Historic preservation meets the great outdoors. A walkable historic downtown with a million-acre wilderness for a backyard.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness stretches about 150 miles along the Canadian border, and downtown Ely is the gateway to it.
Small businesses have shaped downtown Ely since the town began, and they still do today.
Immigrants who came for the logging and mining boom of the 1890s and early 1900s built downtown Ely. They lined its main streets with meat markets, banks, barbershops, drugstores, pubs and theaters, many of them in the buildings that still stand today.
Ely is known for small-batch, high-quality goods. Crapola Granola, Wintergreen Northern Wear, Kondos Outdoors and Steger Mukluks sell from downtown storefronts and make their products in the back of the building or at Ely’s Business Park, a block north of downtown.
For people whose work can be done from anywhere, Ely pairs small-town living with a wilderness backyard. Renovated downtown offices are a short walk from restaurants, shops, schools and lakes, with high-speed internet available in town.
The area is home to 14 canoe outfitters, 18 resorts, four dog sledding outfitters and national paddling bases for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. The U.S. Forest Service estimates the Boundary Waters alone brings about $100 million a year to northeastern Minnesota.
Figures compiled in 2013 from city, census and U.S. Forest Service data.
Take a look at life in Ely, from the wilderness to downtown. Video courtesy of Discover Ely.
Budget Travel readers named Ely the Coolest Small Town in America in 2010, for its mix of wilderness, culture and characters.
Sheridan Street’s historic storefronts are full of outfitters, galleries, restaurants and local shops, all within an easy walk.
Ely Public Schools, Minnesota North College–Vermilion and a local hospital make Ely easy to live in, not just visit.
Paddling and lake life in summer; snowshoes, cross-country trails and dog sledding in winter.
Old photos, drawings and postcards we’ve gathered while restoring buildings around downtown Ely. Tap any photo to see it larger, or the building name to read its story.
From wolves and bears to folk art and film, a few of the places and events that bring people to Ely all year.
Answers about finding retail, office and restaurant space in downtown Ely, Minnesota.
We lease retail, office, restaurant and residential space in renovated historic buildings in downtown Ely, Minnesota, along and near Sheridan Street.
Our buildings are in downtown Ely, including the State Theater and Salerno Building on Sheridan Street, the James Building, the VFW Building, the Insula Building, the AFU Building and the historic Ely Depot. See them all on our projects page.
Current openings are always on our Ely listings page. When everything is leased, we’d still love to hear from you, since spaces open up from time to time.
Ely has a strong sense of place. It has small town charm with big wilderness nearby. You won’t find another place like Ely anywhere else in the world!
Call (573) 356-5893, email [email protected] or send us a message using the contact form, and we’ll set up a time to walk through the space with you.
Yes. Our home office is in downtown Columbia, Missouri, where we lease office, retail, restaurant and art studio space. See our listings at columbiamo.com.
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