Paul Lundgren
Selective Focus: Madeline Island’s Fairy Gnome Village
Not to be confused with the old mysterious miniature village on private land, Madeline Island has a very-easy-to-find fairy gnome village in an area where the public is welcome. It’s located on paths connected to the Capser Trail in a natural area managed by the Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve. (more…)
Duluth-area Payphone Remnants
This mid 20th-century payphone and 1996/97 directory are housed in a wooden booth inside the Wieland Block, a Downtown Duluth commercial office building. The phone doesn’t work; it’s on display as antique decor.
The premiere issue of Unsalted magazine includes an article about the quest to find Duluth’s last pay telephone. The conclusion (spoiler alert) is that there is probably not a single public phone left in Duluth that accepts coins, and the last one that did was probably the one on the main floor of the Duluth Public Library, which purportedly took in its final coins in early 2020. (more…)
Then and Now: Downtown Duluth from Observation Hill
Shot 60 years apart, these two photos offer a similar perspective of Downtown Duluth and the hillside as viewed from Observation Hill. The angles of the shots are far from a perfect match, so the buildings don’t all line up properly and the jagged points of Lake Superior’s shoreline get flattened out in the 2025 shot, but the images do allow for some comparisons to be drawn — the most obvious being the 18-story Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center building that opened in 2023. (more…)
Postcard from the Leif Erikson Statue in 1966
The message on the back of this postcard was written on Aug. 19, 1966. The photo on the card shows the Leif Erikson statue in Duluth’s Leif Erikson Park. The statue has been in the park for 70 years, having been placed in 1956. (more…)
Postcard from Clarkson Coal and Dock Company in 1936
This postcard of the Clarkson Coal and Dock Company on Duluth’s waterfront was mailed Aug. 17, 1936 — 90 years ago today. (more…)
Duluth Album Releases in 2001
Compiled here is an incomplete list of 25-year-old Duluth music releases. The year 2001 is prime Shaky Ray Records era, and featured the first albums from Cloud Cult, The Dames, The Black-eyed Snakes and more. (more…)
Postcard from the Municipal Zoo at Fairmount Park in 1961
This postcard featuring an image of what is now called Lake Superior Zoo was mailed Aug. 14, 1961 — 65 years ago today. (more…)
PDD Shop Talk: Rebuilding After the Rebuild
One month ago, Perfect Duluth Day completed a long overdue WordPress theme conversion. Since then, we’ve been slowly touching up elements of the website that were thrown out of whack in the process. Those tedious chores will never end, of course, because we’re striving for sweet, elusive perfection here.
For those who are interested, I’ll elaborate below. Those of you who wish to pay no attention to what’s behind the curtain can certainly feel free to skip ahead to the next post and avoid the technobabble. The gist of the story is that PDD started to fall apart, we took a long time to fix it, eventually we did, and now we want to emphasize how difficult it was. (more…)
Postcard from Fanny Bailey Olcott Girl Scout Camp in 1946
This postcard was mailed on Aug. 12, 1946. It shows a group of girls walking by the sign for Fanny Bailey Olcott Girl Scout Camp in Fayal Township, just outside Eveleth. (more…)
Postcard from Steamer Troy Ramming the Interstate Bridge
On Aug. 11, 1906, the steamer Troy knocked the draw span of the Interstate Bridge into St. Louis Bay. At the time, the Interstate Bridge was the only bridge connecting Duluth and Superior, so the cities were reduced to ferry service for two years until repairs to the bridge were completed. (more…)
Postcard from Independent Cleaners & Launderers of Duluth
This postcard shows Independent Cleaners and Launders at 1029 E. Superior St. in Duluth. The business took the name Dee Independent Cleaners and Launders in 1981, when it was purchased by Robert Johnson, whose family ran it until 2024. Nicholas Retzlaff is the current proprietor. (more…)
Scenes From The Book Club Murders
The made-for-television movie The Book Club Murders was shot in and around Duluth, and therefore features several recognizable locations, but the name of the city is not mentioned in any dialogue. An establishing shot of the Aerial Lift Bridge in the opening seconds, however, is enough to say the plot of the movie is set in Duluth. (more…)
Postcard Greetings from Duluth
This undated postcard looks to be from the early 1960s. It shows a panoramic view of the Duluth harbor and downtown area, and a ship passing under the Aerial Lift Bridge.
North Country Trail in Wisconsin: Brule-St. Croix Portage
There are hiking trails and there are historic hiking trails. The Brule-St. Croix Portage section of the North Country Trail in the Town of Solon Springs is peppered with historical markers in the form of eight stones with plaques bearing the names of explorers to the region. Most of them are easy to find; a couple of them are not.
Though there are eight stones, the digital map of the trail on northcountrytrail.org seems to show only seven, and if you aren’t careful looking at your map you could see fewer than that, depending on how collapsed your screen might be.
A brochure map of the Historic Portage Trail and Brule Bog Boardwalk also shows only seven stones, but provides descriptions of all eight “portage trail travelers.” Both maps fail to mark the George Stuntz Stone, perhaps because it had been lost for awhile.
For my part, at the start of my fall 2025 hike, I didn’t really know what I was getting into with regard to the significance of the stones. I saw them on the map and figured they would explain themselves. But they don’t. They are just stones with names and years on them. There is enough explanation, however, on plaques at either end of the portage to get at least the vague sense that the stones recognize non-native explorers who traversed the area in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. (more…)
Postcard from Duluth’s Zoological Gardens
This undated postcard, published by Arrowhead Trading Post of Duluth, shows the zoological gardens and main zoo building of what is now known as Lake Superior Zoo. (more…)
PDD Shop Talk: WordPress theme conversion completed
Perfect Duluth Day underwent a massive data migration and WordPress theme conversion this weekend. The result should be mostly good stuff and probably a little bit of temporarily bad stuff.
On the positive side, the site should look a little cleaner but still operate very much like it has in the past. Certain problems we’ve been struggling with on the backend of the site, particularly with image uploads, should now be resolved.
On the negative side, there are still a few little things we need to work on. And, of course, there might be hidden problems we haven’t found yet. That’s where you can help. If you notice anything buggy, please send an email to paul @ perfectduluthday.com and we will quickly assess the situation and then take an obscenely long time to fix it.
Postcard from the Aerial Bridge Over Ship Canal in Duluth
Duluth’s Aerial Bridge was but a year old when this postcard was mailed on July 12, 1906. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Arcade Trio
This postcard photo is likely from around 1915. The only solid clue is on the back, where the photo is attributed to Arcade studio, 110 W. Superior St., Duluth. The studio had previously been known as the Penny Arcade. (more…)
Postcard from the Boulevard in Duluth
This undated postcard shows a scene from Duluth’s Skyline Parkway before it was called Skyline Parkway. The visual might feel familiar, because it’s the same scene depicted in a different postcard recently published on Perfect Duluth Day.
Ashe Berton – “Hello Minnesota”
Duluth folk musician Ashe Berton‘s new album Fill My Soul includes the track “Hello Minnesota,” which mentions Duluth at the start of the second verse. (more…)
Hagstrom & Forsgren Furniture opened in 1926
Hagstrom & Forsgren Furniture Company in Duluth’s friendly West End held its grand opening event 100 years ago today — June 12, 1926. The building at 1910-1912 W. Superior St. is presently the location of Frost River, a manufacturer of canvas bags, canoe packs and other outdoor gear. (more…)
Postcard from Somewhere on Skyline Parkway
This postcard depicts a scene at one of the many creeks that intersect Skyline Parkway, aka “The Bouvelard,” in Duluth. The postmark is not completely legible, but it shows the card was mailed on June 8 of some year prior to 1917, when the postal rate for postcards was increased from one cent to two cents. (more…)
Engraved 1871 Duluth Prints from The Graphic
British weekly newspaper The Graphic ran a story on Duluth in its June 3, 1871 edition — 155 years ago today — featuring three wood-engraved prints of Duluth scenes. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Somewhere in the Duluth Area
This image is from a real-photo postcard that was never mailed. It shows an industrial scene but doesn’t seem to offer a lot of clues about the specific whereabouts. The vague location, if we trust the words penciled on the back of the card, is “Duluth Minn area.” (more…)