Know Your Duluth Liquor Laws!

Over the next week or so, Zenith City Online is publishing five separate stories on the history of Duluth’s liquor laws so that voters and elected officials can better understand the historic context of the issue they face in this November’s citywide referendum. I have included links to all five stories below so you can read them now. This issue is embedded in misinformation and myth. In fact, former Mayor Herb Bergson recently told Zenith City Online he vetoed a 2007 City Council resolution to request the repeal of the 1891 law because he believes that all of Lakeside and Lester Park was a gift to Duluth from the philanthropic Marshall sisters (Julia and Caroline) and that Myrtle Marshall, who fought to keep the law in place in 1973, was one of those sisters—none of which is true. So here’s a chance to catch up on Duluth liquor history so you can make a well-informed decision on this issue.

• Not in Our Neighborhood, Part 1: Buying Booze in Duluth 1934-1973
• Not in Our Neighborhood! Part 2: The Battles Over the Lakeside Liquor Law, 1973-Today
• The ‘Grande Dame’ of Lakeside (A profile of Myrtle Marshall, whose effort to keep the 1891 law in place has been mythologized.)
• Tempered by Temperance: Duluth & Liquor, 1870-1919 (Includes the creation of the 1891 Lakeside Liquor Law.)
• And Never on Sundays (Covers 1934-1973 liquor issues concerning music, dancing, women, etc.)