Perfect Duluth Day

Video Archive: Hemlock Garage Collapse of 1979

Forty years ago the Hemlock Garage at 302 E. First St. collapsed under the weight of snow. WDIO-TV news anchor Dennis Anderson and reporter Tom Lindner had the story.

Although this video gives the date Feb. 26, 1979, David Ouse at the Duluth Public Library points out the actual date of the collapse was March 6, 1979, according to copies of the Duluth News Tribune from the next day.

Constructed in 1896, the building originally served as the Duluth Auditorium. During the 1930s it was occupied by Agen Motor Company, as shown in the image above from the Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections in the Kathryn A. Martin Library at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Today the site is the location of the Medical District Parking Facility behind the Sheraton Duluth Hotel.