Paul Lundgren Posts

Remembering Laura MacArthur

Aug 25, 2009 7 Comments

A commenter to the post about the house being torn down for construction of the new Laura MacArthur Elementary asked the question, “Who is Laura MacArthur anyway?”

Laura MacArthur was an elementary and junior high school teacher and principal in West Duluth for over four decades.

Born in England, she came to the United States with her family at around the age of 10. She attended high school in Wooster, Ohio, and graduated from the College of Wooster.

She came to Duluth in the spring of 1896, where she was assigned to teach Latin, algebra and civics to ninth graders at Longfellow School.

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History

What’s wrong with having a keg at your high school graduation party?

Aug 23, 2009 11 Comments

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Of course, I’m talking about a keg of root beer. What’s wrong with it? Let me tell you.

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Photos

Rules for Teachers, 1905 and 1872

Aug 23, 2009 8 Comments

During my recent visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, I had a good laugh reading two lists of rules on the walls of the little schoolhouse.

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History

Fastest Vote in the West

Aug 21, 2009 No Comments

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Most precincts, like mine in West Duluth, have only two races on the ballot this year. At least we get to vote for two candidates in each.

Click here for a list of candidates that includes all the district races.


Politics

Job opportunity: Become the leader of Duluth’s music scene bureaucracy

Aug 20, 2009 18 Comments

HomegrownChicken2The Homegrown Music Festival is looking for a director to follow in the footsteps of Paul Connolly, who has stepped down from the position.

Homegrown is Duluth’s yearly celebration of local music, featuring eight days of concerts with performances by well over 100 bands.

The 12th annual Homegrown will be held May 2 to 9, 2010.

The festival director is responsible for the overall management of Homegrown.

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Music

How I Spent My Summer Vacation in Minnesota with Daniel Johnston, Laura Ingalls Wilder, my great-great-grandparents and a bunch of short-fiction writers

Aug 18, 2009 11 Comments

There comes a time in every Minnesota man’s summer when he climbs into a rusty conversion van with the love of his life and sets out across the state in search of everything and nothing in particular.

Once the dog and the cooler of beer are secure in back, it’s off we go.

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History, Photos

From the Rock Poster Archive | 1999

Aug 11, 2009 2 Comments

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Ten year’s ago, the hottest chainsaw-weilding band in the country played at Stargate in Superior. For some reason I held on to the poster, even though I did not attend. I did see Jackyl open for Damn Yankees at the DECC in 1992, however.

Did anyone see the Soup Town show? Anyone? Anyone?


History, Music

Fall allergy season begins!

Aug 08, 2009 10 Comments

It started for me today. Anyone else?

My favorite remedies are sleeping 12 hours a day and eating every second that I’m awake. Snorting cromolyn sodium also helps.


Random ,

1935 Wheaties box featuring Frank “Butch” Larson

Aug 06, 2009 13 Comments

FrankLarson1Duluth native Frank “Butch” Larson appeared on Wheaties cereal boxes in 1935. Finding one of those boxes after 74 years might be a challenge.

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History ,

You better shutup all that screamin’

Aug 06, 2009 9 Comments

Three kids are playing or doing whatever in their backyard. I can’t see them, I can only hear them because they’re all yelling at each other.

Suddenly, the voice of what is likely the father drowns them all out with, “You better shutup all that screamin’!”

I’m not questioning this parenting method at all; I’m just telling the story as a fan of irony.

(Additional irony is that this follows the “Peaceful Waves” post. Serenity now!)


Random

It’s hard to watch a house come down

Aug 05, 2009 16 Comments

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This house at 738 N. Central Ave. in West Duluth was ripped down yesterday to make way for the new Laura MacArthur Elementary School. I think the new school will be great, and I have no particular reason to be sentimental about this house or any of the others on the block, but there’s something that punches me in the gut when I watch a house get smashed to bits.

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History, Photos ,

Historic Day at Denfeld

Aug 04, 2009 4 Comments

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Ten new members were inducted into Denfeld High School’s Hunter Hall of Fame on Saturday. At the end of the ceremony, descendants of Robert E. Denfeld and Walter Hunting were brought to the stage. Although the phrase “Denfeld Hunters” has been around since the 1930s, the Denfeld and Hunting families had never met before. (Photo by Butch Williams)

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History, News and Current Affairs, Photos

Sgt. Hamil’s behind-the-back strikeout pitch

Aug 04, 2009 5 Comments

August 3, 2009 | Wheeler Fields, Duluth MN

“Most luckiest” indeed, as Sarge has thrown at least one behind-the-back pitch every game this season without success, knowing eventually he’d land one. The batter seems frozen in disbelief, not even considering taking a swing.


Videos

End of Stagecoaches in Duluth

Aug 03, 2009 7 Comments

On August 1, 1870, the St. Paul and Lake Superior Stagecoaches ceremoniously quit service with the opening of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad. On this day, the first train arrived in Duluth from St. Paul, a roughly 150-mile trip that took 16 hours.

–Susan Marks, Historic Photos of Minnesota
Turner Publishing Company, 2009


History, Photos , ,

Caption This

Aug 02, 2009 18 Comments


Photos