Fifty years ago — Aug. 6, 1965 — the DNT reports the Duluth City Council is reviewing a proposal for the development of a $1 million mall at Fifth Avenue West in the area where the Radisson Hotel and Duluth Public Library were later built. The context of the story seems to indicate the discussion is not about a shopping mall, but instead something like the decorative median with trees that stands in the middle of the avenue today.
Spirit Valley Days are underway in West Duluth. Here are a four observed changes in the neighborhood in recent days:
Also, the Duluth News Tribune reports that Community Action Duluth plans to build a greenhouse at the former Westminster Church location on Grand Avenue near Denfeld High School.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 5, 1965 — the DNT reports of Norwegian seamen giving the Twin Ports soccer team “an hour of stiff competition … with the local booters squeaking out a 1-0 victory.”
Fifty years ago — Aug. 4, 1965 — the DNT reports a bronze statue of Daniel de Gresolon, the Sieur Duluth, is on a ship at Leghorn, Italy, and due to arrive in Duluth in about three weeks. It will be installed in the courtyard at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
According to the results of Duluth’s annual National Citizen Survey, conducted by the National Research Center, 76 percent of Duluth residents believe the city’s overall reputation has improved in the past ten years.
From the news release:
“This decade of successes is really only the beginning stages of a renaissance in Duluth,” says Mayor Don Ness. “Our sustained sense of confidence in Duluth is the key to turning our recent wave of accomplishments into long-term stability and vibrancy.”
Based on this year’s NCS and the compelling story of the recent surge in Duluth development and redevelopment, Duluth received the honor of the Voice of the People Award for Transformation in Built Environment by the NRC. The award is only given to cities that best use the survey responses to help drive community improvement. Duluth residents reported the most notable improvement in satisfaction with built environment compared with all other participating jurisdictions — another indicator of the national significance of Duluth’s story.
Ones and Sixes, the new album by Duluth band Low, is scheduled for worldwide release on Sept. 11.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 3, 1965 — the DNT reports on the ongoing Portorama Festival, with the crowning of Miss Seaway VI LaVonne Rae Englund. The “19-year-old hazel-eyed brunette” won the pageant held at Denfeld High School. Runners up were Laurel Josephine Cahill and Joyce Diane Hietalati.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 2, 1965 — the DNT reports of a bomb explosion at a house trailer used by Ryan Construction of Janesville, Wis., on a dredging project at Rice’s Point. No one was injured.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 1, 1965 — the DNT reports of a gambling raid in Superior that was “one of the largest mass gambling arrests in Superior that detectives could recall.” Another article, at the mid-right of the page, will raise eyebrows for its racially offensive headline, though such a thing was sadly common at the time. It is a story out of Americus, Ga., by the way, and not Duluth.
A while back, Harbor City International School Mathematics Teacher Jenny Ahern passed along to me a bound edition of Duluth News Tribune’s from August of 1965. Somehow the book made its way to the school, and the school didn’t have a practical use for it. Since we are now 50 years removed from the ol’ “Summer of ’65,” I’ll be posting some clips each day for the next month. Prepare for nostalgia.
George August “Hooks” Dauss pitched in the Major Leagues for the Detroit Tigers for 15 seasons following his stint with the Duluth White Sox. There are numerous images of him on the Internet in a Tigers uniform, but Duluth images are seemingly nonexistent. The baseball card above is a bit of a deception, because the “D” on the cap is for “Detroit.” The card is a “Corona Centennial reprint,” although the word “reprint” implies there was an original card like this 100 years ago, which wouldn’t seem to be the case. Anyway, as shown below, the image on the card is of Dauss as a Tiger.
The Arrowhead Bridge connected West Duluth to Superior’s Billing’s Park neighborhood across the St. Louis River for 57 years. Built by the Arrowhead Bridge Co., it opened on March 15, 1927. The company charged a toll to cross the bridge until 1963, when Minnesota and Wisconsin state officials paid $200,000 to make it a toll-free public bridge.
The Arrowhead Bridge was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division is preparing Chester Bowl Park for a new “fun slope,” according to a news release issued today.
Crews will be out clearing out a section of the hill within the ski area in preparation for the upcoming winter season. The new “fun slope” with gentle waves of snowy berms for skiing was identified as a desired addition to the park in the Chester Park Mini-Master Plan, approved in November 2014.
Crews will be working this week into next during daytime hours, but the public should not experience any interruption in their use of the park spaces or trails. The area will be covered with wood chips to reduce erosion and smooth out the area winter operations.
Duluthians aren’t shy about loving Bayfront Park. Asked in PDD’s poll to name the best outdoor concert venue, 71.5 percent gave their nod to the 10-acre harbor-side multi-purpose park that has hosted Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Trampled by Turtles, Wilco, the Monkees, the Doobie Brothers, Willie Nelson, Steve Martin, nearly three decades of Bayfront Blues Festivals and a long list of others.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune also named Bayfront the state’s “Best Outdoor Music Venue” in 2014, noting: “It has the Aerial Lift Bridge, hilly city skyline and occasional passing ore boat for a backdrop, the cool breeze off Lake Superior for natural air-conditioning and a huge grassy lawn for stretching out. … Coolest of all: Families can bring kids under 12 to shows for free, as is dictated by the city.”
