bemidjipioneer.com | CHAPTER 4: 1971-1996
The Bemidji Pioneer | Saturday, May 22, 2021
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ANNUAL REPORT 2021
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Submitted photos In May 1984, dozens of people gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony of Ground is broken for Bemidji’s downtown revitalization project in May 1984. In the Bemidji’s downtown revitalization project. This photo was taken at Second Street background is the old Markham Hotel. Project leader Pat Campbell is pictured and Beltrami Avenue. The Paul Bunyan Sub Shop was located at the site of what second from right. is now Frizzell Furniture Gallery.
Expanding its reach
As northwest side developed, Bemidji became more of a regional center By Dennis Doeden ddoeden@bemidjipioneer.com
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xpansion was the theme for Bemidji’s fourth quarter century starting in 1971. For 75 years, the town had grown and developed a personality of its own, but much of that was centered around downtown Bemidji. And while it had long been a destination for tourists and outdoor enthusiasts, Bemidji’s reach also expanded in the 1970s and ’80s as development moved from the city’s core. The Paul Bunyan Mall opened in 1977 along what was then U.S. Highway 2 on the city’s northwest side, taking JCPenney out of downtown. The Bemidji
it home after retiring as finance director at Beltrami Electric Cooperative, remembers quite a different scene on that stretch of road. “From where the mall was built it was basically country going out to the Highway Host (now Super Buffet),” Sletten said. “There was no four-lane highway. The grain trucks came right through town. And it seemed like it took forever to get to Wilton.” Larry Young, former city planner and retired economic development director, said the expansion added to Bemidji’s diverse economy. “Bemidji has been blessed over the years with a fairly diversified economic base which continues
Community Hospital and Bemidji Clinic built new facilities, leaving downtown for the northwest. Car dealerships moved out of downtown. Banks expanded to that part of town. Other new businesses sprung up on what had been the wooded outskirts. In the mid 1980s, the Highway 2/71 bypass was built, paving the way for Paul Bunyan Drive through the expanded northwest side. Then the big box stores arrived, starting In 1996 with Target. Walmart opened in 2002. Home Depot, Menards, Hobby Lobby and Kohl’s followed. Chain restaurants also set up shop on Paul Bunyan Drive. Sid Sletten, who grew up in Bemidji and still calls
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CHAPTER 4: Page D6
125 YEARS
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you going to do for us?’” he recalled. “That was the beginning of the downtown project.” Spearheaded by the late Pat Campbell, owner of The Melody Shop on Third Street, a plan was developed to revitalize the downtown area. “We got a group together and decided maybe it’s not just the merchants’ responsibility to make something happen,” Young said. “So we started looking at the city staff, the merchants and consultants that we worked with. It took awhile to get our ducks in a row, get money lined up. Once that happened it really
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today,” Young wrote in a chapter for the Beltrami County Historical Society’s upcoming book on the city’s 125 years. “It includes retail sales, manufacturing, timber processing, medical services, education, tourism and advanced telecommunications – economic drivers that will continue to build a bright future for the Bemidji area.” But after the Paul Bunyan Mall was built, while Young was still with the city, concerned downtown business owners paid him a visit. “Literally the day the mall opened the downtown merchants came to my office in the city and said, ‘OK, Mr. City Planner, what are
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