Wonderland Resort was located about three miles northeast of Duluth, on the shore of Lake Superior and adjacent to Schmidt Creek. It was run by Jack and Joan Bates from 1968 to 1998 and their family still reminisces about the old days on a Wonderland Resort Facebook page.

This undated postcard, lithographed from Kodachrome by W. A. Fisher Co. of Virginia, Minn., shows another aerial view.

The caption on the back reads:

Wonderland Tourist Court and Lodge
Route 6
Duluth, Minnesota
One stop service. Modern, heated, housekeeping cabins, overnight or weekly. Complete meal service, refreshments and entertainment. Groceries, meats and souvenirs. On the shore of Lake Superior. Located 12.5 miles from Duluth on North Shore Drive. (U. S. 61)

The property at 5384 North Shore Drive in Duluth Township was purchased in 1998 and a private residence was built there in 2005. The real estate website Zillow has listed the 3,360-sq.-ft. home for sale for more than a year. The asking price is $1,480,000.

Many of the old cabins that were on the property have been demolished or moved, but some remain.

The cabin shown above was moved from the property and was recently offered up to a new owner. The ad read:

16 x 16 cabin that was moved from Wonderland on Scenic Hwy 61. Needs some TLC and would make a great storage shed or cabin. Must be moved. It has 3 rooms. Some water damage but is restorable.

Patty Duke at Wonderland Resort. (Duluth News Tribune 1972 file photo)

In the winter of 1972 a film crew shot a scene at Wonderland Resort for the movie You’ll Like My Mother, but it didn’t end up in the film.

Above is footage of Joan Bates’s grandmother, Liisa Hilja, visiting Wonderland Resort in 1969. It also shows Hilja at a nursing home on Arrowhead Road. The YouTube descriptions notes: “Short footage in-between of the Bolmes. At the resort, Jack and Joan Bates, Fiske O’Hara, Colin, Gareth and Erin. 1969. Amelia Maki and her husband brought Liisa out to the resort and filmed it.”

And we close with this video of the Bates Family reunion circa 1988.