This mystery photo was sent by Ryan Sanders, a distant relative of the man at left in the photo above, Frank Lundgren. (Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is no relation.) Standing next to Frank Lundgren is his brother-in-law Joe Marceau. The photo was shot somewhere in Duluth around 1918. The mystery we are looking to solve is where specifically the photo was shot.
“My wife and I have recently found her birth family and they are from Duluth of which we will be visiting this October for the first time,” Sanders writes. “I am hoping to find this location so I could go see the sight and such if it is close by.”
There aren’t a lot of clues in the image, other than the arrow-shaped sign that appears to say “Step in and get …”
Sanders’ sister, Genyce Cottle, provides a few family details in case it helps.
“Frank Lundgren is the son of John Lundgren and Berta Burkland, both of whom are from Finland,” Cottle writes. “Frank is standing here with his brother-in-law, Joseph Marceau, who actually resided in Duluth with his wife Ella Marie Lundgren (Frank’s sister), their daughter Mildred (who married a Blackburn) and Joe’s sister Ella A. Marceau (not to be confused with his wife Ella M.). This was according to a United States Census from 1920. My guess is Frank was there visiting the Marceaus.”
Mildred Marceau Blackburn apparently sewed wedding dresses and might have owned a shop.
“Frank is one of 10 children,” Cottle continues. “That’s a lot of Lundgrens to grow from. We are actually related from his oldest brother John Lundgren (who was born in Finland 1884) and wife Mabel Maude Hocking then through their daughter Mirium Ruth Lundgren who then married a Sanders.”
That’s about the end of the clues. Let the theories and speculation run wild.
