Tower, Minnesota
city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States
Tower is a city located in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 430. State Highways 1 (MN 1), 169 (MN 169), and 135 (MN 135) are three of the main routes in Tower. Tower is located on the southern shore of Lake Vermilion.
History
The city was incorporated March 13, 1889, which makes it the oldest city in the Arrowhead region. It owes its establishment to the Soudan Mine, and was named after mining financier Charlemagne Tower. Tower is home to the Tower Train Museum; near the museum is McKinley Monument, the first erected in honor of former U.S. president William McKinley shortly after his assassination in 1901. President McKinley was in office from 1897 to 1901.
Tower set the Minnesota record for coldest temperature on February 2, 1996, when the temperature dropped to -60 °F (-51 °C). This was the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States east of the Great Plains.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tower, Minnesota” as city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2151661. VIAF identifies the subject as 147815563. The Library of Congress control number is n85198761. Authority coordinates are 47.806, -92.275. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1889, 1901 and 1897.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tower, Minnesota”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tower, Minnesota primary sources, Tower, Minnesota archive and Tower research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tower, Minnesota”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tower, Minnesota” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.