Junior Bards Plays December 14 & 15
Junior Bards Plays December 14 & 15
Soon after 1870 a few hardy individuals namely Alexander Baker, Joseph Baker, Henry Metcalf, David Reedy, Thomas McKinstry, Don Campbell and possibly others ventured into the county when it was a vast wilderness. Most of them came via Lake of the Woods and up the Rainy River or over Indian trails. Being impressed with the country, these sturdy pioneers squatted on lands along the river, built log cabins and began to clear land for gardening, hay and small grains. They hunted and trapped, possibly for the Hudson Bay Company.
Construction of the AB school began in 1912 and was completed in 1914. The building was named after early settler Alexander Baker, who first settled in the area in 1870.
Is the man most closely linked to the development of the International Falls area. Born in Jamestown, New York, he grew up near Red Wing, Minnesota. After completing three years of study at the University of Minnesota, Backus entered the lumber business in Minneapolis in 1882.
He purchased the company and by 1889, the E.W. Backus Company was the second largest lumber company in Minneapolis. By the turn of the century, Backus was focused on the Border Country with its vast timber resources and the tremendous potential for hydro-electric power which lay below the yet unharnessed Koochiching Falls.
Adjoining the falls in 1900 was followed by completion of a massive dam and powerhouse in 1910. The Minnesota and International Railroad reached the area by 1907 which helped facilitate construction. A paper mill began operation in 1910 and a modern sawmill, employing 300-500 men went into operation in 1911. The development of Insulite followed with production in full swing by World Wary I. Backus' holdings eventually included mills in Fort Frances, Kenora and even Finland. Timber and water rights, as well as dams, were acquired and built on both sides of the border.
Due in large part to the developments engineered by E.W. Backus, the city's population increased to 6,431 by 1910 and rose to 13,520 by 1920. Much of the expansion of the Backus companies was achieved through borrowed money. With the market crash of 1929, the weakening economy and severe decline in newsprint prices, Backus' principal company, the M & O Paper Company, was forced into receivership in 1931. E.W. Backus struggled to regain control of the empire he had built but died abruptly in New York on October 29, 1934. His personal loss was estimated at $50 million or more.
By the mid-1920's Oberholtzer and Backus found themselves engaged in a long and bitter controversy over use of the boundary waters. The Backus plan involved building a series of power and storage dams stretching east from Lac La Croix across the Rainy Lake watershed.
Opponents claimed this would spoil the natural scenery and constitute a misuse of natural resources. The campaign to stop Backus was led by Ernest Oberholtzer and colleagues Frank Hubacheck of Chicago and Sigurd Olson of Ely who formed the Quetico-Superior Council in 1928. Their efforts were finally successful, with the support of public opinion, and the passage of the Shipstead-Nolan Act in 1930, which prohibited further developments in the Superior National Forest. In 1933, the International Joint Commission soundly rejected the Backus plan.
Architect Nairne W. Fisher in the Art Deco style and constructed using P.W.A. funds in 1936-1937. At a cost of $391,000 it was the most expensive public works project in Koochiching County. Named the "E.W. Backus Junior High School", it served the educational needs of area students for decades until closed by the school district in 1991.
Each year over 30,000 adults and children patronize the building. In 2002 there were five proposed rental opportunities and now the Backus building is home to 12 various businesses serving the community in a central location. Hundreds of people use the facility on a regular basis making Backus Community Center a vital part of International Falls and the surrounding areas. Today the building sees new life as a home for the arts, culture, youth programs and community services. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
In 1994 Jim Lemieux put a blurb in the Borderland Briefs in The Daily Journal asking for other community members who wanted to save the buildings. The group met regularly discussing possibilities, strategies and ways to convince the school board, city officials, county officials and local citizens why the buildings should be saved rather than demolished.
Finally after over eight years of struggle, the grass-roots group convinced the school district to sell them the building complex rather than demolish it. Cost of demolition would have been almost $1,000,000 to the county.
The keys were finally handed over to Citizens for Backus in August of 2002.
The Alexander Building offers 38,472 square feet of space.
Backus Community Center has 72,801 square feet of space.
Backus Community Center | 900 5th Street,
International Falls (218) 285-7225
"Historic Backus Community Center, the heart of International Falls, where all generations celebrate the arts, culture, recreation, wellness and life-long learning."
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