Rules for Teachers, 1905 and 1872
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.
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.
Just about every town has a “0” point for its street addresses. In Duluth, that would be the corner of Lake and Superior, right? 1 E. Superior, 1 W. Superior, 1 N. Lake, etc. The lower the address number, the closer it is to the zero point. And in general, there are imaginary lines that spread out from that point, dividing addresses into north-south, and east-west.
That all works out well in Duluth on the main grid of streets – downtown, West End, West Duluth, Lakeside… but then it starts to get odd.
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.
Ever wonder what happened to all the remains from the old Indian cemetery on Wisconsin Point? According to this YouTube video, over 100 burials were “dumped” along the banks of the Nemadji River at the St. Francis Cemetery in Superior. Their bones and artifacts crop up to this day as the banks continue to erode.
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?
Duluth native Frank “Butch” Larson appeared on Wheaties cereal boxes in 1935. Finding one of those boxes after 74 years might be a challenge.
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.
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)
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
Anticipating the demolition of the Duluth Motel and Star Enterprises in West Duluth, I took a few photos two weeks ago. Both buildings are rubble now.
Remember that dazzling group of tumblers? They just randomly somersaulted into the nostalgia part of my brain this morning. I can’t remember anymore why the group disbanded. Did the coach move away or something?
MPR story from 2001: “Flying High In Duluth”
Tuesday, July 14
12 noon
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture with representatives from the Marshall Alworth Planetarium
FREE
Slip away from work and learn a thing or two about the universe. Join staff from the Alworth Planetarium as they guide you through an exploration of your planetary neighborhood.
This nice little button celebrates the dedication of Enger Tower. The King and Queen of Norway were on hand along with many prominent Duluth dignitaries. I’ve had this thing for more than 30 years. I think an ex-girlfriend’s mother was cleaning out a junk drawer and gave it to me.
I have an old Bridgeman-Russell Company ruler. I don’t often think about how awesome it is, so I catch myself using it to do things like scrape gunk off a counter. For the sake of history, I’ll try to be more careful in the future.
Bob Dylan and Paul Simon played a very muddy concert at Bayfront Festival Park on July 3, 1999. For some reason, I decided to wear a new pair of white sneakers. This photo is of my friend Chris’ shoes, but one of mine is creeping in on the bottom.
It was a great concert, and totally worth the destruction of a pair of shoes.
