Postcard from 18th Avenue East and London Road
This postcard was mailed 112 years ago today, Aug. 16, 1905. It depicts a scene looking east from roughly the spot where a Taco John’s sits today at 1810 London Road in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood.
This postcard was mailed 112 years ago today, Aug. 16, 1905. It depicts a scene looking east from roughly the spot where a Taco John’s sits today at 1810 London Road in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood.
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Aug. 12, 1907. It shows Superior Street in Downtown Duluth looking east from about Sixth Avenue West.
One hundred ten years ago today these gals posed on the shores of Lake Superior at Lester Park. On the left is Stella, age 17. On the right is “Miss Rhorback.” They worked at Duluth Daily Financial Record, according to notes on the back of the postcard, which was mailed to Miss Jessie Green of Excelsior, Minn.
Downtown Duluth’s 247-foot-tall Alworth Building has been the city’s tallest commercial high-rise since its construction in 1910. Standing at 16 stories above Michigan Street and 15 stories above its street address at 306 W. Superior St., the Alworth is also the tallest mid-block building in Minnesota. The nearby 11-story Maurices Headquarters, completed in 2016, is Duluth’s second-tallest commercial high-rise at 207 feet.
Of the same sort as the “Vilkome to our city of Duluth” and “Iff you vill come to Duluth ve vill lock up all de cops” versions, this is another “Dutch Kid” pennant postcard, popular from about 1900 to 1920. The same cards were produced for various cities across the country.
This postcard hit the mail 110 years ago today, sent by Hazel Britts to Capt. Luther Haleto of Provincetown, Cape Cod, Mass. The card is hand-dated June 27 and postmarked June 28, 1907. The illustration shows a banker closing his doors to “undesirable customers,” two black bear.
The Viking Motel operated at 2511 London Road from 1961 to 2000, and was demolished in 2001. The two-story, 30-room motel overlooking Lake Superior listed these amenities on its postcard: “Room Phones. Free Color TV. Coffee. Air Conditioned. Bridal Suites. Water Beds.”
The Incline Plane Railway, a tram system operated by the Duluth Street Railway Company, began service in 1891. It carried passengers from a housing development at the top of the hillside into the downtown along Seventh Avenue West.
Alpert’s Motel was located “13 miles from Downtown Duluth on North Shore Drive. Scenic Highway 61 on Lake Superior Circle Route.” The back of the postcard shown here indicates the motel offered “all the modern conveniences for your comfort, spacious grounds and beautiful view of Lake Superior.”
Joe and Mary Beth Alpert moved from Duluth to the French River area in 1952 to build the motel. They managed it until 1976. Joe died in 2004; Mary Beth in 2012. The motel was auctioned off in 1992.
Marketed as “Duluth’s finest auto court,” located “on the shore of beautiful Lake Superior,” Brindos’ London Road Court boasted 14 “all modern” units. Amenities included housekeeping facilities, electric refrigeration, gas range, shower baths, lavatories, automatic gas heat and hot water.
New Yorker Patio Restaurant was known as the “home of Duluth’s original hickory charcoal broiler.” Located in the Fifth Avenue Hotel at 9 S. Fifth Ave. W., the restaurant offered fine food and cocktails, “expertly prepared and served in a unique atmosphere of comfort rarely found anywhere.” The proprietors were Fred and Loretta McAllister.
This postcard photo of a couple perhaps from or visiting Duluth appears to have never been mailed, though it is addressed to Mrs. F. Welch of Eau Galle, Wis. On the back of the card, in the upper left corner, are presumably the names of the photo subjects, Ella and Dave. Their last name is faded out, but clearly the final three letters are s-o-n.
The Bellows was a fine dining restaurant and cocktail lounge that operated at 2230 London Road from 1969 to 1997. It was founded by Don M. and Verna Bellows, and the round-shaped design came from architect Robert W. Prestidge.
