Historic Photos of Duluth

Wow! Thanks tothm! I loved looking at everyone of these postcards of this city--and I want those streetcar lines back!

I don't want a bunch of ne'er-do-well immigrants making their way out to scenic Lakeside, so I say down with streetcars.

Was the bridge really green?

Wow, what a goldmine!

Big E., the lift bridge was originally "Essex Green," a very deep, almost forest green (the aerial transfer bridge was olive green). But after the town raised a lot of money to "light" the bridge in the late 1960s, the dark green paint failed to reflect the light, and so another movement started and by 1973 the bridge had its first coat of silver paint. (A much more detailed account appears in "Crossing the Canal: An Illustrated History of Duluth's Aerial Bridge").

http://www.duluth-mn-usa.com/ is another great free site to look at all sorts of great vintage postcards and photos of Duluth. It's operated by Duluthian Jerry Paulson, whose collection supplied over half of the postcards in my "Zenith: A Postcard Perspective of Historic Duluth."

I shed a tear for the 3rd street streetcar. Wow, that would be marvelous to have that back. Just 21st E to 27th W would be fine!

I vaguely recall (as a kid) a rather large turnout at the canal for the official lighting of the lift bridge. The sun went down, the lights came on... and everyone went home.

TimK, that sounds about right form what I've researched. There was the UMD marching band and a choir from CSS and John Blatnik threw the switch and then ... not much.

This is an awesome link!! Thanks!

I won't be needing to search for computer background images for a while now! Thanks!

Interesting, Tony.  Hadn't run across that so vividly in any other postcards, and of course the b&w photo record obscures a lot of interesting things.  [Like, for instance, what color was this?]

Naval camouflage was generally black& white or light grey and dark grey.

That resource focuses on the Second World War (I was interested to see that apparently most of the carrier force was painted all-over "Deck Blue" by 1944, which I hadn't known).  The MNHS photo was from the First though, the heyday of the "dazzle" scheme, which could be quite a bit more colorful.