History
Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad: Tracking the Original Line from Thomson to New Duluth, Parts 3 and 4
Part three of the Minnesota Bricks series mapping the original route of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad covers the area from the Minnesota Power’s Thomson Hydro Station to the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth. Part four briefly covers the short segment from Fond du Lac to Commonwealth Avenue in New Duluth.
Video Archive: KDLH-TV 1986 Weekend News Clip
This KDLH-TV evening news clip is from Sunday, Sept. 21, 1986 — 40 years ago today. It includes the famous segment on Duluth punks that appeared on Perfect Duluth Day in 2015, along with a follow up report on the aftermath of the American Spirit ’86 Road Rally. (more…)
American Spirit Road Rally started and ended in Duluth in 1986
Jim Liautaud stands by his 1963 Ferrari on Sept. 20, 1986, outside Grandma’s Saloon & Deli. (Photo by Dave Ballard for the Duluth News-Tribune & Herald, from a microfilm version of the newspaper)
With a nod to The Cannonball Run, a popular movie from 1981 starring Burt Reynolds, the drivers of 27 high-performance sports cars once raced through Hibbing, Ely and other cities along a 320-mile course that started and ended in Duluth. The American Spirit ’86 Road Rally took place on Sept. 20, 1986 — 40 years ago today. (more…)
Postcard from the Railroad Yards in Duluth
This postcard shows the railroad yards on Rice’s Point in Duluth circa the very early 1900s.
Postcard from the Steamer Rotarian Landing at Fond du Lac
This undated postcard shows the passenger boat Rotarian docking at Fond du Lac on the St. Louis River. (more…)
Superior Street, Sept. 11, 1907, Part 6: Gidding’s Department Store
This series takes a detailed look at life on Superior Street on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1907. The first part of the series provided background details on a photograph shot that day where the street intersects Fifth Avenue West. The parts that followed have gone section by section down south Superior Street, identifying the different businesses that appear in the photo. Part six looks at a single business with a sign that is just barely legible in the far distance: Gidding’s Department Store.
My initial search results for the Gidding Department Store all came up with a shop that used to be on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, suggesting that Gidding’s was a national chain out of New York with a Duluth branch. The opposite is actually true. It was a chain that started in Duluth and ended up opening a store in its own building on the most fashionable street in Manhattan. This post looks at the key role that Florence Gidding, the wife of owner Jacob Gidding, played in starting a high end department store in Duluth. It also reveals where her maiden name can be still be found in downtown Duluth. (more…)
Postcard Greetings from Duluth in 1966
This postcard was mailed Sept. 3, 1966 — sixty years ago today. It features a scene from Skyline Parkway overlooking Downtown Duluth, with Lake Superior, the Aerial Lift Bridge, Minnesota Point and the Duluth Harbor as the focal points. (more…)
Postcard from a Government Boat at Duluth
This postcard was mailed 100 years ago today — Aug. 31, 1926. It’s not clear what the big deal was on Duluth’s waterfront that summer, but we can confidently say a bunch of people gathered around a “government boat.” (more…)
Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad: Tracking the Original Line from Thomson to New Duluth, Part 2
Part two of the Minnesota Bricks series mapping the original route of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad passes through hilltops overlooking the dalles of the St. Louis River near Oldenburg Point at Jay Cooke State Park, at times following Minnesota State Highway 210 but also passing through wooded terrain where numerous trestles once bridged the route over ravines.
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…)
Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad: Tracking the Original Line from Thomson to New Duluth, Part 1
This video from Minnesota Bricks is part of a series exploring the original route of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad along the St. Louis River. The series covers the section from the Town of Thomson to Commonwealth Avenue in New Duluth. (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…)
Video Archive: Meierhoff Building Circa 1967
This late-1960s film offers an inside look at the Meierhoff Building at 325 S. Lake Ave. in Duluth’s Canal Park. The building is presently known as the Waterfront Plaza and houses the Suites Hotel and numerous condos. It was constructed in 1889 for the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company, one of the world’s largest hardware wholesalers. Marshall-Wells was sold and closed in 1958. The building sat vacant until Marvin W. Meierhoff acquired it in 1966. (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…)
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…)
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…)
Ripped at the Head of the Lakes Fair in 2001
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the drunken compendium of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty-five years ago the Sultan of Sot visited the Head of the Lakes Fair in Superior and composed this article for the Aug. 8, 2001 edition of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
Let me just start out by saying that I think the Head of the Lakes Fair is a friggin’ wonderland. You walk into the place and the first thing you see is a table with the most pathetic crap for sale that you’ll ever find. We’re talking fake flowers with a flashlight inside, used Matchbox cars, Dalmatian-print cowboy hats and battery-operated toy cigarettes that glow at the end. A little farther down, you’ll find your Christian comic books, your black-velvet paintings and your turquoise jewelry. Just beyond that is the corn. This is everything I stand for. It’s beautiful. So, you’ll have to understand how difficult it is for me to ignore all of these temptations when I first get to the place. I’m a professional journalist, and I’m here for you, my people. And you, my people, are looking to be informed, and you’re only really interested in certain information after all. That in mind, I head straight for the beer. And the smash-up derby. (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…)
Superior Street, Sept. 11, 1907, Part 5: Even-Side Businesses from Third Avenue West
This series takes a detailed look at life on Superior Street on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1907. The first part of the series provided background details on a photograph shot that day where the street intersects Fifth Avenue West. Part five looks at the businesses on two specific blocks of the south side of Superior Street, including the building that created U.S. currency with a Duluth stamp, the only bowling alley in Duluth, and two alleged houses of ill repute. (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.
The Last Log Drive in Minnesota
The last log drive in Minnesota was filmed on the Little Fork River, about 100 miles northwest of Duluth, during the spring of 1937. The scenes were captured by Carl H. Henrikson Jr. during the drive. In the mid-1970s, the Minnesota Historical Society hired TCR Productions to compile a documentary film using Henrikson’s footage, along with recorded commentary and narration. A new version, embedded above, is digitized from Henrikson’s original 1937 reels and recut to match the completed film.
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…)