Minnesota State Highway 1

Trunk Highway 1
Route information
Maintained by Mn/DOT
Length:	345.954 mi (556.759 km)
Existed:	1933 – present
Major junctions
West end:	ND 54 at the Red River, the Minnesota — North Dakota state line
	US 75 at Warren US 59 / MN 32 at Thief River Falls MN 89 at Red Lake US 71 / MN 46 at Northome MN 38 at Effie MN 65 at Togo US 53 at Cook MN 169 at Ely
East end:	MN 61 at Illgen City
Location
Counties:	Marshall, Pennington, Clearwater, Beltrami, Koochiching, Itasca, Saint Louis, Lake
Highway system
Minnesota Trunk Highways Interstate US State Legislative routes ← I-694 US 2 →

Minnesota State Highway 1 (MN 1) is a highway in northwest and northeast Minnesota, which runs from North Dakota Highway 54 at the North Dakota state line (at the Red River in Oslo) and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with Minnesota Highway 61 at the unincorporated community of Illgen City in Beaver Bay Township on the North Shore of Lake Superior. At 346 miles (557 km) in length, Highway 1 is the longest state route in Minnesota.

Route description

State Highway 1 serves as an east–west route between Oslo, Warren, Thief River Falls, Red Lake, Northome, Cook, Tower, Ely, and Beaver Bay Township.

The roadway passes through the following forests:

• Finland State Forest in Lake County
• Superior National Forest in Lake and Saint Louis counties
• Bear Island State Forest in Lake and Saint Louis counties
• Kabetogama State Forest in Saint Louis County
• George Washington State Forest in Itasca County
• Koochiching State Forest in Koochiching County

File:Northern MN - 057.jpg

Intersection of Highways 1 and 169 in Ely

The route runs concurrent with State Highway 169 for 26 miles (42 km) from Vermilion Lake Township (west of Tower) to Ely.

State Highway 1 also runs concurrent with State Highway 89 for 28 miles (45 km) on the southwest side of Red Lake. This is the longest concurrency with another state highway within Minnesota.

History

Most of State Highway 1 was authorized in 1933, except for a section between U.S. 75 and State Highway 32 at Thief River Falls which was part of Minnesota Constitutional Route 33 authorized in 1920.

The route was given the Highway 1 designation because it was one of the longest trunk highways, and would allow re-use of the Route 1 markers removed from along U.S. 61 and U.S. 65 in 1934.

When it was marked in 1934, it was only paved from U.S. 75 to Highway 32 and from Highway 169 to Ely.

As recently as 1963, significant portions of Highway 1 were unpaved.

Highway 1 still had an unpaved segment in 1996, between U.S. 53 and State Highway 169 in northern Saint Louis County. At that point it was swapped with paved Saint Louis County Road 22.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Red River of the North		0.000	0.000	Continues as ND 54 west in North Dakota
Marshall	Oak Park Township	1.554	2.501	MN 220 north – Robbin	West end of MN 220 concurrency
	Alvarado	6.555	10.549	MN 220 south – East Grand Forks	East end of MN 220 concurrency
	Warren	17.050	27.439	US 75 – Crookston, Winnipeg
Pennington	Thief River Falls	44.457	71.547	US 59 north – Winnipeg	West end of US 59 concurrency
		45.771	73.661	MN 32 south / US 59 south – Red Lake Falls, Erskine, Mahnomen	South end of MN 32 concurrency East end of US 59 concurrency
		46.118	74.220	MN 32 north – Greenbush	North end of MN 32 concurrency
	Goodridge Township	63.367	101.979	MN 219 north – Goodridge
Beltrami	Red Lake Indian Reservation	89.331	143.764	MN 89 north – Grygla, Roseau	North end of MN 89 concurrency
Clearwater	No major junctions
Beltrami	Red Lake Indian Reservation	116.960	188.229	MN 89 south – Bemidji	South end of MN 89 concurrency
	Cormant Township	141.331	227.450	MN 72 south – Blackduck	West end of MN 72 concurrency
	Shooks	146.400	235.608	MN 72 north – Kelliher, Baudette	East end of MN 72 concurrency
Koochiching	Unorganized Territory of Northome	151.288	243.474	US 71 south – Bemidji	South end of US 71 concurrency
	Northome	154.276	248.283	US 71 north – International Falls	North end of US 71 concurrency
		154.564	248.747	MN 46 south – Deer River
	Unorganized Territory of Northome	178.128	286.669	MN 6 north – Big Falls	North end of MN 6 concurrency
Itasca	Unorganized Territory of Effie	180.452	290.409	MN 6 south – Deer River	South end of MN 6 concurrency
	Effie	186.656	300.394	MN 38 south – Bigfork
	Carpenter Township	211.369	340.165	MN 65 south – Nashwauk	West end of MN 65 concurrency
		215.424	346.691	MN 65 north – Littlefork	East end of MN 65 concurrency
St. Louis	Linden Grove	229.223	368.899	MN 73 – Chisholm, Hibbing, Orr
	Field Township	236.245	380.199	US 53 north – International Falls	North end of US 53 concurrency
	Sherman Corner	244.377	393.287	US 53 south – Virginia	South end of US 53 concurrency
	Peyla	258.848	416.575	MN 169 south – Virginia	West end of MN 169 concurrency
	Tower	263.159	423.513	MN 135 south – Aurora
	Ely	286.208	460.607	MN 169 north – Winton	East end of MN 169 concurrency
Lake	Illgen City	347.340	558.990	MN 61 / LSCT – Duluth, Thunder Bay
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

External links

• Minnesota Highway 1, MN Highway Endings.

• Steve Riner (July 26, 2003). Details of Routes 1-25. Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Accessed August 27, 2004.