Lake Superior International Highway opened in 1925

Call this historical tidbit “Highway 61 Revisited.” On July 10, 1925 — one hundred years ago today — a celebration was held in Two Harbors to mark the completion of what was then called the Lake Superior International Highway, a section of Minnesota Trunk Highway 1.

For many years the North Shore communities along Lake Superior were gradually connected by various roadbuilding projects, but finally a full highway route from Duluth to Canada existed in 1925.

“The Lake Superior International highway is that portion of State Trunk Highway No. 1 between Duluth and the Pigeon river, the Canadian boundary line, and is one of the most picturesque in the United States,” an article in the July 2, 1925 Duluth Herald declared. “Built its entire distance of 168 miles along the rugged shores of Lake Superior with rocks towering skyward on the one side and the blue waters of the great unsalted sea, sometimes hundreds of feet below, on the other and with hundreds of dashing waterfalls, many of which can be viewed from the driver’s seat, on the roadside, this drive is destined to become one of the most traveled in America.”

By 1926 the road was already designated as part of U.S. Highway 61, and the name Lake Superior International Highway began to fade into the history books.

Below is the complete text from an article in the July 11, 1925 Duluth Herald describing the previous day’s events.