View of Rice’s Point, circa 1961
The above shot of Rice’s Point is from the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection. It must be from 1961, as the new Blatnik Bridge (highlighted in the below) appears to be not quite completed in the photo.
The old Interstate Bridge is barely visible in the photo, hiding behind the Blatnik. Its center span was removed in 1971. The bridge in front of the Blatnik is a railroad bridge.
This modern-day shot is from April of 2011. I didn’t shoot it intending to get a comparable shot to the one up top. It’s an interesting coincidence. A few hours after I acquired Cliff Johnson’s slides, but before I looked at any of them, I went for a hike on Goat Hill and shot this photo. Later in the day I borrowed my parent’s slide projector and saw Cliff took a very similar shot back in the day. Weird.
The Blatnik Bridge is so massive compared to the old bridge. It makes me wonder how long we will be able to afford its maintenance.
What the heck is this? Half-finished nuclear plant cooling tower?
Sweet, 50 years and what should be a beautiful area where a river meets the largest fresh body of water in the world still looks like a disgusting industrial wasteland. Good job Duluth!
I don’t know what that is, Big E. I thought this 1970 shot from the News Tribune Attic might help, but it seems to be zeroed in a bit southwest of the point of interest.
According to Zenith City Online (The Saga of the Garfield Avenue Neighborhood, aka “Swede Town”) it’s the Duluth Water and Light “Gasometer” tank, a 3-million-cubic-foot holding tank for coal gas. (Image: Jeff Lemke, Twin Ports Time Machine.)
I’m a bit late to the game on this one but I just want to point out that the bridge pointed out in this post is not the old Interstate Bridge. That was on the eastern side of the Blatnik Bridge. The bridge shown here is a rail bridge.
Thanks Waferdog, I rephrased the post to make it clear the bridge in front of the Blatnik is a railroad bridge.