If These Walls Could Talk: Preserving the character of downtown Bemidji

Dennis Doeden, The Bemidji Pioneer, Minn.
·4 min read

Aug. 26—Editor's note: This is part of a 15-story series titled

"If These Walls Could Talk"

completed by Pioneer reporters with help from the Beltrami County Historical Society for our 2023 Annual Report.

Mitch Rautio loves downtown Bemidji, and he's on a mission to preserve the character of some of the older buildings that he owns.

"It's so nice to keep the buildings as close to original as possible within reason," Rautio said. "It's great to have all the character of the downtown. Nothing against Maple Grove; what did they try to create? They tried to create an old-looking downtown. We have it. Let's keep it."

Rautio came to Bemidji from his hometown of New York Mills in 1991 to attend Bemidji State University, where he studied construction management and played football and baseball. He met his wife, Janna, at BSU.

They lived in the Twin Cities for a few years but returned to Bemidji and bought Keg N' Cork Irish pub, which they owned for 18 years. They still own the building but sold the restaurant in 2019.

"About halfway through that I realized you never put enough money away for retirement," Rautio said. "My life and what I went to school for was construction. So I decided to start buying buildings, fixing them up, renting them out and just getting them to cash flow for themselves."

Besides Keg N' Cork, he now owns another seven buildings downtown, including the M.E. Ibertson building at 405 Beltrami Ave. NW. Rautio runs his businesses — Specklebelly Properties, Puddle Duck Properties and Back Country Construction — from offices on the second floor of the Ibertson building.

"They've all been downtown just because it's a wonderful place," Rautio said. "We love the downtown through and through."

The Ibertson building site, known as Block 11, Lot 10 of the Original Townsite, was purchased for $100 in 1899, three years after the village of Bemidji was incorporated. Like many early buildings downtown, the original structure was made of wood.

M.E. Ibertson lived in that building and in 1907 opened a funeral home there. Ten years later he decided to construct a new brick building on the site.

A Bemidji Pioneer story in 1917 reads:

"M.E. Ibertson isn't holding back in his intention to erect his contemplated handsome brick business building, to be two stories and replace the present frame structure on

Beltrami Avenue. ... The frame structure will be moved undoubtedly to the rear of the lot, to make way for the new brick structure.

"The building will be modern in every detail and on the second floor will be offices. The steel for the new building has been purchased and is scheduled to arrive soon.

When completed, the building will have involved an approximate outlay of $10,000 and will be a welcome addition to the business district."

In 1936, Ibertson moved his funeral home to a new site at Bemidji Avenue and 10th Street, and a Coast to Coast store opened in the Ibertson building.

Dean and Donna Beattie of Lake Region Paint and Decorating Center bought the building in 1989 and opened Downtown Decorating, which they ran until 1996. Later, Snow Goose Gifts moved from Union Square to the Ibertson building and remained there until 2006.

Paul Iverson, who owned Iverson Corner Drug next door, bought the building in 2006 for his Progressive Health Care business. In 2011, structural damage was discovered on the front of the building. A metal support beam had rusted through and the entire brick front had to be replaced.

"We redid the front exactly to the way it was before," Iverson said. The name M.E. Ibertson was replicated near the top.

Minnesota Public Radio's Bemidji operations were on the second floor of the building for many years. Sadie Rae's Quilt Shop has been located on the main floor since 2021 but will be moving out and relocating to Wilton next month.

Rautio bought the building from Iverson in 2021. He's optimistic about the positive changes he is seeing in downtown Bemidji.

"I have a goal to put a historical plaque on the front of each one of my buildings," Rautio said, "with information about when it was built and what it was built for. I think there are currently some new building owners downtown who are excited about revitalizing things. We have such a jewel to be on the lake."