Standard Salt and Cement Company

David Beard Nov 28, 2022 11 Comments

The most amazing thing new Duluth residents don’t realize is what Canal Park looked like just 40 years ago.

Archive.org includes a catalog for Standard Salt and Cement Company, a business that used to be located in Canal Park.

Standard Salt and Cement building circa 1896. Photo from the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives & Special Collections.

This is what the building looked like around the turn of the previous century.

Standard Salt and Cement Company in 1966. Photo by Arthur Roberts from the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives & Special Collections.

This is what it looked like in 1966.

I think that site is a parking lot now, yeah?

Recommended Links:

History Canal Park

11 Comments

Paul Lundgren

about 6 months ago

The location of the older photo is 249 S. Lake Ave., putting it where there is currently a blocked entrance to the Red Lobster parking lot. The building to the left of it in the photo is the Marshall Wells Hardware building, which still stands and is the modern-day home of the aforementioned Red Lobster.

The 1966 photo must be a different location, because the building is a bit different looking and there is no Marshall Wells building next to it.

Lucien

about 6 months ago

It looks like the 1966 photo is the same location as the first one but it must have been rebuilt at some point based on this circa 1961 photo. I'm trying to figure out the history of the since-razed building in the 1966 pic. It appears that at one point it might have been the Crane Distributing Company.

Paul Lundgren

about 6 months ago

Interesting. It looks to me like it's possible that at some point in the first half of the 1900s the Standard Salt building was lifted and moved one lot away from its original spot right next to Marshall Wells. Although the building looks different in the 1960s photos from the original, it also looks very similar. I would say that it must be shorter, however. The original is a three-story building and the 1960s one is a two-story building. They appear to both reach the top of the third-story windows on the Marshall Wells building, but the perspective is different on the circa 1961 photo and therefore it must be shorter.

Ghist1

about 6 months ago

It's possible that the Standard Salt and Cement Co. had more than one building. This snapshot of S Lake Ave addresses from the 1960 Duluth City Directory shows a couple addresses for them.

Lucien

about 6 months ago

I'm wondering if the 1966 building is the building on the righthand side of the 1896 pic. The boarded up windows potentially match up. Here's a photo from 1905 with a huge sign for Standard Salt & Cement that appears to be painted on the shorter building.

And here's a screen shot from the 1930 City Directory (the first year they listed addresses by street). Standard Salt etc was at 237 S Lake, and address that doesn't even show up in the 1960 directory.

Ghist1

about 6 months ago

Lucien, I think you are correct. In the 1961 photo, the area behind the buildings is a slip and they would have shipped product out via boat. Here's what the catalog included for their address (in whatever year the catalog was printed, I'm guessing around 1913).

Lucien

about 6 months ago

Thanks for all the additional information!

S Rovig

about 6 months ago

I have wondered about the origin of this apron. It was in a shed on our property when we bought it in 1998.

Ghist1

about 6 months ago

Nice! The logo matches one on the sign in this photo.