History
Dere iss somebody yet in Duluth dot vants to see somebody
Once again we feature a “Dutch Kid” pennant postcard, similar to “Duluth vas dere best” and others shown in the recommended links to this post. (more…)
How would you like to take a trip over Duluth on the air line?
This picture postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — April 13, 1908 — from Minot, N.D. William Richert had just arrived in Douglas, N.D., presumably after a stay in Duluth, and sent the card to his brother Charles in Sublette, Ill. The card arrived on April 15. (more…)
The Lincoln Hotel … your Duluth home
“Located at the edge of the Duluth loop district,” the Lincoln Hotel’s spot on West Second Street was “most advantageous,” according to this old brochure. (more…)
Video Archive: Surfers Before the Blizzard, 2008
High-definition videos of people surfing Lake Superior have become a fairly regular thing on Perfect Duluth Day in recent years. The short and fuzzy one above lacks the quality we’re used to these days, but is featured today because it’s ten years old and might be the first Lake Superior surf video published on PDD — or maybe anywhere else. (Prove that assertion wrong and find an older one.)
Barrett Chase posted this clip on April 10, 2008. He noted winds were at 40 m.p.h.
“Check out this short video snippet of some crazies surfing on Lake Insanity near Lester River today just before the onset of the blizzard,” he wrote.
Cheers: “They don’t like the food at the airport in Duluth”
It’s been mentioned a few times in “Duluth reference” posts on PDD, but the clip has never been featured. So here it is, the cold open from season 2, episode 20 of Cheers. (more…)
Video Archive: God Rocked Trailer from 2008
Ten years ago today — April 4, 2008 — the trailer was released for the Duluth-made mockumentary … and on the 7th Day, God Rocked.
The teaser text reads:
“Who will you root for in this laugh-out-loud rockumentary about a Christian Battle of the Bands? Wrathful Old Testament hip-hoppers the Sons of Abraham or born-again hard-rockers Savior? Lapsed Catholic Angie Hynes, who’s gone from punk to country in search of success, or the folksy love-fest of harmony-laden trio Glory Authority?
A recording contract awaits the winner. Who that will be, only God (and perhaps the promoter) knows …”
Postcard from Skyline Drive at Night
This postcard image looking out from Skyline Drive at the city’s hillside, downtown, Aerial Lift Bridge, Minnesota Point, Lake Superior and so on has been used a few times as Perfect Duluth Day’s cover photo on Facebook, and more than once has been met with the question, “Who did this painting?” The answer is, we don’t know. Old postcards rarely credit the artist. But maybe someone out there knows. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #10
Below are more items from an old trivia deck I bought at Savers. Some of the questions can be misleading and the answers wrong, but such is the way with history.
1. Name the master stone sculptor who carved the stone ornaments on so many Duluth homes and buildings.
2. What was the College of St. Scholastica’s earlier name?
3. Who were Bob Junkert and Don Rose?
4. In what year did the new Central High School open?
5. Where was the first junior college located in Duluth?
6. Which architect designed Endion School and the old Duluth Public Library?
7. What was the first building erected on the present site of the UMD campus?
8. What religious organization established St. Luke’s Hospital?
9. What was “Jeno’s Erector Set”?
10. A restaurant on Superior Street called Paddy Dorna’s was operated by Paddy. In what other career was Paddy locally famous?
11. Duluth’s first wedding, between Hester Crooks and William Boutwell, took place in what area of Duluth? (more…)
Video Archive: Spring on the Duluth Lakewalk, 2008
This video was uploaded to YouTube ten years ago today — April 1, 2008. It landed on Perfect Duluth Day two days later, posted by someone using the screen name “Repur.” (more…)
Duluth Show Case Company
The Duluth Show Case Company, doing business as Duluth Store Equipment or simply Duluth Equipment, was a maker of display cabinets using the “Duluth Method” or “Duluth Unit System of Sectional Store Furniture.” Read the ad copy to determine what that might mean. (more…)
Land of the Sky Blue Waters
This illustrated map depicting “The Minnesota Arrowhead Country” is from the Hotel Duluth Coffee Cub menu, circa the mid-20th Century. The illustration is by wildlife painter Louis S. Raymer, who graduated from Duluth Central High School.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article about Raymer’s career in 2014: “Painter Louis Raymer, 85, on life, career and the heyday of wildlife art.” Raymer died in 2016.
Postcard from Goldfine’s Bridge Room
This postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows the Bridge Room at Goldfine’s by the Bridge, one of the nation’s first discount stores. It opened in 1962 at 700 Garfield Ave. Today the building is home to the Goodwill Duluth store. (more…)
Rural Duluth man kills wolf with hammer, city very happy
The above clipping is from The Times of San Mateo, Calif., Jan. 2, 1956. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Diamonds are Forever … Except in Duluth!
This old photo seems to show striking workers at the Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company in West Duluth. Or are the workers protesting the closing of the plant? What year was the photo taken? Who is the guy in the foreground crossing the street? There are plenty of questions to be answered in this Perfect Duluth Day Mystery Photo. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #9
Below are more questions from a Duluth Trivia Deck I found at Savers.
1. True or false? The fires of 1918 destroyed the Northland Country Club, the Homecroft and Cobb Schools, the Alger-Smith Lumber Yards and approaches to the Interstate Bridge.
2. In what sport did Walter Hoover excel?
3. True of false? The Viking Explorer, the replica of the ship sailed by Leif Erickson, has never sailed.
4. Who planned the Duluth Civic Center?
5. Who dedicated Enger Tower?
6. For how many years was Samuel Frisbee Snively mayor of Duluth?
7. Why was the Hotel Duluth’s Black Bear Lounge so named?
8. What recent year will be the year remembered at the year bears invaded Duluth?
9. What leading proponent of prohibition lectured in Duluth in 1910?
10. What suffragette spoke in Duluth in 1889?
11. What was the title of Nixon’s address in Duluth?
(more…)
My head hurts
The days after Springing Ahead are always strange. But things were even stranger back in the 1960s when Duluth led a charge to match Wisconsin on the dates to change clocks. Mass confusion in Minnesota ensued, and even St. Paul and Minneapolis were at one time an hour apart in official times. (more…)
Postcard from the Old Light House on Minnesota Point
The historic crumbling lighthouse on Minnesota Point has been historic and crumbling for a long time. This postcard was mailed July 12, 1912. The Duluth Preservation Alliance listed the lighthouse as #7 on it’s list of “Duluth’s Ten Most Endangered Properties in 2017.” (more…)
PDD Quiz: Wild Weather
“If you don’t like the weather in Duluth, wait five minutes.”
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Duluth.”
Even if we’ve exhausted every other topic of conversation, we always have the weather to fall back on. Weather in the Northland can be extreme, but how familiar are you with those extremes? Test your meteorological mettle with this week’s quiz!
The next PDD Quiz, reviewing March 2018 happenings, will be published on March 25. Email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by March 22. (more…)
Mystery Photo #64: Edge of Unknown Lake
This photo comes to us from Les Locklear, who has that feeling we all get from time to time. You know you recognize something, but you just can’t place it. (more…)
Northwestern Oil Company Filling Station
The Northwestern Oil Company filling station was built in 1921 at 716 E. Superior St. This photo from Jay Sonnenburg’s family collection is likely from the very early days of the gas station’s existence. The building is now home to the Portland Malt Shoppe. (more…)
Rare Duluth Skyline Postcard
A rare Skyline postcard by Chester Klock, an artist who worked a very short spell at the Duluth Herald in 1942 drawing a feature cartoon called “Plumb Local.” The job was cut short when America entered World War II, and Klock moved to Wisconsin to contribute to the war effort by working for Allis-Chalmers. After the war, Klock moved to Denver where he drew cartoons for the Denver Post until 1953. He finished out his career in California.
A Few of Duluth’s Fair Working Girls
This March 1912 Duluth News Tribune clip was found in a search related to Perfect Duluth Day’s “Mystery Photo #63.” You might think it’s interesting the paper had a feature on working women back then, until you read it and discover it’s six paragraphs about a search for Duluth’s “most beautiful working girl,” and asks specifically, “which is the prettiest?” (more…)
Mystery Photo #63: Quite a Hat
Who is this lady and what is her deal? Well, we know this is a postcard photo shot at either the Penny Arcade in Duluth or the Post Card Shop in Minneapolis. We know her hat is awesome, but aren’t really sure if there is a significance to the combination of a big hat, giant bow tie and candlestick telephone. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #8
Below are more questions from a Duluth Trivia Deck I found at Savers. I’m not using all the questions in this deck in my series of posts, by the way. Some are clearly dated., e.g. “How many banks are in Duluth?” The answer will no longer be accurate. Also, some are clearly designed to promote a business.
1. How long is the Blatnik Bridge?
2. Who was John A. Blatnik?
3. The actor Tom Price portrayed a popular role in 1985 in Duluth. What part did he play?
4. How many branch libraries are there in Duluth — at the time this card deck was produced?
5. Due to a power failure, who was stuck in the Holiday Center glass elevator for one-half hour on October 23, 1985?
6. Name the person who has been mayor of Duluth, director of the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, and in the state legislature?
7. What Duluth mayor came to prominence over a confrontation with a gasoline distribution company?
8. What was the first name of the Duluth Junior League organization? (more…)
Mystery Photos #61 and #62: Posing with Car
Not much is known about these two photos, other than that the car has Minnesota plates that appear to show the year 1925 or 1935. Is this a scene from Duluth? Is it possible to pin this photo on any map? Obviously bonus points for identifying people in the photo.
Don’t be fooled by how the building at right appears to look a little bit like the Chromaline/Ikonics building in West Duluth. It is not.