Taconite, incorporated as a village on April 20, 1909, was laid out by the Oliver Mining Company, which had opened the Holman Mine there. The city now covers an area that is almost 6 square miles and is a very diverse area, with everything from residential homes, to farms, to mining.

The Diamond Mine was the site of earliest iron mining experimentation in the late 1880s; the first experimental washing plant on the western Mesabi Range was also built there. Magnetation Plant2 is also located in Taconite. Its post office began in 1906; it had a station serving several railroad lines in section 22 and Taconite Junction in section 27. The city has a rich ice hockey heritage, including the start of East Range Hockey.