[3] Eveleth is part of the Quad Cities, with Virginia, Gilbert, and Mountain Iron.

The Village of Eveleth was platted on April 22, 1893, originally about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the present location, on land then included in the Adams-Spruce Mine (Douglas Avenue between Jones and Monroe Streets).

The community was named after Erwin Eveleth, a prominent employee of a timber company in the area.

In 1895, iron ore was discovered beneath the village site and a post office was established.

Eveleth first established its post office on February 9, 1895, with P. Ellard Dowling as commander-in-chief.

This activity peaked during World War II and declined through the second half of the 20th century.

A demand for iron ore occurred between 2005 and 2007, and local economies experienced a mild improvement due to improved mining productivity, which allowed demand to be met with only a modest increase in staffing.

The ore is magnetite-bearing iron formation of the Paleoproterozoic Biwabik Iron Formation, and is crushed at the mine site and shipped by railroad to the Fairlane Plant in Forbes, Minnesota, for concentrating and pelletizing.

Eveleth has the "world's largest authentic hockey stick", standing at 107 feet and weighing 3 tons.

A few blocks away from the stick is the Eveleth Hippodrome, Minnesota's oldest hockey arena still in use.

The Rock Ridge Wolverines Boys & Girls hockey teams play there as one out of two of their home rinks, the other being the Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia.

The Eveleth Reds played in the United States Amateur Hockey Association between 1920 and 1925, and in the inaugural season of 1920–21 finished as runner-ups to the Cleveland Indians after losing a closely contested four-game series 12 goals to 14 in April 1921.

[13] Eveleth's biggest star player was defenseman Ivan "Ching" Johnson, who played three seasons for the club between 1920 and 1923, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.