Between Duluth and Two Harbors, what is now County Road 61 was commissioned as U.S. 61 in 1926, ready for use by 1929, and paved by 1940. Until the expressway between Duluth and Two Harbors was constructed inland in the 1960s, County Road 61 (then U.S. 61) had served as the principal route between Duluth and Two Harbors. The state turned over management of the road to Saint Louis and Lake Counties in the 1960s, and the two counties then designated this route County Road 61.
