Driving around town, you’ll find remnants of long-forgotten commercial activity in many neighborhoods, such as corner groceries and other stores that have evolved into residential space, as most commercial activity moved downtown or to the Minnesota Highway 33 corridor over the years.

The West End of Cloquet is one of those sites. Once the thriving center of Cloquet, it held the City Hall, police station, and many of the most important businesses in town. The original town square was in the West End. So was the train station, and the town’s movie theater. But after Highway 33 sliced thr...