Mesaba Co-op Park facts for kids

Mesaba Co-op Park is a special park near Hibbing, Minnesota. It's one of the few parks like it that has been open and running for a very long time.

This park was a meeting place for the Finnish community. Many Finnish immigrants came to the United States and formed groups called cooperatives. These groups worked together to create their own spaces and businesses. The park was important for Finnish people who were involved in the Iron Range labor movement (workers trying to get better rights) and Minnesota's Farmer–Labor Party (a political group that supported farmers and workers).

The park is owned by its members, but it is open for everyone to visit. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019 because of its important history.

Park History

Starting the Park

In late 1928, a group called the Mesaba Range Co-operative Federation started looking for land. They wanted a park big enough for large Finnish gatherings. They bought 160 acres of land, which included a 52-acre lake. It cost them $2000.

Forty Finnish American groups bought shares to become members of the park. Many volunteers helped clear the land. They built a road, prepared the grounds, and found spots for buildings.

Challenges and Discrimination

When the park was being founded, Finnish people faced a lot of unfair treatment. Some signs even said, "No Indians or Finns allowed." Finns had played a big part in worker strikes in 1907 and 1916. Because of this, many were "blacklisted," meaning they couldn't get jobs. The Finnish cooperative movement was partly a way to fight this discrimination.

In June 1929, a Finnish newspaper announced that local Finns would soon have their own special place. The park officially opened on September 22, 1929.

Early Days and Activities

In the spring of 1930, construction began on a home for the park's caretaker and a school for children. The main building, a dance pavilion, was finished in June 1930.

Early festivals at the park included plays, sports like track and field, swimming, and dances. Children who attended the North Star camp at the park also learned about ideas important to working people.

A Place for Political Gatherings

The park became a popular spot for members of the Farmer-Labor party. It also hosted members of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which was a large group of labor unions. Even members of the Communist Party of America gathered there.

Gus Hall, who grew up in the Iron Range and later ran for president four times as a Communist Party candidate, helped his father build the dance pavilion when he was a boy.

In 1936, between eight and ten thousand people came to the park's summer festival. They listened to speeches from Elmer Benson and John T. Bernard. These men were running for governor and congressman for the Farmer-Labor party. That summer, a dance with accordion player Viola Turpeinen was so popular that over a thousand people packed the dance floor in shifts!

The "Red Scare" Era

In 1938, the House Un-American Activities Committee was created. This started a time of "witch-hunts" against people suspected of being communists. People were blacklisted and punished just for who they knew or what they believed. This period of fear grew even stronger in the 1950s with Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations. It became very hard to be a member of the park.

FBI agents sometimes waited outside the park. They wrote down the license plate numbers of cars entering. The park was unfairly called names like "Commie Park" or "Red Park." This "red-baiting" (accusing people of being communists to make them look bad) made things difficult.

Also, Finnish children were becoming more "Americanized," and there was a strong sense of national pride after World War II. These things led to fewer members, and the park was in danger of closing. To help, in 1959, the park allowed individuals to become members, not just groups.

Revival and Today

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, young people helped bring the park back to life. Many of them were not Finnish. They came from movements like the anti-war, environmentalist, and feminist movements. Younger members, like Weikko Jarvi and Timo and Belinda Poropudas, helped connect the older Finnish members with the new, diverse newcomers.

Today, the park's original political ideas have mostly faded. Instead, it has a general spirit of progressivism, which means working for social improvements. The park has grown to 240 acres.

The main event each year is the Juhannes, or Midsummer, festival. This festival includes folk dancing, guest speakers, music, a Maypole, and a late-night bonfire. Visitors can also enjoy Finnish American mojakka stew and an arts camp for children.

The park also reminds people of the many small Finn halls that used to be all over the Iron Range. When those halls closed, their items, like lumber, chairs, stoves, and stage decorations, often found a new home at Mesaba Park.

Images for kids

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  "Black Lives Matter" on an information sign by the park office in 2022