Paul Lundgren Posts

Duluth National Regatta of 1916

Regatta1916DNT01

One century ago, Duluth hosted the 44th annual regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen. The event ran Aug. 11 and 12, 1916, with the Duluth team winning nine of the 12 events it entered.

Mystery Photo #39: Old 708

Old-708

A train rolls through western Duluth. Year unknown. Photographer unknown. The number on the train is 708. Anyone have insight?

Duluth Imperial Mill Company

Duluth Imperial Flour Dluth Imperial Flour -- Without a Rival Imperial Mill Company of Duluth

Duluth Imperial Mill was the largest single mill in the world in the 1890s, but by the turn of the century its reign was over. There’s a full history with plant photos at zenity city.com.

Presented here are a few promotional items.

Kiss Meets the Phantom of Duluth

Kiss performed at Amsoil Arena in Duluth on Aug. 3, and … well, if you didn’t go, there are all sorts of videos shot by a guy named Tom. If you did go, and you didn’t care much for it, well, Paul Stanley thinks you are a miserable asshole.

Paul Stanley thinks Tony Bennett is a miserable asshole

Where in Superior?

where-in-soup-town

For the 147th installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation “Where in Duluth?” we cross the bridge to ask, “Where in Superior was this photo taken?”

Perspective Map of Duluth in 1887

Perspective Map of Duluth 1887

Leo Seltzer’s Transcontinental Roller Derby in Duluth, 1937

Seltzer's Roller Derby Duluth 1937

Two years after the term “Roller Derby” was trademarked, Duluth hosted a bout.

Mystery Photos #36-38: Three Women

Minnesota Real Photo Postcard Mrs. Mohler Studio Portrait young-woman Thiel - Engalls Block Duluth

One day you’re glamorous enough for a fancy Duluth studio portrait; one-hundred years later, no one knows who you are.

At least the photo on the left comes with half of a name: “Mrs. Mohler.” Other than that, what you see is what you get for clues. Anyone who recognizes one of these women or can provide further details will be declared winner of the internet for a day.

Duluth Broadcast Television Station Guide for 2016

Duluth TV station logos

Below is an updated look at what’s on the television dial in Duluth after the reorganizing at KBJR/KDLH. Don’t let the big “3” fool you on the new KDLH logo (which doesn’t have the letters KDLH on it, but does have the CBS eye); the CBS affiliate is now on broadcast channel 6.2. If you are watching with a satellite dish or cable, then the KDLH/CBS station is channel 3.

Stage Stop food tastes just like shit

Paul Lundgren Saturday EssayTwenty years ago, fresh out of college, I began my career in journalism. Everything was about to change in the industry, but it hadn’t changed yet. Print was king, profits were good and the prospect of any local news organization developing a website was the subject of a conversation that started and ended with the phrase “probably next year.”

I was hired as news editor at the Duluth Budgeteer Press, a weekly community paper that produced just enough news content to avoid being considered a “shopper.” Actually, for many years it was considered a shopper, but then another paper came along that was more of a shopper, and the Budge started to be considered a newspaper.

Manny’s Shopper was the weekly coupon rag that lowered the bar and lifted the Budgeteer to prominence. Although no one these days seems to know who Manny was or much else about what became of his shopper, one thing was important 20 years ago: it had committed what is probably not the biggest, but quite likely is the most hilarious, print media blunder northern Minnesota has ever known.

Principal Protestant Churches of Duluth

Principal Protestant Churches of Duluth

First Presbyterian Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, First M.E. Church, Pilgrim Congregational Church and United Protestant Church.

When West Duluth Was Young

When West Duluth Was Young - cover

In the summer of 1994, a group of West Duluth kids met with a group of senior citizens from the neighborhood and wrote down their stories for a booklet. Here is the entirety of When West Duluth Was Young: An Intergenerational Writing Workshop, with thanks to Aunt Becky for passing it along.

Where in Duluth? #146

wid146

Time for another installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation. Where in Duluth was this shot taken?

Plant of Zenith Furnace Company at West Duluth

Zenith Furnace Company Duluth

Zenith Furnace Company was organized in 1902 and located on St. Louis Bay at 59th Avenue West. The company manufactured pig iron and byproducts of coal gas, ammonia and coal tar. In 1931 the company was acquired by Interlake Iron Corporation and was a source of steel during World War II for use in government defense equipment. It closed in 1962.

Union Made in the District of Duluth

Union Made - District of Duluth

Made-in-DuluthSome time around the year 1980, my parents acquired two giant four-drawer cabinets. Several decades went by before it was time to clean out the house and get rid of them. When one of them sold last month I pulled out a drawer and for the first time noticed the cabinets appear to have been built in Duluth. “United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, organized 1881, registered June 30, 1903,” reads the text on the ink stamp. “Union Made” in the “District of Duluth.”

I’m curious if anyone has seen anything like this or has any back story on who might have built them and when.