Ely Folk School

There was a small Jewish immigrant community in Ely at the city’s inception. Joseph Bloomenson was one of these early immigrants. Joseph had a small clothing store at this site in a building on the west side of the lot, which was later replaced by the larger structure you see today. Joseph immigrated from Lithuania/Russia in 1893 with his wife and three of his children, Abe, Rose, and Esther.  They had four more children in this country.

Joseph began making his living in Ely as a peddler, selling his wares from a pushcart.  He eventually owned the small building on this site and later a general merchandise store on Central Avenue. By 1911 Joseph and Jennie moved to Minneapolis, leaving their son Abe to run the Ely enterprise. Two years later, in 1913 Abe left Ely to serve in WWI, leaving his sister with the responsibilities for running the stores. When Abe returned after the war, he sold the businesses and left Ely, eventually settling in Duluth where he did well in finance.

The Ely Community will always be indebted to Abe Bloomenson for his generous donation in 1958 of $100,000 (over one million dollars in today’s dollars), to help build the Ely Bloomenson Community Hospital which has faithfully served Ely, its residents and visitors, for over 65 years and continues to this day.

For more of this Sheridan Street building’s history, please continue reading below. 

The small clothing store building on the west side of the lot owned by Joseph Bloomenson was eventually demolished and the larger two-story building that is here today was built. This new building was constructed in 1915 (about). The one story, east side of the building was added after 1924. 

In 1923 (or earlier), the west side housed Bourgin’s Dry Goods Store. Morris Bourgin, was another early immigrant of Russian/Lithuanian and Jewish descent. He came to the US in 1906 at the age of 26, leaving his wife Mary and their first child Frank in Lithuania. She heard little from him for five years until a letter came with two tickets to America. Later her son, Simon, retold her experience upon arriving in America: “when she came to Ellis Island she got on a train, and she got on a train, and got on a train, and she went on and on and finally got on the last train… She couldn’t understand what this husband of hers had done. It was the most godforsaken country; nothing by pine trees and boulders.”

Morris Bourgin also started his American life as a peddler, carrying his wares in a pack on his back. He sold to the early settlers in Tower, Ely and those who lived in between. He carried shirts, work pants, boots, work shoes, and heavy underwear and gloves.  By 1920 he was a shopkeeper and by 1930 was running a women’s clothing store at this location and living upstairs with his family. During the challenging 1930’s Morris traded in furs which was a sometimes illegal but an important survival industry for many in the Ely area, during the Great Depression. Morris’ son Simon remembers hiding the furs in the attic until the Chicago wholesalers came to buy the contraband.

Morris and Mary raised three children in Ely– Frank, David, and Simon. In 1940, they moved to Virginia, Minnesota.

By the 1940’s the building had expanded into the vacant space to the east, covering two lots. It housed the Fisherman’s Headquarters and Canoe Outfitters business, initially run by Eric Roscher. 

During its time as Fisherman’s Headquarters, there were broad open display tables in the center, topped with bins to keep the many small souvenirs neatly separated. You could purchase smart moccasins with bead work as well as outdoor clothing on the left side of the store. Maps and fishing equipment were on the right.  Local mothers generally didn’t bring their children here because to their thinking, the children didn’t need souvenirs of Ely - they lived in Ely. But children were always fascinated by the decorated cups, the small plastic bears and wolves and other wonderful things in the Fisherman’s Headquarters’ bins. The business also sold canoes and other boats and motors.  

The memory that many local people and visitors have of Fisherman’s Headquarters, is the summer fishing radio program that aired on the WELY radio station. It was emceed by Eric Roscher, Fisherman’s HQs’ first owner and Judge John “Shammy” Somrock. Loosely, the program opened as follows:

“Let’s go fishing.”

Blurrrrrrrr, Blurrrrrrr, Blurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (the sound of a five-horse engine running). 

 “Here we are.”

“Yes, here we are at the top of the hill on Sheridan Street under the sign of the jumping fish. The Let’s Go Fishing Show with Eric Roscher and Judge John ‘Shammy‘ Somrock.”

At the end of the week, the person who registered the best fish would win a can of Arco Coffee.  The program appeared to be completely unrehearsed which made it well worth listening to, even for the non-fisherperson.

In 1971, William and Marnie Grahek bought the business running it until 1995.  Marnie did the buying and ran the store. She said, ‘I loved it. It was the people who would come year after year that you would get to know.’

Later the building housed the Ely Surf Shop, a 50’s style clothing store and restaurant. More recently, it held an extension of Schurke’s Winter Green Clothing Store, next door, until 2009 when it became Toys in the Woods. It is now the exciting Ely Folk School, which offers art, craft and construction classes.

1907 – Joseph and Jennie Bloomenson run a clothing store in a small building on this site, as well as a business on Central Avenue

1911 – Joseph and Jennie move to Minneapolis; son Abe takes over the Ely businesses

1913 – Abe enters the service to support the U.S. effort in WWI

1922 – Abe sells the businesses and leaves Ely

1923 (or earlier) – Morris Bourgin runs a business here; the family lives upstairs

1938 (or 1940) – The Bourgin family moves to Virginia Minnesota

1949 (or earlier) Erik Roscher opens Fisherman’s Headquarters in this building and runs it for 22 years

1971 – Marnie and Bill Grahek run Fisherman’s Headquarters in this building

1995 (about) – The Ely Surf Shop

1997 (about) - Wintergreen Northern Wear expansion space

2009 – Toys in the Woods, Kurt and Becky Stacey proprietors

2015 – The Ely Folk School

The Sanborn Insurance Maps 1900-1924.

1900 AND 1907 Ely City Directories

Tom Rose, “Russian and Lithuanian Immigrant Jews In Ely, Minnesota 1900-1946” Copyright 2001

Ancestry.com. Accessed April 8th, 2022.

Familysearch.org. Accessed August 12,2023

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

Information from Jim Maki

Information from Marnie Grahek (previous owner)

Information from Kerry Davis