Paul Lundgren
June of ’71: Western Union workers strike
A national walkout of Western Union workers in 1971 included 12 employees in Duluth and about 13 more from around the region. According to the Duluth Herald of June 1, the United Telegraph Workers and the Communications Workers of America had walked off the job over wage and job security issues. The average CWA wage at the time was $3.47 per hour. (more…)
June of ’71: Introduction
You might recall a feature on Perfect Duluth Day called “Summer of ’65,” which ran during the month of August 2015 and highlighted items that appeared in the Duluth News Tribune 50 years prior. Volume II of that concept begins tomorrow with “June of ’71,” featuring items from the Duluth Herald.
Both of the bound volumes of a month’s worth of newspapers came to PDD via Jenny Ahern, who taught at Harbor City International School when she passed them along. It’s not known how the books made their way to Harbor City, but the school didn’t have a practical use for them. So now we share some of the nostalgia here, day by day, for a month.
The Herald published five issues weekly at that time, Monday through Friday, and the dates and days of the week in 1971 correspond with the dates and days of the week in 2021, so there will be no June of ’71 posts on weekends.
Uh-oh … wait, don’t panic
There are several different species of tent caterpillar. The one’s shown here, photographed in West Duluth, look a tad different than the dreaded forest tent caterpillars that defoliate trees and shrubs in nightmarish fashion. (more…)
Duluth Dukes bus for sale on Facebook Marketplace
An interesting ad for a 1956 Flxible Visicoach popped up May 4 on Facebook. The destination sign on the bus reads “Duluth Dukes.” Apparently, it’s a former team bus. (more…)
Math, Semantics and the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic presented a minor math problem for event organizers that seems fairly straightforward and simple to solve. If you promote an annual happening, and it was canceled in 2020, then that year shouldn’t count when you add up how many times the event has occurred. When you announce in 2021 that the whatever annual Whatever Festival is coming up, it should be the same number that it was supposed to be in 2020.
I mean, that’s obvious, right? If I give you an apple every year for 14 years, and last year I didn’t give you one, then the apple I give you this year is the 15th apple, right? It’s not the 16th apple just because I wanted to give you one last year and couldn’t.
The math is fairly straightforward, and for the most part people are getting it right. Take for instance Duluth’s Bayfront Reggae and World Music Festival. The inaugural event was held in 2006. The 2020 event was to be the 15th annual, but it was canceled. Therefore, the promoter is referring to this year’s event as the 15th annual. And that is correct. The 2021 festival will be the 15th in the series.
But I’ve known for quite a while that keeping track of how many times an event has happened in the past isn’t always the top priority of the organizers, who let’s remember have an event to organize with all the tasks that go with it. On one hand, you’d think being willing to get involved in organizing everyone else’s fun might be a thing only math-obsessed nerds do, but that’s just not the case. (more…)
Woodland baseball team of 1921 had grand season
This photo from the May 21, 1921 Duluth Herald shows the baseball team from Duluth’s Woodland neighborhood, which compiled a 7-3 record — a “grand season” by Roaring Twenties standards. According to the photo caption, the team played indoor baseball in the Cobb School gymnasium.
The Assailants of John L. Morrison
One hundred years ago the assailants of Duluth Ripsaw newspaper publisher John L. Morrison appeared in court one week after attacking him in his office. The May 19, 1921 Duluth Herald provides an account of the incident. (more…)
Postcard from Stromgren’s Motel
This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows Stromgren’s Motel, located on Highway 61 in Duluth Township. (more…)
How did the city of Cloquet get its name?
As mentioned in the “Northeastern Minnesota Nomenclature” post on Perfect Duluth Day last summer, the city of Cloquet gets its name from the Cloquet River. But how did the river get its name? (more…)
Driftwood Dan from Duluth
The 1999 movie Los Enchiladas! drops references to both Duluth and Superior. It’s not clear whether the character Driftwood Dan lives in Duluth or merely collects driftwood in Duluth, where his mother resides. (more…)
Monthly Grovel: May 2021
Herd immunity could elude us forever, but things are feeling safer and Minnesota’s governor is letting people cautiously cluster. When you are ready to poke your head out, the PDD Calendar remains the faraway leader in listing Duluth area events. Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing calendar events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)
Postcard from Superior Street in 1871
What did Superior Street look like 150 years ago? Well, a little something like what’s shown in the postcard image above. (more…)
St. Louis County Jail designs approved in 1921 … sort of
One hundred years ago today — May 11, 1921 — the Duluth Herald published a story about plans for a new St. Louis County Jail. The building that would eventually be constructed looks somewhat similar to the drawing here, but there were numerous changes to the plan. (more…)
Mystery Photo #139: Three Men in Caps
Anyone who wants to delve into the difference between a flat cap and a newsboy cap and a bakerboy cap and on and on can feel free to do so, but the main mysteries we seek to solve are who these three gentlemen might be and whether they were Duluthians. (more…)
Postcard from the Duluth Shipping Canal and Aerial Lift Bridge
This undated postcard, published by Harry Wolf and P. T. Olson of Detroit, Mich., features a photo taken by Wolf of the Duluth shipping canal and Aerial Lift Bridge. (more…)
Mayor Snively welcomes Blackfeet chiefs to Duluth in 1921
On May 4, 1921 — one hundred years ago today — newly elected Duluth Mayor Samuel Snively welcomed to the city five chiefs from the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana. (more…)
Homegrown Music Festival 2021 Primer
The Homegrown Music Festival is pretty much all online again this year, but things are a bit more organized this time around, with planned video releases and livestreams every day, May 2-9. (more…)
Seaway in Song
News that the Esmond building in the Lincoln Park Craft District might soon be demolished leads Perfect Duluth Day to note that the structure once known as the Seaway Hotel in Duluth’s Friendly West End has at least twice been referenced in music. (more…)
Duluth record labels boosted the scene, but are going extinct
Compact discs and cassettes of releases from Duluth record labels fill a plastic bin at the Perfect Duluth Day headquarters. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
Mark Lindquist, the chief purveyor of local albums at the turn of the millennium, thinks he can succinctly describe the difference between the best-known Duluth record labels.
“Chair Kickers’ put out the most gorgeous records,” he said. “Spinout had the most professional. Chaperone had the coolest. And Shaky Ray had … the most.” (more…)
West Duluth kids rarely strayed from neighborhood in 1920s
An article in the Duluth Herald of April 28, 1921 — one hundred years ago today — calls attention to how western Duluth kids seldom ventured to the center of town, much less to the eastern side. (more…)
Postcard from an Outbound Freighter
This undated postcard from Zenith Interstate News Company shows a freighter exiting the Duluth shipping canal into Lake Superior. (more…)
Selective Focus: Help Wanted
Perfect Duluth Day is looking for a new curator for its ongoing Selective Focus feature. Applications are being accepted through May 9.
Curator sounds artsier than coordinator, right? And it’s not really a writing thing, is it? Well, maybe it’s a bit of all three. (more…)
Curley the Trapper brings body of scurvy victim through Duluth
One hundred years ago today a Duluth native completed his mission to recover the body of a former Duluth man who died of scurvy deep in the woods of Manitoba. (more…)
Flight 3247 to Duluth
In what must be the most trivial Duluth reference ever reported on Perfect Duluth Day, we note that season 6, episode 4 of the animated television show Archer includes a scene at a Chicago airport where the flight information display system shows a scheduled Duluth departure as “on time.”