Before the Blatnik Bridge was named for Congressman John A. Blatnik in 1971, it was called the Duluth-Superior Bridge and known colloquially as the “High Bridge,” but for some reason it shows up on a few postcards as the “Hi Bridge,” as if people were supposed to wave and say Minnesota-nice hellos as they crossed.
This postcard was mailed 80 years ago today — May 12, 1942. The recipient was Constance Jarvis of Riverside, Calif. Ray Boyer sent it from Duluth.
Duluth’s Grand Opera House at 333 W. Superior St. was designed by George Wirth and opened in 1883. It was destroyed by fire on Jan. 28, 1889.
One of the more common postcard views of Duluth in the early 1900s was the scene looking east down Superior Street from Fifth Avenue West, showing off the Spalding Hotel (right) and Lyceum Theatre (left).
The Spalding was demolished in 1963, and the Lyceum came down in 1966. The Ordean building now stands in the Spalding location; the Maurices headquarters in the Lyceum spot.
Sidney Dahl of St. Cloud was the recipient of this postcard mailed 110 years ago today — April 23, 1912. The sender’s name was Ingga.
This undated postcard shows a freighter entering the Duluth Shipping Canal at some point in the early 1900s.
“Lookout Point” is probably meant in a generic sense in this postcard, as in “a lookout point.” And if the illustration is based on what a specific piece of Lake Superior shoreline looked like roughly a century ago, that shoreline has obviously changed in appearance over time.
This 90-year-old postcard, published by Curt Teich & Co. of Chicago, promotes the City Loan Company in Duluth’s Providence Building. The card is postmarked March 16, 1932. Jesse Leach of 612 N. 57th Ave. W. was the recipient.
The Providence Building opened in 1895 at 332 W. Superior St. and remains there today.
The ski scaffold in this postcard should not be confused with “Big Chester,” the jump that stood in Chester Park from 1924 to 2014. The postmark on this card is March 8, 1912.
This undated postcard shows the original Palladio Building at 401 W. Superior St. in Downtown Duluth. The eight-story office building was designed by Chicago architect Henry Raeder and built in 1889. It was demolished in 1937 and replaced by the headquarters of WEBC Radio.
The new building later became known as the Palladio and housed the Chinese Lantern until the restaurant moved up the block in 1976. The second Palladio was demolished in 2015 to make room for the new Maurice’s headquarters, which opened in 2016.
Included in this post are four postcards, all published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography, showing the early days of what is now known as the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Numerous buildings have been added to the DECC campus over the years, but these postcards show only the original two, then known as the Duluth Arena and Duluth Auditorium.
This undated postcard features a nighttime image of the St. Louis County Courthouse, which opened in 1909.
This undated postcard, published by Northern Minnesota Novelties of Crosslake, Minn., offers a nice pre-freeway aerial view of Downtown Duluth on it’s upper image and a shot of the Aerial Lift Bridge and shipping canal on the lower side.
This undated postcard shows Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, ships on the lake, the Duluth Arena-Auditorium, parts of the Downtown and Canal Park areas and more circa perhaps 1980 or so.
