Thirty years ago today nearly 30,000 residents of Superior and neighboring areas were evacuated after a Burlington Northern train derailed on a bridge over the Nemadji River, causing a benzene leak from a derailed car.
The video clip above is from KBJR-TV’s News 6 Nightside with anchor Michelle Lee and reports from KBJR’s Heather Filkins and Laura Bergan and KARE-11 reporter Rick Kupchella on the catastrophe that came to be known as “Toxic Tuesday.”
Perfect Duluth Day has been Duluth’s Duluthiest website for 19 years. Yes, it was June 29, 2003 when PDD’s first blog post was published … back when people didn’t know what a blog was.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was built at 209 N. Lake Ave. in 1869. The location is roughly where Harbor Pointe Credit Union’s main branch is today, across the avenue from Old Central High School.
The modern St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 1710 E. Superior St. was completed in 1914 and the original in the photo above was demolished in 1925. More on the history of St. Paul’s can be found at stpaulsfaithformation.org.
Stone’s Throw Farm is among primary proponents of the region’s community-supported agriculture — a sustainable food method with the goal to improve economy, ecology and citizen health.
“The CSA model really keeps the money in the local community,” Stone’s Throw Farm Facilities Director Elden Lindamood said.
Another month has come and gone; how much of it do you remember? Test your knowledge with this week’s current events quiz.
The next PDD Quiz will explore the history of Portorama; it will sail your way on July 17. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by July 12.
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. The Sultan of Sot drove out to Rice Lake Township for this article, which appeared in the June 26, 2002 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper. Burn’s Bar, by the way, closed in 2013.]
Throughout my long history of drunken escapades, I’ve seen quite a bit. I’ve seen prostitutes working their trade right out in the open. I’ve seen barroom floors covered with blood. I’ve had white-trash women sic their mongoloid husbands on me. I’ve never seen a gunfight, but I have sipped suds right next to fresh bullet holes. One time, a guy seriously tried to sell me on the idea of pimping out young girls. “You don’t have any ambition,” he told me. “Where are you going to be in five years?”
But at no point during any of this have I seen anything like what I see when I pull into the parking lot at Burn’s Bar. Burn’s Bar is awesome.
If you need simple evidence, then judge the place by its patrons’ appreciation of great poetry, which is scribbled on the men’s room wall.
Charlie Parr performing outside Wussow’s Concert Cafe in the spring of 2021.
The noticeable change in recent years to the outdoor concert scene in the Duluth area is the extension of the season. It used to be a mid-June to mid-September thing. In the pandemic era the patios and canopies of the region host music from April to November. But things still kick into high gear in July and August.
What’s hot on stages this summer? Here’s a summary.
Boots sold by Duluth Trading Co. are the latest to be featured on the YouTube channel Rose Anvil. One trademark of the channel is that the reviewer (whose name I did not find online) cuts boots in half to show his 544,000 subscribers how they’re constructed. The nearly 22-minute review, featuring three styles of boots and titled “Embarrassing truth about Duluth,” is not a positive one. “We buy $500 worth of boots to see if Duluth makes stupid boots,” the reviewer says, “and they do.”
Duluth Trading Co. is not based in Duluth anymore but still bears the city’s name and operates a retail store at 300 E. Superior St. The company shares some of its history at duluthtrading.com.
Fox 21 reports that Corktown Deli and Brews will change its location in early 2023. The business opened in 2018 at 1906 W. Superior St. Co-owner Jeff Petcoff told Fox 21 more space is needed, so Corktown will move about three quarters of a mile southwest to 102 S. 27th Ave. W.
Parent company Arrowstar Hospitality Partners purchased the former Duluth Stove and Fireplace building in May. It is adjacent to the Duluth Grill, another restaurant under Arrowstar’s umbrella.
Country Lanes North, the bowling alley with outdoor volleyball courts at 2327 Mountain Shadow Drive near Miller Hill Mall, is closing and will be torn down. It was built in 1976.
Planet Fitness plans to open an exercise center there in 2023.
The Brothers Burn Mountain have a new album, The Thrill and the Flame, set for release July 16. The video for the first single, “When We Play Music,” was produced by Ryan Dermody.
On a Monday evening 50 years ago, someone named Ruth Ellen sent this postcard to Dee Ann Faerber of Independence, Mo. “The trees are beautiful,” she wrote. “Rain is supposed to stop Tuesday.”
Gathered here is silent WDIO-TV b-roll footage dated June 20, 1972. Note there was a “Patio Park” at the time, next to A&E Supply — long before anyone had coined the term “parklet.”
WDSE-TV‘s Almanac North examines the conversation circling the former Hotel Astoria in Duluth’s Duluth’s Historic Arts and Theater district. Producer Megan McGarvey sat down with individuals on both sides of the debate.
This photo, credited to Clarence Sager, is dated June 18, 1972 — 50 years ago today. The Ideal Market was located at 102 W. First St., the present-day location of Lifehouse.
The store opened in 1921 and closed in 1999. The Duluth News Tribune Attic has photos and stories from its last days.
