History Posts

Amtrak wants to return passenger service to Duluth with funding from Biden’s infrastructure proposal

Apr 04, 2021 2 Comments

Amtrak’s North Star parked at the Duluth Depot, July 19, 1981. (Photographer unknown)

It’s been 36 years since Amtrak ended its 10-year run of passenger service from the Twin Cities to Duluth. This past week the company, which provides medium and long-distance service in the contiguous United States and nine Canadian cities, announced a vision for up to 30 new routes, including a return to Duluth … if Congress passes President Joe Biden’s $2-trillion infrastructure proposal.

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History, News and Current Affairs

Mystery Photos: Mr. and Mrs. Peter Anderson

Apr 02, 2021 1 Comment

Someone was kind enough to write the names of these love birds on their photos and keep them together. But who are Mr. and Mrs. Peter Anderson?

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History, Photos ,

Postcard from Miller’s Cafeteria

Mar 31, 2021 No Comments

Miller’s Cafeteria in Duluth’s Medical Arts Building, 320 W. Superior St., has a convoluted origin story that was explored in the comments to a Perfect Duluth Day Mystery Photo in 2014 and in the Duluth News Tribune “Relics” column “An old place mat holds memories of downtown cafe,” in 2019. From those works we learned the cafe became the Captain’s Table in 1959 and closed in 1972.

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History ,

Commercial Cafe opens under new management in 1921

Mar 29, 2021 No Comments

This advertisement in the March 29, 1921 Duluth Herald promotes the reopening of the Commercial Cafe at 10 N. 20th Ave. W. in what is now Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The location is probably where DLH Clothing is operating a retail store today, although all businesses in that building use the address 12 N. 20th Ave. W.


History ,

Postcards from the Duluth Civic Center

Mar 24, 2021 No Comments

Duluth’s Civic Center includes the St. Louis County Courthouse (1909), Duluth City Hall (1928), Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building (1930), St. Louis County Jail (1923) and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1919).

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History ,

Duluth Soo Line Depot

Mar 22, 2021 4 Comments

Duluth’s Soo Line passenger depot opened at 602 W. Superior St. in 1910. It was designed by C. E. Bell, Tyrie and Chapman of Minneapolis in the Romanesque style. The depot closed in the 1960s and was torn down in 1972.

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History, Photos

Postcard from Little Two Harbors

Mar 17, 2021 No Comments

This undated postcard from Duluth Photo Engraving Company shows Ellingson Island at Little Two Harbors, the bay best known for its views of Split Rock Lighthouse.


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Duluth Concert Archive: Blue Oyster Cult in 1977

Mar 16, 2021 6 Comments

From the archives. Were you in attendance? Also, does anyone know where/what Samahdi Sound was in Ashland?


History, Music

Postcard from the Leif Erikson Statue and Viking Ship

Mar 10, 2021 No Comments

This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows two Duluth relics. The bronze Leif Erikson statue was placed in 1956 and remains on display at Leif Erikson Park. The 42-foot Leif Erikson Viking Ship Replica was built in Norway in 1926 and sailed to Duluth, arriving on June 23, 1927. It was displayed in Leif Erikson Park until 2013, when it was placed in a warehouse until funds are raised to build a display structure to protect it from weather.


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Mystery Photos #131-136: The Duluth Polka Dots?

Mar 08, 2021 3 Comments

This contact print of photo negatives comes from Ben Marsen, who many years ago acquired a collection of negatives of scenes from around Duluth. (See Mystery Photo #125 for more info on that.)

Marsen doubts he still has the negatives, so we have to squint a bit and work from the contact strip. Who are these musicians?

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History, Photos

Greetings from Superior National Forest

Mar 03, 2021 No Comments

This collection of old postcards depicts scenes from the Superior National Forest, 3.9-million acres of woods and waters in northeastern Minnesota’s “Arrowhead Country.”

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History , ,

Selective Focus: The Old West End

Feb 25, 2021 No Comments

Photographer Nik Nerburn (previously on PDD) has just published a book of photos and stories following the last few years of transformation in Duluth’s West End, more recently and commonly known as Lincoln Park. We get a sneek peek at a few of the images in the book.

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Art, History, Photos , , ,

John Rudd turning a complete somersault on skis

Feb 25, 2021 No Comments

As documented on this old postcard, Duluthian John Rudd is credited as having performed the first somersault on skies. It happened at Chester Bowl, then known as Chester Creek Hill.

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History, Sports ,

Postcard from Twin Points Resort

Feb 22, 2021 2 Comments

This undated postcard, from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography, shows an aerial view from Lake Superior of Twin Points Resort in the Silver Creek Township northeast of Two Harbors. The area is now known as Iona’s Beach Scientific and Natural Area.

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Video Archive: Johnny Heartless joins Bone Appetit

Feb 16, 2021 No Comments

Twenty years ago today — Feb. 16, 2001 — a mysterious guitar player emerged from the audience at the NorShor Theatre to join Duluth band Bone Appetit for a rendition of the Judas Priest song “Living After Midnight.”


History, Music, Videos , ,