Mystery Photo #116: Fourth of July Parade in West Duluth
The written caption tells us pretty much everything we need to know, except for one critical thing: What year was this?
The written caption tells us pretty much everything we need to know, except for one critical thing: What year was this?
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — June 27, 1910. It shows Franklin Elementary School at 411 E. Seventh St., and the surrounding neighborhood. Franklin School was demolished in 1979 and is today the site of Hillside Sport Court Park. More on the history of Franklin School can be found on zenithcity.com.
The George A. Gray Company was located at 117 W. Superior St. The building became a Wahl’s department store in 1936 and is still standing today, though it looks quite different.
Ah, the days of streetcars on Park Point.
The written message on this postcard is dated June 14, 1910, which matches the postmark. It was mailed out of St. Paul to Miss Laura Werdin of Janesville, Wis.
This undated postcard, published by the Elton H. Gujer Company, promotes the Loneyville Motel at 7717 Congdon Boulevard, a half mile northeast of Brighton Beach in Duluth. It’s the present-day location of North Shore Cottages.
This undated postcard from the V. O. Hammon Publishing Company shows the Steamer Easton in the Duluth Harbor. The image can be roughly dated between 1905 and 1917.
This undated postcard shows scenes from the Mesabi Iron Range, the largest of four iron ranges in northeast Minnesota. The card uses a spelling more often associated with a roadway in Duluth — Mesaba Avenue.
Remember when all of Duluth’s houses were pink? It was back when we all lived in the land of make-believe known as the illustrated postcard era.
So, what was “Glenn Rock”?
This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography depicts a “foreign vessel going under famous Aerial Lift Bridge,” according to the caption on the back.
This undated postcard from the Gallagher Studio of Photography shows the parking lot near the Duluth Shipping Canal, which is known as the Lighthouse Lot.
The caption on the back of the card reads:
Canal Park in Duluth, Minnesota
Westerly Terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway
This undated postcard, published by Zenith Interstate Company of Duluth, with Plastichrome by Colourpicture Publishers of Boston, appears to be circa the early 1960s.
The caption on the back reads:
A Panoramic View of Duluth, Minnesota
The Harbor at Duluth-Superior is the second largest harbor in the world in total tonnage handled annually. More than 10,000 ships arrive and depart annually from the Duluth-Superior Harbor.
This undated postcard depicts a replica of the American Fur Company trading post at Fond du Lac, which opened in 1935 at Chambers Grove Park in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood and was demolished in the late 1960s.
The original fur post operated from 1817 to 1847 at the present-day site of Historical Park, just a bit downstream from Chambers Grove Park along the St. Louis River.
There’s no explanation here as to what these “divers at work” were up to. The year of the postmark on this V.O. Hammon Publishing Company postcard is not legible and there is no caption on the back. All we know is M. B. Edwards sent the card from Duluth to William Begg of St. Paul.
