The character of Midway Township, Minnesota
Part of the Midway Township neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Midway feels like country that happens to be close to town, and residents tend to describe it in exactly those terms.
Properties are measured in acres. Driveways are long. Outbuildings, pole barns and workshops are normal rather than notable, and a good many parcels carry a mix of woods and cleared ground. Neighbors are far enough apart that you notice when one stops by, and close enough that people know whose truck is whose.
The social center of gravity is Proctor. That is where the schools are, where the groceries are, where the bars and the restaurants are, and where the community events happen. Township residents describe themselves as being from Proctor more often than from Midway, in much the same way Bayview Heights residents do.
The quiet is genuine and it is the main reason people move here. The exceptions are Interstate 35, which carries constant traffic noise for parcels near it, and seasonal agricultural and logging equipment. Otherwise this is as quiet as this guide gets, with the practical consequence that whatever noise there is carries a long way.
The rhythm is seasonal in a way city neighborhoods are not. Firewood in autumn, plowing all winter, mud in spring, and a summer that people spend outdoors on their own land. Farmer Doug's stand on Lindahl Road runs produce and poultry through the growing season and Christmas trees in December, which is about as accurate a summary of the local year as exists.
Landmarks
The St. Louis River gorge, the swinging bridge and a large trail system, immediately south of the township. For a township of under 600 housing units, having a major state park as the southern boundary is the defining recreational fact.
Mission, Sargent and Stewart creeks run through the township and the Midway River passes the northwestern corner. On acreage this matters practically as well as scenically: creek corridors carry wetland, drainage and shoreland considerations that affect what can be built and where.
A working farm stand at 3361 Lindahl Road selling produce, poultry and Christmas trees, and the only food business this guide places inside the township boundary.
Duluth's lift-served ski hill on the ridge about six miles northeast, with downhill mountain biking and an adventure park in summer.
Proctor grew as a railroad town serving the ore traffic down to the Duluth docks, and the yards remain the defining feature of the township's service town ten minutes east. The Proctor Area Historical Society is the place to follow that history.
Character next door
The township's service town about ten minutes east, with the schools, the groceries and the restaurants.
Canosia Township and Pike LakeNorth of Hermantown in the same school district, the other rural township in this guide, with lake frontage this one does not have.
HermantownThe suburban city immediately north, with new construction, municipal services and the region's highest price per square foot.
Gary-New DuluthSoutheast into far-west Duluth, city services and much lower prices along the St. Louis River.
EskoWest about fifteen minutes into Carlton County, a small unincorporated community with a strong school district of its own.