values community amenities as part of the region’s economic base, not as extras. New courts, a refreshed arena, rebuilt historic space and upgraded veterans’ facilities all translate into more usable public space and, in some cases, year-round programming that can help keep people in town.

Tower also landed a significant award, with $195,000 for the Historic Fire Hall Project, a project that could help preserve one of the city’s defining structures while giving it a future use. In Cook, the wastewater and sewer work tackles one of the least visible but most essential pieces of municipal infrastructure. In rural communities, those projects often determine whether a town can keep serving homes, businesses and public buildings without larger emergency costs later.

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation, the state development agency based in Eveleth, says its mission is to promote business, community and workforce development in northeastern Minnesota. Its FY25 annual report said agency dollars went to housing, infrastructure, workforce development, business retention and expansion, public facilities, utilities, broadband, regional trails and arts, culture and tourism projects. This latest package fits that pattern closely, and recent agency spending in Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt shows the board is still backing recreation, trails and civic facilities as tools for regional stability.

Sen. Grant Hauschild said the projects would strengthen communities across northeastern Minnesota, and Rep. Roger Skraba described them as practical long-term local priorities. The board’s latest vote shows how IRRR continues to shape the Iron Range one project, one town and one visible improvement at a time.