History
A Video Tour Inside Old Central’s Clock Tower
This video offers another horological nerdout session inside the Historic Old Central High School clock tower, this time brought to you by videographer Paul Scinocca.
“Not many of us get to see what makes this clock tower tick,” Scinocca writes on the YouTube description. “Sorry, had to say it. I was actually on site for a work project, lucky for me the tower is in part of the project.”
Views from Duluth’s Point of Rocks circa 1898
The six photos in this post are all from Detroit Publishing Company, and appear to have been shot on the same date — unless someone with a keen eye can call out evidence to the contrary. They are generally labeled as scenes from “the Bluffs,” which is an area of Duluth that later became known as the Point of Rocks. These photos appear to have been shot in a part of Point of Rocks that is known as Central Park, at the eastern-most part of the Lincoln Park neighborhood. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #27: Gas and Water Edition
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
R.I.P. Merritt Park Recreation Center Building
This week the field house at Merritt Park joined the growing list of historic West Duluth buildings demolished in recent years. The 2,016-square foot building was constructed in 1939. (more…)
Video Archive: WDIO-TV Halloween Weather Report
From the haunted film vault comes this 1970s clip featuring WDIO-TV weatherman Jack McKenna, two mice and Dracula. Also featured at the end are anchorman Dennis Anderson and sportscaster Bill Stefl.
Happy Halloween!
Postcards from the Buena Vista Motel
This postcard of the Buena Vista Motel was published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography and appears to be circa the early 1970s. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #26
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Warehouse District and Downtown Duluth circa 1905
It’s not a perfect connection, editing these two old Detroit Publishing Company photos together, but it does create a passable panoramic view of the Warehouse (or “Wholesale”) District and western Downtown Duluth circa 1905. (more…)
Postcard from the Publicity Bureau of Edwin H. Lee
For a little background on what the deal is with Edwin H. Lee, we turn to a supplement of the Nov. 1, 1913 issue of Skillings Mining and Market Letter. (more…)
William A. Irvin: Monarch of the Steel Industry
With all the news surrounding the SS William A. Irvin moving out and back into the Minnesota Slip in 2018 and 2019, we take a moment here to look at William A. Irvin, the man. The brief bio below appeared in the March 28, 1932 issue of the Billings Gazette of Billings, Mont. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #25
Another card from the Duluth Trivia game. (more…)
Steamer Augustus B. Wolvin, “Queen of the Lakes”
This image from Detroit Publishing Company shows the Great Lakes freighter Augustus B. Wolvin on Lake Superior at Duluth. The vessel was built for the Acme Steamship Company of Duluth and launched April 9, 1904. The Library of Congress dates the image above as “between 1904 and 1910.” (more…)
Postcards from Duluth Normal School (UMD Old Main)
The postmark on the card above is difficult to read, but it appears to have been mailed in March of 1916. It depicts the State Normal School at Duluth, which later became the State Teachers College and then the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Old Main building. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #24
Another card from the Duluth Trivia game. (more…)
PDD Quiz: History of Hunters Park
Test your knowledge of local history with this week’s quiz on Hunters Park, the second installment in a series of quizzes focusing on Twin Ports neighborhoods. The first was on the history of Morgan Park. Sound off in the comments on which neighborhoods you’d like to see featured in a future quiz.
Zenith City Press and the Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections of UMD’s Kathryn A. Martin Library were invaluable sources of content for this quiz. Many of the maps and images from the quiz were accessed through Minnesota Reflections; check it out for even more historical content.
The next PDD quiz, reviewing headlines and happenings from this month, will be published on Oct. 27. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 24. (more…)
R.I.P. Amendola Building
Demolition work on the Amendola Building in Downtown Duluth. (Photo by Mike Creger)
The Amendola Building at 405 E. Superior St. was demolished today to make way for Essentia Health’s Vision Northland project.
Amendola Building, Google Maps, 2018
Dan and Joanne Devine, Fall 1947
It’s Homecoming Weekend at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and in the spirit of that we roll out this relic from 1947, supplied by Kristy Roschke, managing director of the News Co/Lab at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. The photo is of her grandparents, Dan and Joanne Devine, partaking in homecoming festivities at UMD. Joanne was homecoming queen; Dan was captain of the football and basketball teams. (more…)
“Iron Will” movie video with Duluth annotations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rt0CSmUt4E
The adventure drama Iron Will premiered on Jan. 14, 1994. Much of the film was shot in Duluth and areas near Duluth from Jan. 11 to April 1, 1993. The annotations below are a guide to spotting familiar people and locations. (more…)
Postcard from the SS America “Booth Line”
This postcard of the passenger and delivery ship America is from some point between 1902, when the Booth Steamship Line acquired the vessel, and 1928, when it sunk near Isle Royale.
More info about the vessel can be found in two other Perfect Duluth Day posts — “SS America, 1925” and “Remembering America and her life on the water.”
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #23
Here’s another in the series of Duluth Trivia cards, from a board game found at Savers. (more…)
Mystery Photo #100: Early Settler
This photo is labeled “Early Settler Duluth MN.” And that’s all we know. Who is this dude? (more…)
Postcard from Lyceum Theatre and Spalding Hotel
It’s not known who scrawled a date on this postcard, when it was scrawled, or what the date is supposed to represent. But the date is one century ago today — Oct. 5, 1919.
It could represent the date the photo was shot, but that seems unlikely. The date was probably written by someone who bought the postcard and wanted to remember the date of a visit to that spot.
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #22: Bernick’s Edition
The trivia cards featured in this series were purchased at a local thrift store. Accuracy might be off. Note, for example, the spelling of Bernick’s on the header on the card below. Bernick’s, of course, has been the Duluth-area distributor of Pepsi and other beverage products since the 1970s. (more…)
The Day the Brother of John Wilkes Booth Came to the Grand Opera House of Duluth
While John Wilkes Booth remains infamous as the actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, his older brother Edwin was actually the better known of the two prior to Lincoln’s assassination as he was considered one of the greatest Shakespearean performers of the 19th century. Edwin Booth feared that his brother’s crime would destroy his own reputation and career even though he was not only a supporter of Lincoln, but also once saved the life of Lincoln’s son by grabbing him as he fell from a train. Edwin Booth’s open expression of horror at what his brother had done led to continued public support after Lincoln’s assassination and he remained a successful actor until his death. To this day, no actor has performed the role of Hamlet more times than him. (more…)