Town file
Ely, Minnesota
Ely, Minnesota (St. Louis County, Minnesota) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 211, "Frozen Blood Puddles & Banana Liqueur" (18 February 2021). Jeffrey Gulford Getters was born on 8 March 1956, the son of Stan, a miner, and Katy, a homemaker.
- Town
- Ely
- County
- St. Louis County
- State
- Minnesota
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 211
- Approximate location
- 47.906, -91.851
Episode 211 / 18 February 2021 / 153 min / full
Frozen Blood Puddles & Banana Liqueur
"This is uh Ely, Minnesota... in northeastern Minnesota, all the way up by Canada... This is in St. Louis County." about 0:04:44
The case: Murder of Jeffrey Getters (March 1975). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2021
- Population
- 3,425
- Median age
- almost 47
- Median home value
- $118,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $770
- Cost of living
- about 80
- Religious
- 47%
- Property crime
- ▲ about one third higher
- Violent crime
- ▼ less than half
History, in brief
- The first Europeans to explore the area were fur traders. about 0:06:29
- The Lake Vermilion gold rush brought the largest number of people to the area in 1865. about 0:07:03
- Hardly any gold was ever found, but large deposits of iron ore were discove instead. about 0:07:32
- German immigrants and other Europeans came to work in the mines, and the area was called the Minnesota Iron Range. about 0:08:22
- The name Ely comes from the Isle of Eels, a wetland near Cambridge, England; Samuel B. Ely, a mining executive, financed the railroad to Ely in 1888. about 0:08:52
- People from Ely, with the support of the city council, created various hoaxes as a way of getting free publicity for the town. about 0:10:16
- One hoax was about a fictional family that painted the leaves of the trees every autumn and wanted people to apply to carry on the tradition. about 0:11:28
- Another hoax claimed that Ely was seceding from the United States to become part of Canada. about 0:12:02
- In 2009 the town made a joking bid to host the 2016 Olympics, saying a man with a bucket would drain Miners Lake south of town to provide stadium seating. about 0:12:21
- The 'Ely in 2016' slogan appea on bumper stickers, shirts and a billboard across Minnesota. about 0:13:22
- Ely is best known as the entry point for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. about 0:13:49
- The International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Center are both in Ely. about 0:13:49
- Jessica Biel was born in Ely. about 0:13:49
The reviews read out
3 stars
"Inju a hip on the trip, had to do laundry and found no handicap parking at the laundromat; parked facing traffic, got a $42 ticket, appeal denied, and says he will not return because there are other gateways to the Boundary Waters."about 0:14:30
2 stars
"The town relies too much on tourism, all the jobs are minimum wage, there is nothing but the Boundary Waters, taxes are absurd and spent frivolously, the local government is a bunch of good old boys stuck in the 1960s, and only resort owners and mine workers do well."about 0:15:37
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Big Lake Township, Minnesota91 miles
- Moose Lake, Minnesota109 miles
- Ontonagon, Michigan139 miles
- Phillips, Wisconsin167 miles
- unknown, Minnesota180 miles
- Ham Lake, Minnesota194 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.