History Posts

Postcard from a Night Scene of Fire in Superior Milling District

Nov 09, 2022 1 Comment

A flour mill fire in Superior caused more than $2.6 million in damage on Nov. 9, 1907 — 115 years ago today. The Duluth News Tribune referred to it as “the most disastrous fire in point of property loss, and probably the most spectacular blaze ever seen at the Head of the Lakes.”

The postcard shown above was mailed nine days after the fire. It was sent by someone named Frank to Master A. Pearson of Spokane, Wash. The photo apparently shows the smoldering remains of the Freeman Flour Mills and Elevator — Franks wrote “Fremon Mill” on the back of the card.

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Postcard from Minnesota Point Lighthouse

Nov 07, 2022 No Comments

This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Nov. 7, 1912. A previous Perfect Duluth Day post featured a different version of the same card, mailed four months earlier. That post includes additional background info on the lighthouse.

Also previously noted on PDD, the remains of the lighthouse have remained in roughly the same condition for more than a century.

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Remembering the Fitzgerald

Nov 04, 2022 No Comments

Great Lakes Now is a production of Detroit Public Television.


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Duluth in Anarchy: A Journal of Anarchist Ideas

Nov 04, 2022 4 Comments

I found reference to Duluth in Anarchy: A Journal of Anarchist Ideas, issue #84, from February 1968, with a feature about something I have never heard of, the Kropotkin House.

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Duluth East Birch Logs of 1970 and 1972

Nov 03, 2022 2 Comments

A pair of Duluth East High School yearbooks can be perused on the Internet Archive from the years 1970 and 1972.


History

Duluth Central High School Jazz Ensemble

Nov 01, 2022 No Comments

The 1977 album Project Two features music by various high school jazz groups, including a track from the Duluth Central High School Jazz Ensemble, directed by James Stellmaker. The tune “All God’s Children” was composed by Dominic Spera.


History, Music

Duluth Home Products Dinner of 1912

Oct 31, 2022 1 Comment

What better night than Halloween for the Duluth Rotary Club and Duluth Chamber of Commerce to hold their Home Products Dinner of 1912? Here’s the program from 110 years ago today.

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Duluth Once Upon a Time: The Northern National Bank

Oct 30, 2022 6 Comments

Duluth Savings Bank was established on Oct. 30, 1902 — 120 years ago today — and took the name Northern National Bank in 1909, a year before the Alworth Building, Duluth’s tallest commercial high-rise, was built. Northern National Bank occupied the main floor of the Alworth. The card above jokes that 40 years before the Alworth a two-story structure on West Superior Street was “Duluth’s First Skyscraper.”

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Loaves and Fishes Zine

Oct 25, 2022 No Comments

Last semester, my students did a research project on Loaves and Fishes. Now, a semester too late, I find this electronic archive of quarterly newsletters from 2010 to 2017.


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Postcard from Lakeside Presbyterian Church

Oct 21, 2022 No Comments

Lakeside Presbyterian Church was founded in 1890 and the building shown in this undated postcard went up at 4430 McCulloch St. in 1921, replacing the church’s previous building there.

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OMG, that’s a lot of smoke in this video

Oct 19, 2022 No Comments

I’m plunking about in the Archive.org site, and this video shows the Duluth harbor as a dystopian nightmare of smoke at about 2:30.

What an amazing transformation how we fuel our ships and how we imagine our port.


History, Videos

Mystery Photo: Duluth Home Builders

Oct 17, 2022 11 Comments

Who are they? Where are they? When was this? The only clues come from a few scribbles on the back of the photo.

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Dick Anthony: Basement Popcorn Entrepreneur of Duluth

Oct 13, 2022 1 Comment

Dick Anthony of Duluth made popcorn in his basement circa 1952 for distribution to local stores, where it was sold in dispensers. The video clip is from the television series “Industry on Parade,” which was created by the National Association of Manufacturers and ran from 1950 to 1960.

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‘The bridge between Duluth and Superior’

Oct 12, 2022 1 Comment

“The bridge between Duluth and Superior” appears at just after the 1-minute mark in the circa-1957 short film Al-Can Trailer Trek, which promotes trailer traveling. After the quick bridge shot, zoom, it’s straight to International Falls.

This bridge is the Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge, which was replaced when the Blatnik Bridge opened in 1961. Parts of the Interstate Bridge still exist as a fishing pier on Rice’s Point.

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Postcard from Skyline of Business District from Harbor

Oct 06, 2022 3 Comments

This postcard from the mid-20th century shows Duluth’s business district as seen from the harbor.

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