Hibbing sits on the Mesabi Iron Range, a town that was physically moved two miles south in the 1920s so the mine could expand. The Zimmerman family lived in a modest two-story house on 7th Avenue East with an appliance store downtown.
The garage held rehearsals for a series of loud high-school bands. At the 1958 Jacket Jamboree the principal reportedly cut the microphone. A radio in an upstairs bedroom pulled in blues stations from Shreveport after dark.
The house is still a private home. Fans leave notes; the owners mostly let them.
Memories attached to this place
“You could hear those boys from the alley. The whole block knew the setlist.”
“At night the radio pulled in stations from a thousand miles south. That was the education.”
“The town moved itself once. Nobody here is impressed by anybody leaving.”
Timeline
- 1919Hibbing begins relocating to make way for the open-pit mine.
- 1947The Zimmermans move to 7th Avenue East.
- 1958A high-school talent show ends with the mic cut.
- 1959Leaves for Minneapolis.
Garages are the most underrated rooms in American housing stock.
