Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes

In the 1930s Father George Delia, the new priest for the Italian parish at Eveleth's Immaculate Conception Church, constructed the Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, a replica of the miracle Lourdes Grotto in France. Built from native rock with alcoves, statues, and plantings, the Catholic "Ave Maria" shrine was enough of a local landmark to merit a vellum postcard for tourists for a few decades.

The three Catholic parishes in town eventually merged into one (Resurrection Church); Immaculate Conception was closed and the property sold in 1987. The building was dismantled. In 2018 we checked with the public library a few blocks away, and locals told us the grotto was no longer there. We received a visitor tip in 2020 that it was still there, in a backyard.

Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes

Address:: 810 Jones St., Eveleth, MN
Directions:: In a backyard, on private property, but you can see it from an adjoining alley. No trespassing.

Nearby Offbeat Places

World's Largest Free-Standing Hockey Stick, Eveleth, MN - < 1 mi.

Big Uncle Sam, Virginia, MN - 3 mi.

Sawed-Off Sawyer Sculpture, Virginia, MN - 4 mi.

In the region:

Big Bluegill Fish Statue, Orr, MN - 43 mi.

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