History
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #35
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Soo Line Port Switcher 2118
This photo is dated Jan. 5, 1980 — 40 years ago today. It shows the Soo Line Port Switcher 2118, one of two switchers honoring the Twin Ports cities of Duluth and Superior. (more…)
View from Skyline Parkway of Downtown Duluth in 1899
Stitched together above to produced a jagged panorama are three photos by William Henry Jackson of Downtown Duluth shot just uphill from a gravel road we presume is an early version of what we call Skyline Parkway today. Below are the isolated images, which show greater detail. (more…)
New Year Greetings from Fitger’s Brewing Co.
From the Jan. 1, 1910 issue of the Duluth Evening Herald.
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #34
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Duluth’s Christmas of 1889 was finer than ever
This Christmas card from Duluth jeweler Andrew Jackson promotes a special holiday sale 130 years ago, featuring “greatly reduced prices.” (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #33
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Three Dudes in Fake Car
A recurring source of confusion in the Mystery Photo series is whether particular images that share the stamp of the Post Card Shop in Minneapolis and the Penny Arcade in Duluth were shot in Minneapolis or Duluth. Here is another such image. (more…)
Bird’s-eye View of Duluth-Superior, 1908
This postcard features a drawing of Duluth, Superior and the St. Louis River, and was copyrighted by Thomas W. Wahl of Wahl Realty Co. in 1908. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #32
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Acceptance Speech, Mayor of Snow-Fort City
Thank you, distinguished citizens, for conferring upon me this office of Snow-Fort City Mayor. It is no small honor to assume my half-imaginary duties in this pop-up, collaborative, city-planning art fantasy at the edge of Lake Superior. “City” is an aspirational term for this arrangement of snow walls and monuments in Duluth’s Leif Erickson Park. Snow-Fort City’s true location lies somewhere within our skulls — like all cities. My Facebook post initiating construction was shared more than a hundred times in just a few hours, and it attracted the Duluth News-Tribune and KBJR-6/CBS-3, which tells me the vision of the snow-fort city is the real object. Almost none of the post-sharers, newspaper readers, or TV viewers made it down to the actual Snow-Fort City. They are content to view it with their eyes closed, in its most pure form: the Platonic one.
It literally came to me in a vision, like the origin of so many great cities. In a way, like Duluth itself. I remember the words of George Nettleton’s wife from 1856, when her husband’s mind swam with dreams of Duluth-as-future-city: “I thought he had a pretty long head to see that there was going to be a city here sometime when there was then nothing” (Duluth: An Illustrated History of the Zenith City by Glenn N. Sandvik). (more…)
Postcard from Tri-Tower Apartments
This postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography offers a 1970’s-era view of Tri-Tower Apartments at 220-226 N. Second Ave. E. in Duluth’s Central Hillside. The 15-story lobes were constructed in 1972 and are operated by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Duluth, providing low-rent living space for elderly people with limited incomes. (more…)
Bankruptcy in the West End and the Horse You Rode in On
Here’s a little something for bankruptcy law nerds and fans of commerce in western Duluth circa the early 1980s. One would pretty much have to be fanatical about both to read through the full document linked here …
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Minnesota, Fifth Division
Jun 7, 1985
52 B.R. 501 (Bankr. D. Minn. 1985)
… but perhaps the summary below will suffice for the average Duluthian. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #31
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Postcard from the Aerial Bridge in 1909
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Dec. 9, 1909. It shows the Aerial Transfer Bridge during the days when a ferry car transported people, automobiles and goods across the Duluth Shipping Canal. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #30: Winter Sports Edition
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Ripped at the Laundromat in 1999
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. In this essay the ol’ Sultan of Sot went out for a “soak and spin” at the Chalet Lounge, 4833 Miller Trunk Highway. The article originally appeared in the December 1999 issue of Duluth’s then-monthly Ripsaw newspaper.]
I hate doing laundry. It’s just one of those exceedingly practical things that isn’t any fun in the least and does nothing but stand in the way of gettin’ ripped and having a good time. Luckily, I found the Chalet Lounge — Duluth’s only Laundromat that is attached to a bar.
Actually, the place isn’t in Duluth, but Hermantown. “Laundromat Hermantown, MN” the sign outside boldly states. On the sidewalk beneath it lay two battered and broken washing machines.
I hauled my basket of dirty clothes inside, eager to get the wash going so I could start drinking. A big guy in a leather jacket leaned against a dryer reading a copy of Real Estate Viewer magazine. I tried really hard not to let him see my Snuggle fabric softener. The thought entered my mind that it might actually be more fun to have a few drinks and then do the wash, but I quickly dismissed this idea, imagining dire consequences. (more…)
West Superior Street, Spalding Hotel, Lyceum Theatre circa 1904
This photo from Detroit Publishing Company shows Downtown Duluth at Superior Street and Fifth Avenue West circa 1904. At right is the Spalding Hotel, at left the Lyceum Theatre.
Due to the clarity of this particular image, it’s possible to zoom in for some pretty clear closeups, as illustrated below. (more…)
Postcard of Foreign Ships in Duluth Harbor
Foreign Trade Zone #51 was approved by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 40 years ago today — Nov. 27, 1979. The first shipment arrived on April 12, 1983. This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows ships in the Duluth Harbor near the Foreign Trade Terminal. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #29
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Postcard from a parade on Superior Street in 1909
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Nov. 23, 1909. It depicts a scene on the 300 block of West Superior Street in Downtown Duluth that appears to be a Fourth of July parade. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #28: KBJR Edition
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Duluth’s Emerson School: 1892 to 1982
A post on the Duluth Public Library’s Vintage Duluth blog looks at the “Early History of Duluth’s Emerson School.”