Duluth Harbor Circa 1870s

Paul Lundgren Feb 27, 2022 1 Comment

Although this old photograph is labeled “Duluth Harbor,” it’s not what we think of today as the harbor. Based on a similar photo posted to Perfect Duluth Day in 2020 and the resulting discussion surrounding it in the comments, it was determined that the tall building shown in our photo here is the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad Grain Elevator A and was located roughly where the Northland Vietnam Veterans Memorial is today.

Photographers William Caswell and William Henry Davy ran a studio in Duluth circa 1870-75 and were responsible for many of the stereographs circulated during the era.

The full stereograph is below.

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1 Comment

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman)

about 3 years ago 

The distinction being the "inner harbor" and the "outer harbor". The outer harbor used to be the only one, but it retreated to the inner harbor after the construction of canal. So nowadays, people only think of the inner harbor as "the harbor". The so-called "outer harbor" (no longer a harbor after the lake destroyed two breakwater walls) lies between the canal walls and the Vietnam Memorial. The ruins of the breakwater walls still lie around down there which is why the red obstruction buoy may be seen in that area.

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