History
“Duluth” is a Small Drill-Hole on Mars?
Over the past few years Duluth has occasionally had colder temps than the temp measured on Mars on the same day. I have gleefully pointed this out to friends in the warm south when it happens.
But, if PDD covered this last year, I missed it — how a small test drill hole on Mars made by the Curiosity Rover get named “Duluth”? (more…)
Ten years without Bayside Market
Bayside Market at 1901 Minnesota Ave. closed on Dec. 31, 2008 after 37 years in business. Originally named Clem’s Market, it was the only grocery store in the Park Point neighborhood. (more…)
Postcard from the Sellwood Building
This postcard, mailed 110 years ago today — Dec. 29, 1908 — depicts what was then the relatively new Sellwood Building at 202 W. Superior St. in Downtown Duluth. The Sellwood still stands today, with Western Bank as its most visible tenant. (more…)
Geek out on this Canal Park history map
Students enrolled in a Fall 2018 visual journalism course at the University of Minnesota Duluth used ArcGIS software to tell stories about Canal Park using mapping technology. The collaborative project tells 25 stories spanning more than 100 years.
Link: A History of Canal Park
Students curated visual materials and other sources for this project from various places that include the UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library; UMD Archives & Special Collections; the Duluth News Tribune archives; Zenith City Press and other publicly available sources.
Postcards from Silver Creek Cliff
Before the Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel was built in the early 1990s, Highway 61 wound around the edge of the cliff. Drivers relied on skill and luck to avoid tumbling boulders or anything that might send them plunging over the edge into Lake Superior. The Gitchi-Gami State Trail was later built following the old Highway 61 path. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Miss Edna May Boyle
Here she is, Edna May Boyle, 120 years ago. Who was she? Why did she get her photo shot on Christmas Day 1898? Well, if we knew that it wouldn’t be a mystery photo, would it? (more…)
Mystery Photo #81: Markus Family, Christmas 1893
Some mystery photos are less mysterious than others. Often cabinet card photos have nothing written on the back, but this particular card comes with info suggesting the subjects are William Frederick Markus and his family. The photo was likely shot 125 years ago, around Christmas of 1893. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Restaurants and Bars of Yesteryear
Reminisce about the bygone restaurants and bars of Duluth with this month’s quiz!
The next PDD quiz, reviewing the headlines of 2018, will be published on Dec. 30. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Dec. 27. (more…)
Mystery Photo #80: Rust-Parker and its neighbors
Lars Waldner posted this circa 1916 image to Facebook, tagging PDD. It’s kind of a bizarre angle on Duluth, and for some reason identifying buildings in the photo is exceptionally challenging. The only cheater we’re given is the big sign on the side of Rust-Parker Wholesale Grocery Company, which was at 217 S. Lake Ave. (more…)
Postcard from Tweed Gallery
This undated postcard image of the Tweed Museum of Art appears to be circa the 1970s. The text on the back reads:
Tweed Gallery
The only major art gallery in Northern Minnesota, Tweed Gallery on the University of Minnesota, Duluth campus has attracted more than 300,000 visitors since it opened in 1958. Funds for the gallery were donated by Mrs. Alice Tweed Tuohy, now of Santa Barbara, California and her daughter, Mrs. John Brickson, Duluth. Twenty shows each year feature international, national, faculty and student artists in four separate exhibition areas.
Surfin’ Superior 2008
Ten years ago — Dec. 10, 2008 — City Pages profiled Duluth surfer Greg Isaacson.
In 1975, he found himself paddling out onto Lake Superior with a few local fishermen looking at him like he was insane. Isaacson went out in the middle of a storm. He wore the top half of a diving suit, which gave his arms all the flexibility and natural movement of the Michelin Man. This jerry-rigged outfit, combined with the glacial temperatures of the water, allowed him just 20 minutes of water time.
But the first wave he caught was magic.
Duluth to Montgomery Reflections: Pondering the Past
Continuing the podcast series of “Duluth to Montgomery Reflections,” the Duluth NAACP welcomes Henry Banks, host of the Twin Ports-focused “People of Color” program on Wisconsin Public Radio. Banks meets with Ivy Vainio to discuss the various assumptions around the Civil Rights movement. (more…)
Mystery Photo #79: Piper & Johnson
This cabinet card photo is from the Piper & Johnson studio at 227 E. Superior St., Duluth. Today that location is where Greysolon Plaza, the former Hotel Duluth, sits. Since cabinet cards were popular at the end of the 19th Century, the Piper & Johnson studio must have been in a building that predates the Hotel Duluth, which opened in 1925. (more…)
Postcards from Duluth’s Radisson Hotel
When the Radisson Hotel was built at 505 W. Superior St. in 1970, it was Duluth’s first new hotel in 43 years. It would be difficult to count the number that were built in the next 43 years, but not impossible. Go ahead and try. (more…)
When did they put the lid on Enger Tower?
A 1954 film recently posted on Perfect Duluth Day led Lars Waldner to wonder about the roof that’s been on top of Enger Tower for decades, but isn’t there in the movie.
“I didn’t realize Enger Tower used to have an open top on it,” he wrote on Facebook. “Anyone know when that changed?” (more…)
Duluth Trunk Factory
I recently came across this footlocker-style trunk and inside it had a sticker from the Duluth Trunk Factory. I’m wondering if anyone knows the history of this particular company. (more…)
Old photos sleuths: where did I get these?
Photo sleuths: instead of figuring out the subject or date, I’m hoping one of you knows where I downloaded these photos, possibly 10 years ago. I’ve been searching for them online off and on for years, and my Google-fu is usually excellent, but I’m not having any luck with these. (more…)
PDD Video Lab: Knight Family 8mm Duluth Movie
For this edition of PDD Video Lab we’ve pulled the Duluth section out of a 1954 family film and repackaged it with music from the period — Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable.”
Aerial Bridge raised to pass ore boat into Duluth Harbor
Based on the 3-cent postage rate, this postcard must be circa 1958 to 1963. The description on the back reads:
The Aerial Bridge in raised position for an ore boat passing into Duluth Harbor. When the span is lowered traffic may move without interruption between Minnesota Point and downtown Duluth. Through this canal pass about 4500 boats in a 7-1/2 month season, carrying a total tonnage of about 17 million tons. (Average for five years.)
List of Duluth Winters and What They Are Remembered For
Although Duluth is known for — and by some feared — for its winters, those blasts of snow and cold tend to run together in most peoples’ memories. Everyone who experienced it recalls the Mega Storm of 1991, and there was a long cold snap in 2014, but by and large the memories of various storms and other winter climate events get mashed together.
So, in an effort to sort them out, Perfect Duluth Day has tossed together a brief and somewhat vague list of some winter moments that have been marked on the website in the past (with links) or have been loosely referenced on the web as having been more wintery than other winters. (more…)
Mystery Photo #78: Trio by the Transfer Bridge
It’s not known who shot this photo or the names of the people posing in it, but based on the woman’s flapper outfit and the fact that the Aerial Bridge in the background isn’t a lift bridge yet, it must be circa the 1920s. Can anyone find other clues?
Video Archive: Christmas City of the North Parade 1998
Here it is, nearly two hours of KBJR-TV coverage of the Christmas City of the North Parade from Nov. 20, 1998. It was the first time the parade was routed onto Railroad Street in Canal Park, where KBJR was building its new studio.
See below for an index of parade entries if you want to find your favorite and not watch the whole broadcast. Also below, bonus footage: A portion of the KBJR newscast that preceded the parade. Both videos include most of the local commercials. National commercials were trimmed out, as were local commercials that repeated. (more…)
Duluth Harbor Basin, 1925
This photo from the National Archive was taken on an airplane from the McCook Field aviation experimentation station in Dayton, Ohio, which was flying in the region for a photographic mapping expedition of the Canadian border in October and November of 1925.
The caption on the photo reads:
Duluth Harbor Basin, the main business section and portions of Lake Superior, showing the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the Aerial Bridge connecting Duluth proper with a long neck of land known as Minnesota Point, which really makes the Duluth Superior Harbor.