Silver Bay is a city in Lake County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,857 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the largest population center in a natural tourism area which includes Tettegouche State Park and the Split Rock Lighthouse. It is a port along Lake Superior for iron ore, but does not have taconite mining facilities of its own, only a processing plant ran by Cleveland-Cliffs.
The North Shore National Scenic Drive runs through town.
History
The city of Silver Bay was founded on May 1, 1954, after previously being known as the Beaver Bay housing project. The company town was built to process taconite mined and shipped by train from Babbitt, Minnesota, sixty miles to the northwest.
Silver Bay attained widespread publicity in the 1960s when it was discovered that the Reserve Corporation was dumping taconite tailings into Lake Superior. In 1972 they were forced to stop and charged with violating the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, which prohibited the dumping of harmful materials into interstate waters. In 1977, after a long trial, a new waste-storage facility was built 7 miles inland. Often referred to as “Mile Post 7”
thumb|Black Beach, named for the darkly-colored taconite tailings in its sand, is now a popular tourist attractionIn 2015, the taconite tailing-rich Black Beach opened to the public, the negotiation with the mining company for public access to the beaches in the area being brokered by the city of Silver Bay and the state DNR. Black Beach Park contains three beaches and a municipally owned campground.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Silver Bay is located 28 miles northeast of Two Harbors, 54 miles northeast of Duluth, 55 miles southwest of Grand Marais, and about 100 miles south of the Canadian border. It is about halfway between Duluth and Grand Marais, along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Tettegouche State Park, the Baptism River, and the Palisade Head rock formation are all nearby.
Summer hiking trails, winter cross country skiing, maintained snowmobile trails , multiple parks, a hockey arena, and 4 baseball/softball fields are located within Silver Bay.
Demographics
thumb|Silver Bay and its taconite tailings ponds, 2010
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Silver Bay had a population of 1,857. The median age was 50.4 years. 19.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 28.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 110.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 111.2 males age 18 and over.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 833 households in Silver Bay, of which 20.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 45.6% were married-couple households, 23.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
Outer Drive (County Road 5), Penn Boulevard, and Minnesota Highway 61 are three of the main routes in Silver Bay.