Retired Duluth Fire Chief John Strongitharm put together this half-hour photo slideshow depicting the history of Duluth’s Morgan Park neighborhood. It’s been 50 years since United States Steel announced it would begin phasing out its Duluth Mill operations, but much of the Model Community it created in the early 20th century remains.
This undated postcard was published by H. C. Wick Company of Duluth, and features an Ektachrome photograph by Rod Peterson.
The caption on the back of the card reads:
American Steel & Wire plant at Morgan Park, Duluth, Minn. View from Skyline Boulevard.
The postcard above was published by Arrowhead Trading Post of Duluth. It depicts part of the U.S. Steel Duluth Works campus, with Universal Atlas Cement Company in the foreground.
U.S. Steel’s Duluth Works plant in Morgan Park had more than 50 buildings when production began in 1915. This undated postcard highlights the machine shop and power house.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Steel Corp. announced an agreement yesterday to undertake a $75 million cleanup and restoration project at the former Duluth Works site on the St. Louis River at Spirit Lake in Duluth. This is part of a larger effort to restore the St. Louis River Area of Concern through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Sammy Maida produced this documentary about U.S. Steel’s Duluth Works operation. Maida built a 20-by-6-foot model diorama of the mill that was on display at Saint George Serbian Orthodox Church in June.
The struggling Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad in West Duluth has persevered against all odds as a scenic, historic railroad since 1980 despite receiving virtually no public subsidies. Running on the very first tracks to enter Duluth, dating back to 1870, 145 unbroken years of history are on the line right now. A dedicated all-volunteer group, none of whom has ever received a paycheck, is keeping this history alive. The railroad costs the city virtually nothing, has proven to be largely self-sufficient, and is an irreplaceable treasure that needs community input in order to survive the massive cleanup now being planned for the U.S. Steel site near Morgan Park. The two newspaper columns linked below will shade things in a bit for you. Take a trip on the LS&M during one of the next six weekends or you just might miss your chance, forever.
Duluth Budgeteer: Save the train for future generations
Duluth News Tribune: Massive cleanup plan emerging for U.S. Steel site in Duluth
Fifty years ago — Aug. 31, 1965 — the DNT reports the announcement of an eight-day postponement in the steel strike deadline means United States Steel Duluth Works will resume normal operations.
This WDSE-TV documentary showcases the era when drive-ins were all the rage, when the Arrowhead region met a major mining challenge and the region played a strategic role in the Cold War. Local milestones included the passing of the last Civil War veteran Albert Woolson and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
It’s amusing to me that the soundtrack to this slideshow is by Dokken. You might think that’s a poor choice, but I remember 20 years ago the only Duluth kids into Dokken were from Morgan Park, so it makes sense.
Also, tragically, the one sentence of text in the video contains multiple errors, but oh well.
