Mystery Photo #39: Old 708
A train rolls through western Duluth. Year unknown. Photographer unknown. The number on the train is 708. Anyone have insight?
A train rolls through western Duluth. Year unknown. Photographer unknown. The number on the train is 708. Anyone have insight?
John 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.
The question might not be why Duluth doesn’t have Uber service, but when it will.
“By the end of the year,” said Duluth City Councilor Noah Hobbs. “From my personal end I don’t see anything holding us back from having Uber operating in Duluth.”
Hobbs held the first formal meeting on Tuesday in regard to the ride-hailing web application operating in the city. He met with City Attorney Nate LaCoursiere as a starting point for crafting an ordinance to regulate Uber and other transportation network companies.
Unlike taxicabs, Uber utilizes an online platform to connect drivers in their personal vehicles with riders paying for fares through the touch of a button, no cash. This type of techy transportation is taking place in 476 cities worldwide and counting. Uber started out seven years ago in cities like San Francisco and Chicago, and has recently expanded into smaller communities like Moorhead and Iowa City.
The date on this bad boy is 1909. The cover image seems to suggest there was a floating railway perpendicular to the shipping canal where people could watch flaming ships torch the city.
To the driver of the #6/7 running past 20th Avenue East Jefferson Street at 8:45 this morning, who saw me looking dejected as he rolled past the intersection (I was running late trudging through the snow) … and pulled over and waited for me … thank you!
You can read minds.
Commentary in the Duluth News Tribune:
Local View: Airport must think outside the box to reduce market leakage
In preparation for the fourth annual Bus Bike Walk month in May, Healthy Duluth is now collecting stories from community members who regularly bus, bike or walk as transportation.
Research shows that there are many personal and societal benefits to active transportation including physical fitness and overall well being, an improved economy and fewer vehicle emissions than driving. Many people in the Duluth community utilize these forms of transportation, and by showcasing their stories, the community will be inspired to give people-powered transportation a try.
Click here to share your story and inspire others to Bus Bike Walk.
The Duluth Transit Authority has been awarded a $6.3-million grant to purchase six electric buses and a fast-charge station. Duluth was considered an excellent test location for the development of electric vehicle technology because of its challenging cold weather and steep terrain.
The grant comes from the Federal Transit Administration‘s Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program; the buses and charging station will come from Proterra, a South Carolina company that designs and manufactures zero-emission electric transit vehicles and systems.
The DTA was one of 10 grant applicants that will receive funding. A $1.1-million local share will bring the total project cost to $7.5 million.
The buses and charging station are expected to be available in 2016 and will be integrated into the DTA’s new Multimodal Transportation Center, which is under construction at Michigan Street and Third Avenue West and scheduled to open before the end of 2015.
In other transit news …
I recently acquired a Duluth-Superior Transit Company token from a friend and thought I’d post it in case anyone can pinpoint the year of its creation or share any interesting details.
Slate ran an article today from “The Vault,” its associated history blog. Titled “A beautiful Depression-era route map makes transcontinental bus travel look glamorous,” it details the history of Pacific Greyhound Lines, the company that eventually became Greyhound. The map above is from 1935.
I was struck by the amount of routes covering Minnesota — all the way up to Thunder Bay makes sense, but no state other than Ohio seems to have the saturation that Minnesota does. What gives?
Streetcars ran in Duluth for the last time on July 9, 1939. Streetcar service had been gradually phased out by trolley buses for nearly 20 years before meeting its total demise. For more info check out Zenith City Online’s history of Duluth’s Streetcar Railways.
Building on the popularity of its on-bus bike carriers, the DTA wants to gauge local demand for both secure (key fob-access) bike-parking areas and regular bike racks as part of its design for the new multi-modal transit center in downtown Duluth.
Please take a moment to fill out this short survey if you would be interested in using this type of bike storage.
Since this old comic was available for a quarter at the Wallace Hankins Estate Sale, I thought I’d scan and post it, in case anyone finds it interesting or knows specifically what it’s about.
I would guess it’s from the 1930s, when buses began replacing streetcars, which may have resulted in cutting trees to widen roads, or maybe the tree is simply a metaphor for how the streetcar business would be hacked to death by buses.
The headline leads me to believe this was a newspaper editorial comic that the Park Point Community Club had printed on card stock and distributed around town to raise a fuss. The signature on the comic is John Harrison.
