During the Friends of the Library Book Sale at the Superior Public Library, I saw many things I’ve never seen before. I saw someone come by and buy all of the VHS tapes. (Luckily, I saw them before he did — there was nothing I liked.) I understand that there is a collector market for VHS, as movies that were never issued to DVD and will likely not be streaming are only found on that medium.
This century-old postcard shows the old YMCA building at Ogden Avenue and 14th Street in Superior. Though the card is postmarked, the year is not legible.
American architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright designed many famous buildings, museums and houses — including a gas station in Cloquet. Twin Cities Public Television Reporter Kaomi Lee explores the architectural destination in this video.
From left to right: Charles Chambers, James McGovern and Frank Watters
It was on this date 140 years ago — Sept. 10, 1883 — that the first arrests were made in connection to a counterfeiting operation at a Duluth grocery store.
Although the postcard caption above reads “Launching of a 600 ft Freighter, Duluth, Minn.,” the vessel in the image appears to be the SS Edward Y. Townsend, which was built in Superior.
Be true to your school and let your colors fly. Collected here are various pin-back buttons promoting schools in, or near, Duluth.
I am looking to talk to folks who might have a memory of being in Duluth’s Soap Box Derby — either on London Road but especially the last few years that it was in Hartley Park.
The elm tree in the center of the photo above stood in the stream bank where the old farm road/junction of Stornaway Street was until the blowdown of 2016. The photo is from Hartley Nature Center where the Dale Mell’s 1964 derby car is displayed.
This undated postcard shows the Cargill and Belt Line grain elevators on the Duluth-Superior Harbor a good long while ago.
The Latelys performed on the outdoor stage at Bent Paddle Brewing on June 29 during PDDXX: Perfect Duluth Day’s 20th Birthday Party.
It’s been two months since Perfect Duluth Day celebrated its 20th anniversary. The speed of life hasn’t allowed much time for reflection and gratitude, so this post is an attempt to jam that in so we can properly push forward with the next 20 years.
Duluth’s 50-acre Bagley Nature Area gets its name from Dr. William R. Bagley, who gifted the land to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Dr. Bagley’s hobby was nature photography. He was known to use a camera mounted on the stock of a gun in pursuit of wild animal photos. His family home movies, however, were probably not shot using wooden parts from weaponry.
Early 1980s Twin Ports tourism newspaper ad.
This undated postcard, published by Krieman’s Lyceum News & Book Store, shows Duluth’s Northland Country Club circa the 1930s.
Duluth Stories: People and Events from the Zenith City’s Past was published by the author with the help of X-Presso Books in January.
Did you know that German prisoners of war worked in local lumber camps during World War Two? That the Zenith City produced four opera divas and eight classical-music composers? That no fewer than six Duluthians worked on the Manhattan Project, developing the world’s first atomic bombs? Inside these pages, retired Duluth Public Library reference librarian David Ouse tells the tales of not only accomplished Duluthians — including local women who broke down barriers by becoming the first female practitioners of traditionally male professions — but also of visits from the famous, the exploits of a couple of “human flies,” two early (and lost) motion pictures set in the Zenith City, and much more.
Long before Duluth had a House of Donuts it had a house of limbs. This ad is from the 1900 Duluth-Superior city directory.
It was 20 years ago that Duluth Entertainment Convention Center officials announced plans to build an eight-screen movie theater next to the DECC’s Omnimax theater. Within a few weeks the plan expanded to 10 screens and had the name Canal Park 10. When it opened on Dec. 22, 2004, it bore the name Duluth 10 and was operated by Cinema Entertainment Corp.
