History Posts

DTA Woodland Windjammer, Crosley Clipper, et. al.

Aug 17, 2016 3 Comments

The quest is to settle a bet. Whether there’s enough evidence so far to settle it will have to be up to the wagerers.

Former Duluthian Daniel Heinan, now living in Los Angeles, sent the following email:

My friends don’t believe that there was a DTA bus line called the Woodland Wind Jammer. There was even the Crosley Clipper. They existed in the 1980s and early 1990s. Can you help me prove them wrong?

What an inside source at the Duluth Transit Authority reports:

A long-time employee and former driver tells the tale of not just the Woodland Wind Jammer and the Crosley Clipper, but also the Proctor Pacer and the Superior Streaker. These were all express routes, designed to get people downtown as soon as possible. He thought there might have even been a contest to name them.

Alas, a search through the DTA library resulted in no physical proof, but I trust my source.

So there we have it. Anyone with hard evidence should obviously come forward, but so far the jury would have to lean heavily in favor of the Windjammer and Clipper being actual former DTA bus route names.


History ,

Mystery Photo #40: New Duluth Bus and Drivers

Aug 16, 2016 2 Comments

DTA Bus 1962 New Duluth

This photo popped up on Pinterest a while back. It’s dated 1962. Photographer unknown.

Duluth’s first diesel buses began operating in 1957 under the auspices of the Duluth-Superior Transit Company. The Duluth Transit Authority was created in 1969, so one could say the bus in the photo above is a DTA before there was a DTA.

Can anyone name any of the drivers?


History , ,

NorShor Theatre circa 1960s: Recognize these kids?

Aug 12, 2016 1 Comment

NorShor kids

This photo was found in the Duluth Playhouse‘s archives. The kids, enjoying concessions at the NorShor movie theater in what appears to be the 1960s, are listed as: “Sandy Audio? Atto, Otto, Ottio? 5 years” and “Judy Hanson 8 years.”


History

Any German Speakers???

Aug 12, 2016 1 Comment

IMG_6512

I found this old inscription in a 1930s book. Can anyone help me understand it? It looks to be German or Norwegian and based on what I can figure out it references alligators and Lake Superior.


History, Outdoors, Politics

Duluth National Regatta of 1916

Aug 11, 2016 3 Comments

Regatta1916DNT01

One century ago, Duluth hosted the 44th annual regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen. The event ran Aug. 11 and 12, 1916, with the Duluth team winning nine of the 12 events it entered.

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History, Sports

Duluth Imperial Mill Company

Aug 09, 2016 1 Comment

Duluth Imperial Flour Dluth Imperial Flour -- Without a Rival Imperial Mill Company of Duluth

Duluth Imperial Mill was the largest single mill in the world in the 1890s, but by the turn of the century its reign was over. There’s a full history with plant photos at zenity city.com.

Presented here are a few promotional items.

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History

Perspective Map of Duluth in 1887

Aug 07, 2016 1 Comment

Perspective Map of Duluth 1887


History

Leo Seltzer’s Transcontinental Roller Derby in Duluth, 1937

Aug 07, 2016 No Comments

Seltzer's Roller Derby Duluth 1937

Two years after the term “Roller Derby” was trademarked, Duluth hosted a bout.


History

Mystery Photos #36-38: Three Women

Aug 04, 2016 3 Comments

Minnesota Real Photo Postcard Mrs. Mohler Studio Portrait young-woman Thiel - Engalls Block Duluth

One day you’re glamorous enough for a fancy Duluth studio portrait; one-hundred years later, no one knows who you are.

At least the photo on the left comes with half of a name: “Mrs. Mohler.” Other than that, what you see is what you get for clues. Anyone who recognizes one of these women or can provide further details will be declared winner of the internet for a day.


History, Photos ,

Principal Protestant Churches of Duluth

Jul 28, 2016 No Comments

Principal Protestant Churches of Duluth

First Presbyterian Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, First M.E. Church, Pilgrim Congregational Church and United Protestant Church.


History , ,

When West Duluth Was Young

Jul 27, 2016 1 Comment

When West Duluth Was Young - cover

In the summer of 1994, a group of West Duluth kids met with a group of senior citizens from the neighborhood and wrote down their stories for a booklet. Here is the entirety of When West Duluth Was Young: An Intergenerational Writing Workshop, with thanks to Aunt Becky for passing it along.

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History

Moving sidewalk proposed in Duluth in 1908

Jul 26, 2016 No Comments

moving sidewalkJohn Edward Roemer wanted to build a system of moving sidewalks up Duluth’s steepest hills. The power to run the system would come from storage batteries buried in chambers beneath Superior Street. Tunnels would be dug beneath cross streets so the sidewalks could pass under the streets. At the top of the hill where the moving sidewalk system terminated, Roemer proposed building a pavilion and an aerial rail line extending to Fond du Lac, with stops in the West End, West Duluth, New Duluth and Ironton.

Read more at the public library’s Reference@Duluth blog.


History

Plant of Zenith Furnace Company at West Duluth

Jul 23, 2016 No Comments

Zenith Furnace Company Duluth

Zenith Furnace Company was organized in 1902 and located on St. Louis Bay at 59th Avenue West. The company manufactured pig iron and byproducts of coal gas, ammonia and coal tar. In 1931 the company was acquired by Interlake Iron Corporation and was a source of steel during World War II for use in government defense equipment. It closed in 1962.

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History, Photos ,

Bud Grant and the Superior Central Basketball Team

Jul 21, 2016 No Comments

Bud Grant and

Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant grew up in Superior and played football, basketball and baseball at Superior Central High School. This photo recently showed up Reddit, posted by user “drunkinwisconsin.”

“A bartender’s dad in my hometown of Superior, WI went to school with Bud Grant,” the post reads. “Here is his senior basketball picture, #13.”


History, Sports ,

Union Made in the District of Duluth

Jul 19, 2016 No Comments

Union Made - District of Duluth

Made-in-DuluthSome time around the year 1980, my parents acquired two giant four-drawer cabinets. Several decades went by before it was time to clean out the house and get rid of them. When one of them sold last month I pulled out a drawer and for the first time noticed the cabinets appear to have been built in Duluth. “United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, organized 1881, registered June 30, 1903,” reads the text on the ink stamp. “Union Made” in the “District of Duluth.”

I’m curious if anyone has seen anything like this or has any back story on who might have built them and when.


History