Piragas Northwoods Company

This building must be a singularly hospitable place. It has only housed three businesses during its 116-year history. The initial clothing business remained here from 1906 (about) until 1957, when Bill Mills, moved the business to Chapman Street. Then, a local advertising publication, The Ely Shopper, spent 34 years here. The last caretakers have been Steve and Nancy Piragis operating their Northwoods Company at this location (and the adjacent building – 105 North Central) since 1991. Although there have not been many owners, the stories are indicative of Ely’s history. They are the stories of the hard work required to build a business – and the taking of risks, of doing the work and of succeeding.  

The building was initially built in 1905 (about) by Joseph and Jennie Bloomenson. The family emigrated from Lithuania/Russia in 1894 and lived in the Ely area during the 1900 US Federal Census. The Bloomenson retail business started without a building at all. Joseph initially sold his wares from a pushcart on the street. Eventually Joseph established the business in the store at 109 North Central. 

By 1913, Joseph and Jennie moved to Minneapolis, leaving their son Abe to run the store.

During WWI, Abe went into the service leaving his sister to manage the store. In 1921, after he returned, he sold the business to William Mills who had clerked for him prior to the war. 

Abe went on to run a successful company in Duluth, Minnesota. He married Hannah Berkowitz in 1933 and they had one son, Paul. In 1957, he generously donated $100,000 toward building the Ely Bloomenson Community Hospital, which was named in his honor.

William Mills, the new owner, was a Finnish immigrant. He continued the clothing business at the 109 location and in the 1920’s married Hilma Rautio, from Tower-Soudan. They raised three children living in the upstairs apartment above the store. Once again, it was a family business where everyone pitched in. In 1955, Mills retired and sold the business to his son, William O. (Bill) Mills. Bill was born in the apartment and had worked in the store growing up and after his military service during WWII.  In 1957 Bill moved the business to a new building on Chapman Street (now the site of Serena’s Carpet). The clothing business continued through the third generation when Bill’s son, John, bought the business moving it to 230 East Sheridan, just up the hill from his grandfather’s original store. 

John has recently retired, and the next generation has not continued the business, but the Mills story is not an uncommon story in Ely – the story of a family business nurtured and grown to support multiple generations. 

The current owners, Steve and Nancy Piragis, built their outdoor business in Ely as well, starting without a retail store front and eventually settling here in the Bloomenson Clothing Building and the Forsman Tavern Building next door to the south. Their daughter is now involved in the business and the second generation is carrying on the tradition.

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1900 – this is an empty lot; Joseph Bloomenson is a peddler in Ely

1906 – Joseph Bloomenson’s Clothing Store is at this location

1913 (or earlier) – son Abe Bloomenson owns the Men’s Furnishing Store here

1921 – William Mills buys the store, marries, and raises his family in the apartment upstairs              (01/14/1921)

1955 – William Mills retires and sells the business to his son, Bill Mills

1957 – Bill moves the business to a new location; the Ely Shopper inhabits the building for 34 years

1991 – Nancy and Steve Piragis buy the building, combine it with the building next door and open their outdoors clothing and equipment store

The Sanborn Insurance Maps 1900-1924.

1900 AND 1907 Ely City Directories

Ancestry.com. Accessed April 8th, 2022.

Ely Since 1888 (The Blue Book). Ely, Mn. The Ely Echo. 1988.

The Anniversary Committee (author), Centennial Roaring Stoney Days – In Commemoration of Ely’s 70the Birthday 1888-1958; Edition Second Edition October 30, 1982, Ely Minnesota; Ely-Winton Historical Society, 1958 (publisher)

Ely Phone Directories from 1949 to 2020 (available at the Ely-Winton Historical Society).

Information from John Mills and Nancy Seliskar (grandchildren of William Mills)

Information from Dea Forsman Whitten (publisher of the Ely Shopper)

Information from Steve Piragis (current owner)