Minnesota Power’s history stretches back to 1870, when financier Jay Cooke began acquiring land on both sides of the St. Louis River near Duluth in anticipation of hydroelectric units being built there. Construction was begun in 1905 by MP’s predecessor.

When Minnesota Power and Light Co. undertook its program of acquisition and integration of electric properties in the early 1920s, there were six major electric utilities and a number of municipal and privately owned local plants operating in what is now the company’s electric service territory.

The rapid increase in the use of electric power eventually warranted consideration of generation facilities that would not be dependent on water as a power source. Hydro power today accounts for about 10 percent of Minnesota Power’s capacity while much of the rest is generated by coal-fired units in Aurora, Cohasset and Duluth.

Minnesota Power serves some of the nation’s largest industrial customers, taconite and paper producers in northeast Minnesota. When an economic downturn was reflected in reduced demand for power by those customers in the early ‘80s, MP executives responded to the uncertainty by studying; then pursuing diversification.

Business ventures during the period included:

• Partnership with another firm in construction and operation of a Duluth paper mill.
• Purchase of the North Dakota coal company that supplies lignite to a generating unit there from which MP continues to obtain significant power.
• Acquisition of telephone utilities in the mid-west and water utilities in Florida and the Carolinas.

In the mid-‘90s, Minnesota Power entered the automobile remarketing business by acquiring the Indianapolis-based ADESA with its network of auto auctions and associated businesses throughout the United States and Canada. As a part of Minnesota Power, ADESA grew to become North America’s second largest automobile remarketer, and in 2004 was spun off as a separate company.