Two Harbors

History

In the early years, Two Harbors consisted of two separate communities, Agate Bay and Burlington. The village of Burlington along Burlington Bay was platted in 1856 and first incorporated on May 23, 1857; it had a post office that operated from 1856 until 1862. The first residence constructed in Agate Bay was owned by Thomas Sexton (1854); it was a 14-by-16-foot shack. Early settlers lived in primitive conditions, common for both the area and time. Their homes were made of logs and had dirt floors. Their diet often consisted of homegrown vegetables and animals caught in the area (at that time there were many dense forests, so deer meat was not an abundant food source). The village of Agate Bay was founded as a construction camp when work on the new railroad began in 1883. The village of Two Harbors was platted in 1885 but not incorporated until 1888. Early transportation to the village was by boats under contract with the new Duluth and Iron Range Railroad, and by horse. It took one day to get from Duluth to Two Harbors. By 1886, the D&IR completed the Lake Division connecting Duluth and Two Harbors with passenger service that extended to Ely. Thirty-five logging camps were set up within the vicinity, one of them on Fourth Avenue. On February 26, 1907, the village reincorporated as the City of Two Harbors. The town's history is included in the Lake County Historical Depot Museum. By 1883, the Minnesota Iron Company had purchased all but four acres of Thomas Sexton's land around Agate Bay. Sexton leased his remaining four acres to merchants seeking to capitalize on the 600-man workforce arriving to build the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad. He divided his four acres into 32 lots. As with any frontier town of the day, it was a largely male population. The infamous four-acre…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Two Harbors is 20 miles northeast of the city of Duluth. It is along Lake Superior, which contributes the two natural harbors for which Two Harbors is named, Burlington Bay and Agate Bay. The warmest month in the year is July, the coldest January. The record high temperature was in 1948, the record low in 1996. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Two Harbors is in a region called the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province, which contains broad areas of coniferous forest, mixed hardwood, and conifer bogs and swamps. The region averages 21 to of precipitation per year and has an average temperature of 34 to .

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• TWO HARBORS SECONDARY
  High · TWO HARBORS · 597 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• MINNEHAHA ELEMENTARY
  Elementary · TWO HARBORS · 382 students · 13.6:1 ratio