The site of the planned RiverWest development is at the foot of Spirit Mountain, between Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railroad tracks. (Photo by Liftoff Aerials)
An ambitious but long-dormant redevelopment project designed for outdoor enthusiasts received a jumpstart last week when city officials authorized new road construction below Spirit Mountain Recreation Area.
The image above shows Grand Avenue at Knowlton Creek, looking from Duluth’s Norton Park neighborhood toward the Riverside neighborhood. It’s dated Feb. 16, 1918. At the time, Grand Avenue was named Third Street. What does it look like today?
The nine-page Lower Spirit Mountain Riverfront Park Site Plan was presented to the Duluth Parks Commission on Jan. 10 and the city’s Parks and Recreation Division is seeking public comment on it until Jan. 31. A final draft of the plan will be presented and voted on at the Feb. 14 Parks Commission meeting.
The site sits below the BNSF Railroad, opposite Tallus Island in Duluth’s Riverside neighborhood, and has approximately 1,500 ft. of shoreline to the St. Louis River.
The large, weathered building on the corner of Industrial Avenue and Spring Street in Duluth’s Riverside neighborhood is a bit of a curiosity. Does someone live there? Is it basically a storage building? What was it constructed for?
The “One River, Many Stories” community journalism project in April seemed like a good excuse to track down some answers. The owner of the building, Douglas J. McEneany, did not respond to requests for an interview, but searches at the Duluth Public Library for historical data were fruitful.
More videos and images below and in the Google gallery linked here.
Spirit Mountain’s piping project will draw water from the St. Louis River and pipe it to the lower chalet area where another pumping station will send it into the snow gun system. There are two pumping stations: one at the lower chalet area, the other right next to Tallas Island Bay on the Western Waterfront Trail in the Riverside neighborhood. That is the area these photos were taken.
My husband and I have recently thought about buying a house in Duluth. There have been a few houses in the Riverside neighborhood that have caught our eyes, but we aren’t really familiar with that part of town. Can anyone offer up any kind of information regarding Riverside?
What’s your favorite rickety old bridge in Duluth? Mine is called “Ass Bridge.” At least, that’s what I call it, for reasons that will become obvious if you read on. It’s an old railroad bridge over Stewart Creek in western Duluth. The northeastern side of the bridge is in the Riverside neighborhood, the southwestern side is in the Smithville neighborhood.
