Mystery Photo: Residence of Luther Mendenhall
Did those asbestos shingles last a century? Is the Luther Mendenhall residence still standing? Where is it, or where was it?
The trusty old internet provides a reasonable amount of info on Mr. Mendenhall’s life:
- Born Martin Luther Mendenhall on Aug. 7, 1836, near Philadelphia in the town of Concord (now called Mendenhall), in Chester County, Penn.
- Studied law at the University of Michigan.
- Served the Union Army during such famous Civil War battles as the Second Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam and Gettysburg.
- Married Feb. 7, 1867, in Philadelphia to Ellen “Ella” Randall Watson.
- Arrived in Duluth in 1869 as secretary of the Western Land Company, with the assignment to complete Jay Cooke’s Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, and oversee other investments.
- Acted as treasurer of Duluth in 1877, following the loss of the city charter.
- President of the Duluth National Bank.
- Director of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce in 1886.
- Partner in the ownership the Duluth Street Railway Company, Duluth Dry Goods and Duluth Shoe Company.
- Passenger on the first trip of the Incline Railway up Seventh Avenue West to Duluth Heights on Oct. 2, 1891.
- Divorced in 1895.
- Married Katherine Belle Hardy on Oct. 6, 1898, in her home town of Chicago.
- First president of the Duluth Library Association and second president of Duluth’s Parks Board.
- Died Sept. 26, 1929, in Duluth.
The shingles on the residence, by the way, came from Keasbey & Mattison Co. of Ambler, Penn., which featured Biwabik High School on the cover of one of its promotional brochures.
