This undated postcard, published by the Elton H. Gujer Company, promotes the Loneyville Motel at 7717 Congdon Boulevard, a half mile northeast of Brighton Beach in Duluth. It’s the present-day location of North Shore Cottages.
Visual artist Moira Villiard organized a mural project at the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial as part of a day of creative expression on Monday, June 8. People were invited to add to the images she created of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and a raised fist. The activities also included interviews of black, indigenous and people of color on the topic of police brutality. The interviews will be used in a documentary produced by DanSan Creatives. June 15 marks 100 years since the lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Issac McGhie in downtown Duluth for a crime they didn’t commit.
This Victorian trade card promotes E. Rose’s Boot and Shoe Bazaar, a Duluth retailer of Burt’s Fine Shoes. Info on the store isn’t easy to come by, but a pair of newspaper ads found after this post was initially published indicate the store was open from 1882 to 1886.
For this report we turn to our junior news team at Raleigh Edison Charter School.
This undated postcard from the V. O. Hammon Publishing Company shows the Steamer Easton in the Duluth Harbor. The image can be roughly dated between 1905 and 1917.
The building that has been home to the Electric Fetus music and gift store since 1987 was once a theater. From 1903 to 1911 the Bijou Theatre operated at 12 E. Superior St. until it was renamed the Empress Theatre. It burned in 1915, but the structure survived and was converted to retail.
Buyck is about 100 miles north of Duluth. Presumably this 1940s-era photo depicts cabins at what is the modern-day fishing and hunting camp that bears the name Gold Mine Camp.
The business card above touts the goods for sale at Louis Oreck’s Curios store in Downtown Duluth circa the 1910s: souvenirs, American Indian crafts and mineral specimens.
For this edition of the PDD Video Lab we’ve once again taken a silent film from Dominic Chione’s archive — this one from 1963 — and paired it with music by Duluth/Superior’s own Jerree Small. The track is “60 Words for Water” from the 2004 album Mobius.
Watch for a nice cameo appearance at the 1:30 mark by the old Sky Room Restaurant at the Buena Vista.
Can you identify some of Duluth’s historic architecture based on decorative details (and a few hints)? Quiz on to find out!
The next PDD quiz will test your knowledge of May 2020 headlines; it will be published on May 31. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by May 27.
History is being written today.
Documents from the Northeastern Minnesota COVID-19 Community Archive Project at the University of Minnesota Duluth are now live. More information about the project can be found at lib.d.umn.edu. If you would like to learn more, including information on how to submit, please check out the research guide.
This is a great resource, including art by UMD colleagues and friends.
This undated postcard shows scenes from the Mesabi Iron Range, the largest of four iron ranges in northeast Minnesota. The card uses a spelling more often associated with a roadway in Duluth — Mesaba Avenue.
Nerds will explain this in the comments.
In this 1972 clip from WDIO-TV, reporter Stu Stronach enlists cameraman Mark Ryan to buy an ounce of marijuana on Fourth Avenue West and Superior Street.
Ethan Freel transferred this film to video and added the music.
Remember when all of Duluth’s houses were pink? It was back when we all lived in the land of make-believe known as the illustrated postcard era.
So, what was “Glenn Rock”?
