of the Brule River. The park is located northeast of Grand Marais in Cook County. Grand Portage State Park is located in Cook County on the banks of the Pigeon River. The community of Grand Portage is nearby. MN 61 starts on the northern end of Duluth and continues northeasterly towards Two Harbors, the first city outside Duluth and the largest city between Duluth and Grand Portage. MN 61 continues as a four-lane expressway through Two Harbors, then becomes two lanes. After Two Harbors, there are no towns for almost , until reaching Beaver Bay, followed by Silver Bay. Afterwards, MN 61 passes a few state parks before reaching Schroeder, followed by Tofte. After Tofte, the road to Lutsen Mountains ski resort, County Road 5, meets with MN 61. The next town is Lutsen, followed by Cascade River State Park. About further along is Grand Marais, the second largest city after Two Harbors, and another along is Grand Portage; between the two is Hovland. MN 61 bypasses Grand Portage to the west. The northern terminus for MN 61 is at the Canadian border, where it becomes Ontario Highway 61 upon entering Canada at the Pigeon River Bridge; the roadway continues to Thunder Bay. History Minnesota Highway 61 was designated and signed in 1991. The roadway was originally part of US 61 from 1926 to 1991. After construction of I-35 in the 1960s, US 61 was co-signed with I-35 until 1991. During that year, US 61 was decommissioned from the Canadian border south to its present-day junction with I-35 at the city of Wyoming near Forest Lake. The section of US 61 north of Duluth was redesignated MN 61 that same year. MN 61 is one of three state marked highways to carry the same number as an existing U.S. Highway within the state; the others are MN 65 and MN 169. From 1991 to 1997, MN 61 continued southwest on London Road beyond I-35 to 14th Avenue East, where southbound traffic then turned northwest to end at MN 23 which followed a one-way pair of 2nd Street East (eastbound) and 3rd Street East (westbound); northbound MN 61 began following 12th Avenue East south to London Road. Both routes were turned back to end at their respective I-35 junctions in Duluth in 1997. Early history MN 61, between Duluth and the Canadian border, was commissioned as part of US 61 in