History
Minnesota Point: Protector or Guide?
From the 1950 book This is Duluth, by Dora May Macdonald:
According to rumour, George Sherwood, one of the old-time real estate men, stood on the barren hills one day with an Easterner, expounding on the charms of the village and the advantages to be gained by investing in Duluth real estate. Pointing to the sandy stretch of land curving out into the water, he said, “There lies Minnesota Point. It looks like God’s arm protecting the town of Duluth.”
The Easterner, unimpressed by the rocky hills, sand, or sentiment, replied, “It looks to me more like God’s finger pointing the way out of town.”
Book Signing Party for Swinging Doors, A Memoir by Quinlan Michael Hampston
Saturday, Aug. 20, 4 to 6 pm., at R.T. Quinlan’s, 220 W. Superior Street. Easy access and parking at 221 W. Michigan.
Mischief and mishap figure into Quinlan Michael Hampston’s hilarious stories of how a kid who couldn’t read grew up to be a man who would write a book. Funny, yet poignant, Swinging Doors suggests, without apology, that steering a zigzag course can land a guy in a surprisingly good place.
Hampston, an owner of R.T. Quinlan’s, chronicles his life growing up in Duluth, serving in the Navy aboard an aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific, Desert Storm and his life of a barkeep. Along the way, Hampston travels with a goofy but lovable bunch of characters – kids chasing trains and cows, sailors chasing skirts and bar buddies telling tales and chasing their next drink. Read more at swingingdoorsbook.com.
Death-Defying Archeologists of Lake Superior
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf79PPLoPZE
Duluth Early History
A 1914 recap of Duluth history:
Proctor’s Yellowstone #225 circa 1963
The ol’ steam locomotive from the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railroad that sits in downtown Proctor has been there a long time. This photo is from the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection, dated 1963. Below is a 2009 photo from the Minnesota Railroading Photos on minnesotajones.com. (more…)
All roads lead to Duluth
The location of the city at the head of navigation, in the center of a continent, 1,400 miles from the sea, gives it unequaled facilities (through 8,000 miles of railways centering here) as a natural distributing point for a great and prosperous section.
We have cheap power, cheap coal, cheap gas, cheap iron, cheap raw material of woods, in vast quantities with unequaled transportation facilities in every direction.
—Duluth News Tribune, Sept. 30, 1914
Tweed Museum showing 30 rare and collectable concert posters
This link — Poster Show — is to the article running this week in the Reader (the website article has many more pictures) that contains information about nearly every poster in the show and interviews with almost every artist. In the article on my site you can read about each poster from the artists’ perspective and how they viewed the art and the era. Print it out and walk through the show! (more…)
Past is prologue
Wool: 1911 > Debt ceiling: 2011
Hey Tourists, Welcome to Our City
In the search for info on the song “Welcome to Our City,” for the list of “Songs with ‘Duluth’ in the lyrics or title,” PDD’s Fairy Research Spy found this 1910 Duluth News Tribune illustration (which has the same title as the song, but predates it by six years). Note that the Aerial Lift Bridge is not a lift bridge … it was the Aerial Ferry Bridge back then, with a gondola car carrying cars/wagons across.
Global Goes Local
After 32 years, the founders of Global Village (from Minneapolis) have passed the torch to a long time employee and hometown girl. Friday, we celebrate this new chapter for the old downtown icon and present the Lotus Center, our new community yoga and dance (and more!) studio on the second floor. (more…)
Archeology of Lake Superior
[This post originally contained an embedded video that no longer exists at its source.]
Amusement seekers are well cared for by theatrical houses of the Zenith City
That was the headline above this photo collage from the Sept. 30, 1914 edition of the Duluth News Tribune. Of course, the Lyceum, Rex, Grand, Zelda and Empress are all gone now. Only the Orpheum remains — remodeled and renamed the NorShor Theatre in 1941.
The Duluth Economic Development Authority is working with Westlake Reed Leskosky and SJA Architects on restoration plans for the NorShor. Have patience; it’ll take some time.
Businesses of Duluth
UMD Library’s Northeast Minnesota Historical Center recently contributed 493 images of Duluth businesses to the Minnesota Digital Library. This is a great collection of images, selected by NEMHC curator Pat Maus. These images add to the over 2000 photographs, documents, and maps from the Center already in the Digital Library. (more…)
We are opposed to the notion that you are the first to be unopposed, Mr. Ness
At least one news organization reported yesterday that Mayor Don Ness is the first Duluth mayor to be unopposed in an election. Well, it’s not true.
Mayor Ness is indeed the only mayor in the past 126 years to go unopposed, but Maryanne Norton at the Duluth Public Library has found three Duluth mayors in the 1800s who were unopposed.
Sidney Luce was elected unopposed in 1872 and served one term.
Dr. Vespasian Smith was elected twice with no opposition — in 1873 and 1874. (Mayors served one-year terms until 1913, when the current four-year system began.)
Horace B. Moore was elected unopposed in 1885 and served one term.
(more…)
Photos from Clifford E. Johnson of Cliff’s Barber Shop
Cliff’s Barber Shop in West Duluth is for sale. The proprietor, Clifford E. Johnson, died two years ago. I took the photo above in April, when Cliff’s shop was being cleared out after an estate sale.
The sale included boxes upon boxes of old slides. Most of them were of vacations to Hawaii and so on, but I found two boxes that had some local images, so I plopped down $10 and brought them home for a slide show. The folks at Swim Creative have scanned a few of the more interesting slides so I can share them on Perfect Duluth Day. (more…)
Jewish Immigration History in the Twin Ports
Thursday, July 7, noon
Duluth Art Institute, Depot Building
The Duluth Art Institute welcomes Dr Robert Goldish as he explores some highlights from Jewish immigration history in the twin ports. Learn about some of our community’s founders and leaders and their personal stories and lives. The event and accompanying air conditioning are free; guests are welcome to bring their own lunch.
M’haha Window on “History Detectives”
Duluth’s “Minnehaha” Tiffany window (sometimes referred to as the “Hiawatha” window) designed by Duluth’s Ann Weston-and a watercolor associated with it-will be featured on next week’s “History Detectives” on PBS North. Look for Wade Lawrence, former director of Glensheen, for his expert analysis of the window.
Here are the air times/dates/PBS description:
Tuesday, June 28 – 7pm on PBS North
Tuesday, June 28 – midnight on PBS North
Saturday, July 2 – 6pm on PBS 2ndChance
Sunday, July 3 – 5pm on PBS North
(more…)
When in Duluth? Downtown Waterfront Interim Report
I was trying to find an old photograph last week and I did not find what I was looking for but I did find something that only a history nerd, Duluth loving, public space adoring, Lake Superior worshiping kid like me would appreciate. So naturally I am posting images here as best I can.
Several images after the jump, so you might not want to try this over dial up or on your smartphone, and if anyone knows how to ge the full image in a downloadable PDF or another handier document type, knock yourself out. I’d love that.
Skyline: The Pride of Every Duluthian
The recent post “Lost Dog at Lakeside Super One,” which reunited Jessica with her sweet and crazy dog Marley, ended up spinning off into a discussion about the Lakeside neighborhood and it’s history/boundaries/etc.
While pondering that, PDD’s Fairy Research Spy unearthed this June 30, 1907 Duluth News Tribune article about the ongoing development of Skyline Parkway. (Of course, it wasn’t called “Skyline” until 1929.) (more…)
Psychedelic Signatures: Rock & Roll Posters at the Tweed Museum of Art
June 21 – Jan. 15
Opening Reception on Tuesday, July 5, 4-6 p.m.
The Tweed Museum of Art is thrilled to present Psychedelic Signatures, an exhibition of classic rock music posters from the collection of Andrew and Victoria Olson. These amazing images were part of an explosion of creative energy, centered in San Francisco, where new music, light shows, and psychedelic art all came together for a few short years between 1966 and 1972.
(more…)
Duluth’s Providence Building, Wangenstein & Baillie projects
The Providence Building opened in 1895 on the corner of Superior Street and Fourth Avenue West in Downtown Duluth. Originally it was a more ornate five-story building. A Northern Pacific Railroad office was located on the first floor.
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Where the hell’s Cooper?
This article was originally published in the June 2006 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine.
A corner of the Squirrel Cage Bar in Willow River still pays tribute to the town’s most infamous citizen. At the top of a collection of framed newspaper clippings is a computer printout asking a question that once appeared on hundreds of bumper stickers in the area: “Where the hell’s Cooper?”
U. S. Marshals are still trying to answer that question. (more…)
Final Trip Through Original Laura MacArthur Elementary School
An open house was held at MacArthur Elementary School yesterday as the last day of classes was wrapping up. I brought my camera on a final tour before the place is demolished and turned into a field. A new MacArthur is being built across the street from the original. (more…)