Duluth MN Postcards

Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge: “We are all well”

Apr 05, 2016 1 Comment

This card traveled from Buffalo N.Y. to Mrs. W.J. Morrison of Lindsay, Ont. in 1906.

The Interstate Bridge opened in 1897. At the time it was pretty much the only way to get back and forth between Duluth and Superior — other than by boat or swimming, or going the long way around by land, or maybe jumping a train across the Grassy Point Railroad Bridge.

In 1906, the steamer Troy knocked the draw span of the Interstate Bridge into St. Louis Bay. Ferry service connected the cities for two years until repairs were completed.

History Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge, Postcards, St. Louis River

Steamer Columbia on St. Louis River near Fond du Lac

Apr 03, 2016 1 Comment

This postcard, mailed in July 1914, depicts the steel excursion steamer Columbia cruising the St. Louis River. The best synopsis of the ol’ picnic cruise experience of yesteryear is perhaps the one on the back of the card, where “Aunt Carrie” writes to Miss Virginia Stanbridge of Westminster, Mass. If the message and penmanship seem a little too perfect, take a closer look. It’s a fill-in-the-blank card.

History Duluth Photo Engraving Company, Fond du Lac, Postcards, St. Louis River

We have arrived in Duluth and our hats are impeccable

Mar 14, 2016 5 Comments

Would anyone like to take a stab at translating the message on the back of this postcard? It was mailed from Duluth to Miss Lillian Carlson of Minneapolis at some point during the era of one-cent postcard postage and fancy hats. The postmark date is not readable.

History, Photos Postcards

Vilkome to our city of Duluth

Mar 12, 2016 1 Comment

History Postcards, Weird

Postcard from the Hill Top

Mar 08, 2016 1 Comment

Mailed in 1923, six years before the Aerial Transfer Bridge became the Aerial Lift Bridge, this postcard depicts the old days when a gondola car carried passengers, streetcars and wagons over the canal. Numerous buildings in this postcard are long gone.

History Aerial Lift Bridge, Duluth Photo Engraving Company, Postcards

Duluth 1910

Feb 29, 2016 2 Comments

History Postcards

Two Harbors: “Everything is so interesting.”

Feb 04, 2016 No Comments

It looks like the postmark on this card to Emily Jackson of Albert Lea might be from the year 1909. The day is clearly July 26.

History North Shore of Lake Superior, Postcards, Two Harbors

Aerial Bridge: Pull and Return Slowly

Jan 20, 2016 4 Comments

Aerial Bridge Over Ship Canal, Duluth, Minn.
Only one of its kind in the world; clear span, 400 ft.; clear height 136 ft.; total height above water 186 ft.; size of car 34×50 ft.; capacity of car, 125,000 lbs.; motive power, electricity; speed, 4 miles per hour.

History Aerial Lift Bridge, Postcards

Postcards from Duluth Central High School

Dec 10, 2015 No Comments

Among man-made icons in Duluth, the most venerable of the them all is Historic Old Central High School, which opened in 1892 at Lake Avenue and East Second Street.

History, Photos Duluth Central High School, Postcards

Happy Thanksgiving from Bessie

Nov 26, 2015 No Comments

History Postcards, Thanksgiving

Postcards from Chester Park

Oct 03, 2015 12 Comments

“Chester Park is popular both in summer and winter,” according to old postcard propaganda. “In it is located one of America’s highest ski jumps and also Chester Creek, one of several flowing thru the city in which trout may be caught. Duluth is the only city in the United States where trout fishing is possible within city limits.”

Well, we know the famous ski jumps came down in 2014, but there seems to be another fact in there worth examining. Was Duluth at one time really the only city with trout fishing? Prove it or debunk it, dear reader.

In the meantime, here are more snappy postcards …

History, Photos Chester Park, Postcards

“Duluth is a good town”

Sep 18, 2015 No Comments

This little gem is postmarked Sept. 18, 1905. Hopefully Ermina B. Smith of Menominee, Mich., believed it. It’s still true 110 years later.

History, Photos Duluth Central High School, Postcards

Duluth Air Line: Taking in the sight in 1908

Sep 03, 2015 4 Comments

What in tarnation is going on here? Well, this postcard image is clearly a photo studio gag and not a snapshot of two handsome fellows in a hot air balloon over Duluth.

History Penny Arcade, Postcards

Postcards from the Arrowhead Bridge

Jul 26, 2015 5 Comments

The Arrowhead Bridge connected West Duluth to Superior’s Billing’s Park neighborhood across the St. Louis River for 57 years. Built by the Arrowhead Bridge Co., it opened on March 15, 1927. The company charged a toll to cross the bridge until 1963, when Minnesota and Wisconsin state officials paid $200,000 to make it a toll-free public bridge.

The Arrowhead Bridge was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.

Postcards Posts

Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge: “We are all well”

Steamer Columbia on St. Louis River near Fond du Lac

We have arrived in Duluth and our hats are impeccable

Vilkome to our city of Duluth

Postcard from the Hill Top

Duluth 1910

Two Harbors: “Everything is so interesting.”

Aerial Bridge: Pull and Return Slowly

Postcards from Duluth Central High School

Happy Thanksgiving from Bessie

Postcards from Chester Park

“Duluth is a good town”

Duluth Air Line: Taking in the sight in 1908

Postcards from the Arrowhead Bridge

In case anyone is wondering how we do things around here …

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