Postcard from the Flamingo Excursion Yacht
Duluth’s Vista Fleet excursion business got its start in 1959 under the name Flamingo Excursions. The 144-passenger S.S. Flamingo replaced the businesses’ original boat, the Streamliner, in 1961.
Duluth’s Vista Fleet excursion business got its start in 1959 under the name Flamingo Excursions. The 144-passenger S.S. Flamingo replaced the businesses’ original boat, the Streamliner, in 1961.
COVID-19 kept the Mighty Thomas Carnival from making its annual summer appearance in Duluth. Instead, we get our Ferris wheel kicks from the photo archive.
The written caption tells us pretty much everything we need to know, except for one critical thing: What year was this?
A collection of World War II-era newspapers, saved in a bushel box by an old timer, make up the content of a Facebook page called Duluth News Tribune and Herald the War Years. Rick Hamilton has been showcasing pieces of the old newspapers there since July 2017.
In a series of four posts, Perfect Duluth Day is featuring samplings from the collection. This final gallery displays a few front page headlines.
A collection of World War II-era newspapers, saved in a bushel box by an old timer, make up the content of a Facebook page called Duluth News Tribune and Herald the War Years. Rick Hamilton has been showcasing pieces of the old newspapers there since July 2017.
In a series of four posts, Perfect Duluth Day is featuring samplings from the collection. This third gallery displays news clips related to the war.
A collection of World War II-era newspapers, saved in a bushel box by an old timer, make up the content of a Facebook page called Duluth News Tribune and Herald the War Years. Rick Hamilton has been showcasing pieces of the old newspapers there since July 2017.
In a series of four posts, Perfect Duluth Day is featuring samplings from the collection. This second gallery displays general Duluth-related news stories.
A collection of World War II-era newspapers, saved in a bushel box by an old timer, make up the content of a Facebook page called Duluth News Tribune and Herald the War Years. Rick Hamilton has been showcasing pieces of the old newspapers there since July 2017.
In a series of four posts, Perfect Duluth Day is featuring samplings from the collection. This first gallery displays advertising clips.
From 1870 to 1894, Duluth’s downtown post office was located in the Hayes Block, a building that still stands at 26 E. Superior St. as part of the Wieland Block apartments.
Robin Washington interviewed me on Wisconsin Public Radio about the essay I wrote for PDD denouncing my white Confederate heritage.
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we take a cruise with Lorraine and the kids on the Flame excursion boat in 1964. At the midway point of the video, the scene switches to the Edgewater Motel.
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — June 27, 1910. It shows Franklin Elementary School at 411 E. Seventh St., and the surrounding neighborhood. Franklin School was demolished in 1979 and is today the site of Hillside Sport Court Park. More on the history of Franklin School can be found on zenithcity.com.
The George A. Gray Company was located at 117 W. Superior St. The building became a Wahl’s department store in 1936 and is still standing today, though it looks quite different.
The same pair of gentlemen appear in the photos above from the Wide Awake Studio in Duluth. In addition to the mystery of who the subjects of these photos might be is the question of why the particular studio they are standing in was open seven days a week until midnight. Why would people at the turn of the 20th Century want to, for example, get their photos taken at 11 p.m. on a Sunday? Was that normal?
I am disgusted by the Confederate flag, and by those white people who defend its display as “honoring their heritage.” I say this as a white native of the South, with deep Southern roots. I was born in Texas (slave state) to a mother from North Carolina (slave state) and a father from Georgia (slave state). I was raised below the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland (slave state).
The year I was born (1969), my father taught at an all-white private high school in Houston. The Civil Rights era raged. When the headmaster refused to desegregate the school, my father was part of a faculty exodus. My folks found a Maryland school that did not discriminate, and went to teach there. They raised me to believe in equality. But looking back through the history of the country, the full story of my family and race is a terrible thing: the Richardsons owned slaves for generations, and I can document it.
My dad was a Civil War buff. When I was a child, he told me many things about it, including: 1) there were Richardsons on both sides of the war, and 2) the Southern, slave-owning Richardsons were angry when their slaves were freed.
Scott Laderman is featured on the New Books Network. Hang ten, dudes, and listen to Laderman share his research.
