Got an opinion on the Old Jail?
Tonight is your last chance to make your voice heard to those who will make the decision: the Duluth City Council.
The Duluth Heritage Preservation Commission has denied a permit to St. Louis County to demolish the Jail, which is protected from demolition under Duluth law as a landmark building. The County is appealing this decision, and the only way for the Council to overturn it is to essentially break Duluth law, which would establish a precedent that puts all of our historic assets at risk.
The appeal is on tonight’s City Council agenda. If you have something to say about the building’s demolition (on either side of the issue), you get three minutes to make your point.
I am biased to the Jail’s preservation (I write and publish Duluth history books and sit on the HPC), so I also encourage those who don’t wish to speak but who want to see the Jail saved simply show up to show support.
You can learn more about the issue in a letter to the Editor in today’s DNT penned by Richard Moe, a Duluth native and the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation: https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/118713/.
Move school administration offices to the jail and sell the old Central to developers – our financial crisis solved!
Sorry tony, I just think if they tear it down, its one less jail I could end up in…
I would be more likely to want to see it saved if a couple of major questions were answered by the preservationists. And maybe they have been answered and I’ve just missed it. What are some realistic uses for this building? Lastly and most importantly, if this building is saved and used in some other capacity where is the money for that going to come from?
i say let it sit & rot in plain sight as a monument to man’s inhumanity to man. i spent a week in that joint once & it was unhealthy. no sun & a murder of crows.
Honestly, it’s an ugly building. Let’s see if we can build something that generates tax revenue and jobs.
I’d like to get more info, and look inside as I’ve got an idea to refurbish it.
That is a beautiful building. When you tear down the old buildings, you rip the soul out of a city.
Turn it into an office building. Those cells are probably bigger than most cubicles! A call center would be perfect.
Wow a call center. Really? Effing vultures. I love getting harrassed by telemarketers when I’m sick and trying to sleep. And yes i’m on the do not call list.