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By the 1880s prospectors, timber men, and miners - some with families - came to Ely. The 1958 Roaring Stoney booklet said this about the absence of churches: “Amongst them there were many who could not conceive of an ordered society, even in the wilderness, without the presence of a church and an opportunity for religious worship.”
While priests from St. Martin’s Catholic Church in Tower came occasionally to celebrate mass at various at various homes, some Protestants had organized a Sunday School above a tavern in 1875. Planks were placed between beer kegs for seating. This possibly was upstairs of 9 East Chapman, a bar that later was the Maki Clothing Company.
The First Presbyterian Church was formally organized on Dec. 19, 1888. The first building was completed in 1890 and was in use until 1924 when it was sold to Mike Weinzerl for $500 and moved to the corner of 4th Ave. and James St. where it was converted into apartments. It is still standing. The present church building was completed in 1924 at a cost of $30,000.
St. Anthony’s Catholic Church was organized six months later.
The original church building was on the site of the present church, having been built in 1890. It stood there until 1922. The second church building,which was across the street, was dedicated in 1900. The third and newest of the church buildings was built in 1958 - back on the original church site. Father Buh and Father Mihelcich were long term pastors who were well known in the community.
Now the only original church building standing in Ely, the Methodists first organized in 1892, but because of hard times the church was not completed until 1895. A pipe organ was installed in 1922 at a cost of $1,850. Carrying on with the Cornish pasty tradition, members continue to make and sell them from October through April. All the other churches in Ely have built new church buildings - the Catholics, the Presbyterians, both the Lutheran churches and the Baptists.
So, there, now you have it: the oldest organized church was the Presbyterian and the oldest church building is the Methodist.
The Finnish Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church dates back to 1890 when the congregation met in a now unknown rented space in town. It then built a small church building known as the “pikku kirkko,” on what is now Washington Street. By 1899 a much larger church was built next to the Tanner Hospital. In 1969 a much larger brick building was constructed eight blocks to the east on Camp Street. By then the congregation had split into two groups, one of which was the Missouri Synod, and the other was the Suomi Synod. The latter group met in the Bethany Lutheran Church ((Swedish) until it purchased property on Conan St. They met in their “basement church” from about 1902 until the present church was erected in 1939. Construction of the Gothic style church took nearly two years.
Ironically, the Swedish Bethany church merged with the Finnish Our Savior’s (Suomi Synod) in 1962, so the two groups were back together again, this time as the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA). The Bethany church was torn down and the two congregations met in the Conan Street church, renaming it Grace Lutheran.
In 1902 the Winton Community Church was built, largely through the efforts of the St. Croix Lumber Company. Originally it affiliated with the Methodist church. Still standing and owned by the City of Winton, it is no longer used.
The original Baptist church on Boundary Street was a building assembled by the Modern Development Corporation in 1957. Modern Development Corporation constructed many prefabricated homes in Biwabik that were used in the development of both Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt. In 1989 that building was sold to the Praise Fellowship church (later the Word Church) and a much larger church was built on the 1500 block of East Camp Street. It is now known as the Ledgerock Church. The Word Church sold their building in 2023 and it now meets at the Ely Senior Center.
The small church building on Washington Street stood empty for a few years, but the beginnings of the Gospel Tabernacle were here. In 1948, under the leadership of Gust Hallberg, a new building on Central Avenue and Allaire Street was started. A half mile further south on Highway 21, the Jehovah’s Witness congregation also built a church building in 1969.
St. Mary’s Episcopal was a church that “moved.” The original location was in Tower (1888) but the congregation relocated to the Mary Brown house on Central Avenue in Ely in 2005. Another church that moved locations was the Lord of the Harvest Church. It began in 1997 in the Senior Citizens building, changed its name to Oasis International Church and moved into the Amici building on Central Avenue in 2021.
Out on old Hwy. 169 near the Rock Crusher site, is the newest church near Ely. That would be the Berean Baptist Church. It first met at the Hidden Valley Chalet in 1998 then, later built a church out on old Hwy. 169 in 2003.
For more information or to offer some insights, contact the Ely-Winton Historical Society at 218,365,3226.
Or email: [email protected]
Undated photo of the original Presbyterian Church in Ely.
