History Mystery

The story about the closing of Wood City Lights & Hardware in the Pine Knot News a few weeks ago got us thinking about that nickname for Cloquet. It’s obvious why Wood City came to be, given the influence of the wood-related industry here. But when did Wood City gain traction as a nickname? If you can call it traction. The term is bandied about still today, but not as commonly as, say, the Big Apple, Big Easy, Charm City or Queen City.

A cursory look at the newspapers.com archive, which has searchable newspapers dating back hundreds of years, shows that at least two entities in the 1960s may have spread the nickname around a bit. One was Wood City Motors, which sponsored powerhouse fast-pitch softball teams that excelled statewide and nationally. An internet search shows that Wood City Motors was incorporated in 1930, so that may show how far back the nickname goes.

Also in the 1960s, there was a barbershop quartet called the Wood City Four who toured across the midwest. Ken Nelson, Ray Gibson, Don Cardinal

and Lee Haug were its members.

Businesses, a school and sports tournaments and other events have kept Wood City alive over the years. People who’ve been here a while occasionally drop the nickname in casual conversation.

If you have more on the nickname timeline and its use, perhaps through advertising materials, news clippings or old family stories, please let History Mystery know at [email protected]

And here’s something else for down the road: When did the high school in Cloquet gain the Lumberjacks nickname?