Photos from the Osterlund Collection, 1960
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represent the year 1960. Notably the John A. Blatnik Bridge is shown under construction.
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represent the year 1960. Notably the John A. Blatnik Bridge is shown under construction.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 11, 1965 — the DNT reports a 25-year-old Duluth man stood perched atop the center span of the Duluth Superior High Bridge — now known as the John A. Blatnik Bridge — threatening to jump to the water. “The incident was apparently brought about by a family argument,” the paper noted. “His mother talked him down from his lofty stand.”
Here’s a question to contemplate: What is the tallest standing structure within Duluth city limits?
Here’s what I was thinking for determining this: The tallest height should be relative to the starting point of the structure in the ground. So a structure that begins on a higher elevation does not have advantage. Also, “ground” can be defined as the Lake bottom, so a structure could begin on the Lake bottom, but the footings (or anything underneath the ground [or Lake bottom]) wouldn’t be part of the equation.
The Duluth Arial Lift Bridge is pretty high (177 feet), but other higher buildings and structures are clearly in view.
The above shot of Rice’s Point is from the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection. It is from early 1962, as near as I can figure, making it 50 years old. The new Blatnik Bridge (at left) appears to be not quite completed in the photo, and the old swing-span Interstate Bridge seems to still be in use.
I found this old slide and thought I would share it since these pictures seem to be a bit rare around here. It is a Kodachrome.
This headline and illustration are from the August 18, 1917 issue of the Duluth Rip Saw. The story is without a byline, but was no doubt written by the paper’s publisher, John L. Morrison.
