Cormier Dry Goods of West Duluth
Left:
Cormier Dry Goods, 6227 Grand Ave., West Duluth, in 1907.
(Northeast Minnesota Historical Center photo.)
Right:
The same building in 2010, now entirely apartments.
(Perfect Duluth Day photo.)
Cormier Dry Goods stayed in business well into the 1930s. Gustave Cormier was the proprietor and lived upstairs. By the mid-1930s, J.A. Lundeen’s shoe store shared the building.
The building just behind it is still there too it seems, looks like at some point they merged the two as there’s now 4 windows on the second floor, aside from all the many other changes.
I also found that same photo on Minnesota Reflections.
Various items from PDD’s fairy research monkey:
Aug. 5, 1908:
Aug. 15, 1914:
Sept. 20, 1914:
March 21, 1921:
Wow, I lived there for a year. Weird.
I got sick at a party in an upstairs apartment of that building and upchucked all over the floor. It was the first time I had alcohol in any quantity. I was drunk on bad Bali Hai wine. The dude that lived there wasn’t impressed, but hey, why was he inviting H.S. girls up? He unceremoniously kicked us out. What memories!
There was a lot of foot traffic in and out of that place in the late 1980s early 90s. The cat that lived upstairs (Last window to the left) had a lucrative little operation running out of there. Not sure if I ever ralphed on any floors up there, but it’s almost certainly a landmark soley based on the underground activity over the years.
Bummer that I’m seeing this now. Gustave Cormier is my great grandpa on my dad’s side while Joe Lundeen is my great grandpa on my mom’s side. It was a small world down there!