Keeping Duluth’s Duluthiest website running with new content every day has been an ongoing financial challenge for more than 21 years, but Perfect Duluth Day is still here, still free to read and still kicking out the daily goods. Advertising revenue keeps the operation going, but donations help us do more and do it better.
That’s why we occasionally toss up a post like this one to remind everyone that donations are a big help.
The April 15, 1925 issue of the Duluth Herald featured several photos of the then-new St. Louis County Jail, part of the Duluth Civic Center. The paper called it “a model in jail construction” and compared it to a “first-class hotel.”
This undated postcard shows an unidentified mine on Minnesota’s Iron Range, obviously not in Duluth despite what the caption on the front indicates. The card was published by the Souvenir Postcard Company of New York and Berlin.
This undated postcard, published by E. C. Kropp Company, shows a rocky shore at Isle Royale, about 150 miles northeast of Duluth. The fourth-largest lake island in the world was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a National Park on April 3, 1940 — 85 years ago today.
One hundred years ago, the cellar of what was then the new St. Louis County Jail in Duluth, and now is the Leijona apartment building, was jammed with hundreds of confiscated moonshine stills. It was the time of Prohibition. The March 30, 1925 Duluth Herald reported that storing all the stills was becoming a problem.
This postcard of the Hotel Duluth, now known as Greysolon Plaza, was mailed March 27, 1965 — 60 years ago today.
Voyageur Lakewalk Inn was a Downtown Duluth lodging staple for about 60 years. It was demolished in 2022, along with the Hacienda del Sol and First Oriental Grocery buildings, to make way for the 15-story Lakeview 333 apartment building.
One hundred years ago today — March 14, 1925 — Chester Park Pharmacy opened at 1328 E. Fourth St. Chester Park Garage was already open next door in the new building. The previous day’s Duluth Herald reported that preparations had been underway for months for the pharmacy at 1328 E. Fourth St., noting that the “last yard of linoleum” had just been laid on the floor.
This postcard was mailed 115 years ago today — March 10, 1910. It shows the “new Alworth Building” at 306 W. Superior St., which was indeed new; the postcard was mailed two months before construction of the building was completed.
A few photos in the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection show the John A. Blatnik Bridge under construction, probably in 1961, the year it was completed.
Duluth’s Lloyd Geving, 18 years old in 1925, was one of the most promising jockeys of the winter season at Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba.
Here’s the early rundown of new works from the Duluth music scene. The list will grow as 2025 continues.
Author and investigative journalist Ida Tarbell spoke at the Normal School in Superior 100 years ago today — Feb. 23, 1925. The Normal School is now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Tarbell became famous for her series of articles in McClure’s magazine from 1902 to 1904 that later resulted in her book The History of the Standard Oil Company. Her revealing of the company’s strong-arm tactics led to the dissolution of its monopoly. She also wrote a number of biographies, including several works on Abraham Lincoln, which was the subject of her lecture in Superior.
There isn’t a lot of information online about the Barney B. Barstow of Duluth, featured in this undated postcard published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. But there are a few tidbits that suggest the vessel gets its name from a Superior attorney who, according to the June 1969 issue of Maritime Reporter Magazine, was one of eight directors at Fraser Shipyards, serving as secretary.
This undated postcard, published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1960s, shows the Duluth Harbor from Observation Hill.
The caption on the back reads:
Duluth, Minn.
Vessels from all the world’s ports arrive here after transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes.
