Fifty years ago — Aug. 1, 1965 — the DNT reports of a gambling raid in Superior that was “one of the largest mass gambling arrests in Superior that detectives could recall.” Another article, at the mid-right of the page, will raise eyebrows for its racially offensive headline, though such a thing was sadly common at the time. It is a story out of Americus, Ga., by the way, and not Duluth.
A while back, Harbor City International School Mathematics Teacher Jenny Ahern passed along to me a bound edition of Duluth News Tribune’s from August of 1965. Somehow the book made its way to the school, and the school didn’t have a practical use for it. Since we are now 50 years removed from the ol’ “Summer of ’65,” I’ll be posting some clips each day for the next month. Prepare for nostalgia.
George August “Hooks” Dauss pitched in the Major Leagues for the Detroit Tigers for 15 seasons following his stint with the Duluth White Sox. There are numerous images of him on the Internet in a Tigers uniform, but Duluth images are seemingly nonexistent. The baseball card above is a bit of a deception, because the “D” on the cap is for “Detroit.” The card is a “Corona Centennial reprint,” although the word “reprint” implies there was an original card like this 100 years ago, which wouldn’t seem to be the case. Anyway, as shown below, the image on the card is of Dauss as a Tiger.
The Arrowhead Bridge connected West Duluth to Superior’s Billing’s Park neighborhood across the St. Louis River for 57 years. Built by the Arrowhead Bridge Co., it opened on March 15, 1927. The company charged a toll to cross the bridge until 1963, when Minnesota and Wisconsin state officials paid $200,000 to make it a toll-free public bridge.
The Arrowhead Bridge was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division is preparing Chester Bowl Park for a new “fun slope,” according to a news release issued today.
Crews will be out clearing out a section of the hill within the ski area in preparation for the upcoming winter season. The new “fun slope” with gentle waves of snowy berms for skiing was identified as a desired addition to the park in the Chester Park Mini-Master Plan, approved in November 2014.
Crews will be working this week into next during daytime hours, but the public should not experience any interruption in their use of the park spaces or trails. The area will be covered with wood chips to reduce erosion and smooth out the area winter operations.
Duluthians aren’t shy about loving Bayfront Park. Asked in PDD’s poll to name the best outdoor concert venue, 71.5 percent gave their nod to the 10-acre harbor-side multi-purpose park that has hosted Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Trampled by Turtles, Wilco, the Monkees, the Doobie Brothers, Willie Nelson, Steve Martin, nearly three decades of Bayfront Blues Festivals and a long list of others.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune also named Bayfront the state’s “Best Outdoor Music Venue” in 2014, noting: “It has the Aerial Lift Bridge, hilly city skyline and occasional passing ore boat for a backdrop, the cool breeze off Lake Superior for natural air-conditioning and a huge grassy lawn for stretching out. … Coolest of all: Families can bring kids under 12 to shows for free, as is dictated by the city.”
An artistic collaboration between Jeremiah Brown, Brian Barber and Banksy. T-shirts go on sale never.
Photo by Paul Van Antwerp
We are crushed at Perfect Duluth Day to learn our great friend Edgewood Smith died on July 15.
New hiking paths pop up in Duluth faster than I can keep track of them. Web Woods Trail was in the news when it opened in 2012, but I didn’t check it out back then, and soon I’d forgotten about it. So when my wife asked if I’d ever been on the trail off Oak Bend Drive in Duluth Heights all I could respond with is: “What trail?“
What is the best outdoor concert venue in the Duluth area? It’s is an all-things-considered poll — acoustics, aesthetics, parking, lavatories, etc.
Note: This is PDD’s first runoff poll, which means instead of having an elimination round and a final round of voting, the options with the fewest votes will simply start dropping off of this poll. So check back, because if you vote for something and it drops off the list, you can vote again for one of the remaining options until we have a winner.
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Bayfront Festival Park — 71.5 percent
Big Top Chautauqua — 19 percent
Leif Erikson Park — 9.5 percent
Eliminated during run-off vote: Barker’s Island Pavilion, Billings Park, Chester Bowl, DeWitt-Seitz parking lot, First Street, Glensheen Mansion Pier, Lake Place Park, Lake Superior Plaza, Lincoln Park Pavilion, Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center, Northwest Iron parking lot and Wade Municipal Stadium.
It’s been a while since we’ve done a poll on PDD, and this post leads us into the next one. Before we publish a ballot on Saturday, we have to ask the question and make sure we aren’t missing any good nominees.
What is the best place for outdoor concerts in the Duluth area?
Barker’s Island Pavilion
Bayfront Festival Park
Big Top Chautauqua
Billings Park
Chester Bowl
Glensheen Mansion Pier
Lake Place Park
Leif Erikson Park
Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center
Anything else that should be on the ballot?
Lest anyone driving by the Central Administration Building, aka Old Central High School, fear the cool sandstone wall is being replaced with ugly concrete blocks, let it be noted that the 120-year-old brownstone blocks are being restored and will return.
Brainerd Police Chief
Corky McQuiston
Bass Lake Fire Department Chief Marvin Mullet
Superior City Attorney
Frog Prell
Itasca County District Court Judge Korey Wahwassuck
The filing period for Duluth city and school board offices closed on July 21. Below are the offices up for grabs and the names of those who filed. The Primary Election will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Duluth Mayor
(Top two candidates advance to General Election)
Thomas Cooper
John Howard Evans
Jane Hammerstrom Hoffman (withdrew)
Howie Hanson
Chuck Horton
Emily Larson
James Mattson
Robert D. Schieve
John Socha
At-large Duluth City Councilors
(Two positions; no primary in this race, all four candidates advance)
Jim Booth
Elissa Hansen
Noah Hobbs
Kriss Osbakken
First District Duluth City Councilor
(No primary in this race; both candidates advance)
Gary Anderson
Karl Spring
Second District Duluth City Councilor
(No primary in this race; candidate is unopposed)
Joel Sipress
Third District Duluth City Councilor
(No primary in this race, both candidates advance)
Jay Cole (withdrew)
Barri Love
Em Westerlund
Fifth District Duluth City Councilor
(Top two candidates advance)
Allan Beaulier
Derrick Ellis
Jay Fosle
Janet Kennedy
At-large Duluth School Board Member
(Top two candidates advance)
Alanna Oswald
Jim H. Unden
Renee K. VanNett
District Two Duluth School Board Member
(Top two candidates advance)
Jane Hammerstrom Hoffman
David Kirby
Charles Obije
District Three Duluth School Board Member
(No primary in this race; both candidates advance)
Loren Martell
Nora Sandstad
On April 7, National Geographic published a photo gallery featuring images of the St. Louis River. The intro to the piece notes the St. Louis is “the eighth most endangered river in the U.S.,” according to a ranking by the advocacy group American Rivers.
