According to this very vague story from the November 1921 issue of Popular Mechanics, Duluth may have been at the forefront of developing community garages. What happened? One of the garages shown in the magazine still exists today in the Morgan Park neighborhood.
The text:
Community garages have been introduced in Duluth, Minn., which show some decided advantages over the usual individual garage. With the aid of good architecture and landscape gardening the structures add to the appearance of the neighborhood, and back yards are left free for gardens and playgrounds. A saving is made in the cost of constructing buildings and driveways and the heating problem is simplified. A single plant heats all the rooms most economically and all rooms are kept at a minimum temperature of 40 degrees even in the severest winter weather. There is a solid wall between each group of four rooms. This not only serves to keep the whole building from becoming chilled if one tenant leaves his door open too long, but also confines any fire which might get started. The other partitions are of concrete to a height of 3 ft. and of galvanized-wire netting the rest of the way to the ceiling. The construction is of hollow concrete blocks, metal lath, and cement plaster.
