Paul Lundgren
Plant of Zenith Furnace Company at West Duluth
Zenith Furnace Company was organized in 1902 and located on St. Louis Bay at 59th Avenue West. The company manufactured pig iron and byproducts of coal gas, ammonia and coal tar. In 1931 the company was acquired by Interlake Iron Corporation and was a source of steel during World War II for use in government defense equipment. It closed in 1962. (more…)
Union Made in the District of Duluth
Some time around the year 1980, my parents acquired two giant four-drawer cabinets. Several decades went by before it was time to clean out the house and get rid of them. When one of them sold last month I pulled out a drawer and for the first time noticed the cabinets appear to have been built in Duluth. “United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, organized 1881, registered June 30, 1903,” reads the text on the ink stamp. “Union Made” in the “District of Duluth.”
I’m curious if anyone has seen anything like this or has any back story on who might have built them and when.
Official Map of the City of Duluth, 1889
From the days when Enger Park was Zenith Park, and Chester Park was Glenwood Park (or is it Lenwood?). (more…)
Where in Superior?
Time for another installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation. This time the photo was shot somewhere in Superior. Where specifically?
Mystery Photo #35: Frank Lundgren and Joe Marceau
This mystery photo was sent by Ryan Sanders, a distant relative of the man at left in the photo above, Frank Lundgren. (Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is no relation.) Standing next to Frank Lundgren is his brother-in-law Joe Marceau. The photo was shot somewhere in Duluth around 1918. The mystery we are looking to solve is where specifically the photo was shot. (more…)
Where in Duluth #144
Four images, all shot at the same Duluth location. Do you know where?
Six old pictures of Duluth’s Cascade Park
Click any thumbnail to view the full images.
Duluth Waterfront by Knute Heldner
Impressionist painter Knute Heldner lived in Duluth for a good part of his career. The book Minnesota Prints and Printmakers, 1900-1945 dates his etching of Duluth’s Waterfront as “circa 1925.”
He was born in Sweden; differing accounts online put his birth year as 1875, 1877 and 1886. According to Hiro Fine Art he emigrated to Duluth in 1902 and “began working as a cobbler, miner, and lumberjack.” (Askart.com indicates he was a “lumber camp cook” and also notes he arrived in the United States “first in Boston” and later moved “to the Great Lakes region.”)
(more…)Sunshine Rock
One of the more recognizable hunks of mineral matter in the Duluth area is Sunshine Rock. It’s located in Hermantown on Stebner Road between Morris Thomas and Hermantown roads. (more…)
Happy Thirteenth Birthday to Us
Perfect Duluth Day is thirteen years old today — Wednesday, June 29, 2016. The official celebration is at Vikre Distillery in Canal Park. Here’s a link to the Facebook invite. Come on down.
Local casket business dies
Hey, when did Duluth Casket Shop go out of business? Did local media completely fail to produce the kind of headline people get into journalism for in the first place?
Postcards from Cascade Park
Duluth’s Cascade Park still exists, but it’s nothing compared to what it used to be. In the late 1800s a sandstone pavilion and bell tower overlooked the city, with Clark House Creek running through it and down toward a pond and lush gardens. The bell tower was destroyed during a storm, and Mesaba Avenue eventually ate up part of the park, pushing the creek completely underground. These old postcards offer a look at what was once Duluth’s most extravagant park. (more…)
Phantom Ship Kickstarter
Scott Gusts moved from Minneapolis to Walker in 2012 with plans to release a new Phantom Ship record inspired by his time spent on Lake Superior and in northern Minnesota. He’s running a Kickstarter for the project, which is halfway funded with five days to go. (more…)
Aerial Bridge from end of Ship Canal
The message on the back of this postcard, mailed April 3, 1909, might require an interpreter — as often seems to be the case. (more…)
Tennis courts by MacArthur School coming along
Seven tennis courts and a discus/shotput-throwing area look to be almost ready at 725 N. Central Ave. The new courts and field will be used by tennis and track teams from Denfeld, as well as physical education students and other community members.
J.M. Gidding & Co. | Gidding’s Millinery Duluth
The post “Duluth, the City of Electric Lights,” led me to wonder what the deal was with the Gidding’s building. A quick search of the internet produced the photo at left, which depicts the Knox Five and Dime fire of June 10, 1910, and shows the Gidding’s building at left. (more…)
Duluth, the City of Electric Lights
Circa 1907.
Mystery Photo #34: UMD Majorette June Feick
This mystery photo comes from the folks at UMD’s Kathryn A. Martin Library. The majorette featured front and center is June Feick, leading her fellow majorettes and the UMD Marching Band during the 1952 Homecoming Parade on Superior Street in Duluth.
The mystery? “June doesn’t appear to have enrolled at UMD for the 1953-54 (school year),” reads the caption on the Kathryn A. Martin Library Facebook page. “We are curious about what happened in her life after she left UMD. Can anyone help us find more information?”
Three guys leaving Duluth 100 years ago
Who are they? W.M. Matheny, A.F. Vance and J.W.A. Abb. When were they leaving Duluth? One hundred years ago — June 2, 1916, at 1:45 p.m. Did they plan to return? Yes. Two days later. It’s all written in pencil on the back of the postcard. (more…)
Cross City Trail section on DWP line almost done
Last week the pavement went down on a new section of the Cross City Trail that runs on the former Duluth, Winnipeg, and Pacific Railroad line behind the Lake Superior Zoo — part of the DWP Trail. The paved section runs from Greene Street to the zoo, a distance of about one mile.
Clyde Iron Works ad from 1927
From pages 162 and 163 of The Road Builders Catalog Directory, 1927. (more…)
Thanks, Telly
Clip from an advertising supplement in the May 29, 1984 Duluth News Tribune, referring to the classic “Duluth, who loves ya baby?” TV spot. (more…)
Zenith Quartette circa 1908
The Zenith Quartette was a Dutch vocal group based in Duluth. Members shown in this old flier are Carl Hvaal, first tenor; J. Olsen, second bass; O.A. Gronseth, baritone and O.O. Hovday, second tenor.
The NorShor Experience: A Strip Club Retrospective
The NorShor Theatre first hosted exotic dancers on May 24, 2006, with two simple words on the marquee: “Live Girls.” Later, the words “Adult Club” would appear above the theater’s new business name: the NorShor Experience. (more…)