About the City: Silver Bay, Minnesota

About the City: Silver Bay, Minnesota. . This city was originally built by Reserve Mining Company to house the employees of their taconite production facility. When construction began in 1951, the town was known as the Beaver Bay housing project and one of the first houses in town became the post office. In 1954, it was announced that Reserve's new town on the north shore would be called Silver Bay. The city was designed for up to 10,000 people, but reached its peak in the early 1960s at about 3,900. The population is now about 1,950. The William Kelley High School, named for Reserve's first president, opened in 1958 and eliminated the long, 28-mile bus ride from Two Harbors. William Kelley is now the only active school in Silver Bay and provides education to students from kindergarten to high school grades. The school has a long-standing tradition of excellence of education in academic and extracurricular programs., Rocky Taconite , The Rocky Taconite statue was erected at the entrance of Silver Bay to welcome visitors to the city. It is dedicated to the researchers who revitalized the iron mining industry by developing the process that converts useless rock, called "taconite," into a valuable product that's used to make the vehicles, heavy machinery and household appliances we use today.