Downtown Duluth’s 247-foot-tall Alworth Building has been the city’s tallest commercial high-rise since its construction in 1910. Standing at 16 stories above Michigan Street and 15 stories above its street address at 306 W. Superior St., the Alworth is also the tallest mid-block building in Minnesota. The nearby 11-story Maurices Headquarters, completed in 2016, is Duluth’s second-tallest commercial high-rise at 207 feet.
The final batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represents the year 1968, and concludes with a trip to the circus at the then two-year-old Duluth Arena.
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represents the year 1967. A few airport shots, and a few around Superior. Who is that dignitary getting off the plane?
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represents the year 1966. We start in Billings Park and make our way out to the big lake they call Gitchee Gumee.
Photographer Dan Turner’s latest adventure on his Substreet website shows off the gritty and crumbling Duluth Armory, including a basement shooting range.
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represents the year 1965. Other than the first two, which are scenic views of western Duluth, St. Louis Bay and Superior, the rest appear to be shot from the excursion boat The Flame, similar to the batch from 1961, but of better quality.
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represent the years 1962 and 1964. The first four are dated 1962, the last two are from 1964. Scenes include Rice’s Point, WCCO Radio, the College of St. Scholastica and Northwestern High School in Maple.
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represent the year 1961. The set is a little murky, but appears to exclusively include images of, and from on, the excursion boat The Flame.
This batch of photos from the Osterlund Collection represent the year 1960. Notably the John A. Blatnik Bridge is shown under construction.
Paul M. Osterlund of Superior died this past May at the age of 68, leaving his son Matt a collection of photos shot around Duluth and Superior during the mid-20th Century. Most of them were taken by Paul’s father, Hartley Osterlund, who was a photographer for Superior Senior High School, UW-Superior and the Superior Telegram.
These photos were taken in Downtown Duluth during the city’s Independence Day Parade of 1917 — two months after the United States entered World War I.
Photographer Michelle Bennett specializes in portraits and makes fascinating images of the artists and musicians from our area.
M.B.: My medium is photography. My subject of choice is people, particularly women. It started when I was in 6th grade when I went to summer camp and my mom would pack a disposable camera in my overnight pack. One year instead of firing away all 36 frames on the camera in the first night I decided to take portraits of my friends and set up each shot with intention. Later on in high school I had an incredible photography teacher. By the end of that school year I was hooked so my dad gifted me his old Pentax Asahi Spotmatic- fifteen years later it’s a paper weight, but I bought the same one once it gave out. In college my professors encouraged me to apply for grant money and was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program grant two years in a row. The grants allowed me to explore analog cameras while road tripping across the country which ended up being hugely influential to my subject matter.
The Viking Motel operated at 2511 London Road from 1961 to 2000, and was demolished in 2001. The two-story, 30-room motel overlooking Lake Superior listed these amenities on its postcard: “Room Phones. Free Color TV. Coffee. Air Conditioned. Bridal Suites. Water Beds.”
Circa 1905. Photographer unknown.
