Virginia Recreation Building

Virginia Recreation Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Virginia Recreation Building viewed from the southeast
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Location	301–307 S. 1st Street, Virginia, Minnesota
Coordinates	47°31′21″N 92°32′8″W / 47.52250°N 92.53556°W / 47.52250; -92.53556
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1923
Architectural style	Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	82004711[1]
Added to NRHP	February 4, 1982

The Virginia Recreation Building is a former community center in Virginia, Minnesota, United States, that was later converted into a factory. It was designed by architect Frederick German^[2] and built in 1923 as an ice hockey and curling rink to provide a public venue for physical development to the working class men largely employed in Iron Range mines. A generation later, as the gender balance of the city's population evened out, the building was converted into a shirt factory in 1947 to create jobs for women.^[3] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for its state-level significance in the themes of industry and social history.^[4] It was nominated for encapsulating the social welfare of the Progressive Era and the robust public spending funded by the mining boom, and the transition to a more gender-balanced population and need to diversify the economy.^[3]

The St. Louis County government acquired the building in 2003 and repurposed it as the Northland Office Center. As of 2018 they are planning to demolish the building to construct a modern government service center.^[5]