History
Postcard from the St. Louis Hotel, Duluth
This postcard was mailed July 18, 1911 — 110 years ago today. The recipient was Mrs. Anna Carlson of St. Louis, Mo. The written message seems to be in a foreign language; the sender’s name looks like Mrs. Emma Ellstrand. (more…)
Photos from Old Central’s 1890s Classroom and Clock Tower
This oil painting of Old Central was donated to the school in 1970 by the class of 1949. It was painted by Central alum Jo Kossett.
The original Central High School, which later became Duluth Public Schools’ Central Administration Building, aka Historic Old Central, will soon enter its next phase. Saturday Properties, a development and management firm based in St. Louis Park, plans to turn the Richardsonian Romanesque-style building into 121 mixed-income apartments. The project is called Zenith DCHS.
Collected in this post are images from inside the 1890s Classroom Museum at Old Central and the interior of the building’s clock tower, shot during a tour on July 2. (more…)
The Proctor Community Fair of 1921
One hundred years ago today the Duluth Herald editorialized about the upcoming “St. Louis County Community Fair,” to be held Aug. 30 to Sept. 1, 1921. It was the inaugural edition of what is now known as the South St. Louis County Fair, which has continued on for a century.
The 100th annual fair was supposed to have occurred in 2020, but was canceled due to COVID-19, making the 2021 fair the 100th edition. (more…)
Accuracy!
This newspaper ad from 1981 promotes weathercaster Pat Kelly of KDLH-TV in Duluth. A Twin Cities native, Kelly arrived in Duluth in 1979 and worked for the AM radio station WEBC before adding television to his résumé. He eventually became a television news anchor at both KDLH and KBJR. He retired in 2008.
PDD Quiz: Named Buildings
This week’s quiz tests your ability to match named buildings in Duluth with their current occupants. The Zenith City website has more information on these (and many other) historic buildings; all images were accessed via Google Maps.
The next PDD quiz will review the news that made headlines in July 2021; it will be published on July 25. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by July 21. (more…)
Duluth, Minnesota and the Lost Confederate Gold
In 1861, Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey was in Washington D.C. when the Confederates started the Civil War. He was in the Oval Office when Lincoln received the fateful telegram detailing the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina — the most serious in a string of Southern aggressions, including the seizing of Federal armories across Dixie. Heeding Lincoln’s call for troops, Ramsey walked right up to the President and said, “Mr. President, let Minnesota be the first state to commit 1,000 volunteers to answer this latest outrage from the disloyal states.”
Ramsey’s commitment created the famous fighting force known as the Minnesota First Infantry Regiment. They were the Civil War’s earliest northern enlistees, and they saved the Union at Gettysburg as every Minnesota schoolchild knows. On the third day of that pivotal battle, after Pickett’s Charge, Pvt. Marshall Sherman of St. Paul emerged with the scarred battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry. Virginia whines about it to this day but we’re not giving it back neener neener neener. (more…)
Pretty Drive Around Lake Superior Near Duluth in 1921
This postcard image is dated 100 years ago today — July 9, 1921. It appears to be two families parked on the side of old Highway 61. (more…)
Postcard from the Central Part of Superior Street
This undated postcard, published by the H. C. Wick Company, shows an aerial view of Downtown Duluth from about Second Avenue West looking northeastward down Superior Street. Perhaps the photo was shot from atop the Alworth Building. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Fourth of July Gals
All that is known about this photo is the information written on the back. “4th July Celebration in Duluth” gives us a date, along with the vague understanding that it’s from sometime in the early half of the 20th century. And we get the first names of the girls: Bonita (?), Rosemary, Helen, Jerry and Kathryn.
Can anyone figure out more? (more…)
Video Archive: Duluth Bridge Tournament of 1978
Duluth’s bridge tournament in 1978 drew players from North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. Mary Ellen Miller had the story for KBJR-TV.
June of ’71: UMD’s medical school gets initial accreditation
The University of Minnesota Duluth’s medical school took its first step toward academic accreditation 50 years ago. The June 30, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that Dr. Robert E. Carter, medical school dean, announced a letter of “reasonable assurance of academic accreditation” had been received from the Joint Liaison Committee on Accreditation of the American Medical Association Council on Education and the American Association of Medical Colleges. (more…)
June of ’71: Sheriff wants upgrades to county jail
The St. Louis County Board was asked by Sheriff Greg Sertich to extensively remodel the county jail 50 years ago. The June 29, 1971 Duluth Herald reported the proposed project included jail office and roof work; providing remote control televisions, air conditioning and security lighting; installing a metal detector in the lobby and other items such as plumbing and electrical upgrades. (more…)
June of ’71: Leo Spooner wins Reidar Lund golf tourney
Fifty years ago Duluth’s Leo Spooner won his third Reidar Lund Skyline Memorial Golf Tournament at Enger Park. The victory came on June 27, 1971, and was reported in the June 28 issue of the Duluth Herald. (more…)
CBS Sunday Morning: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mäntylä House
A piece of Cloquet history popped up on CBS Sunday Morning today, but it’s in Cloquet no more. Mäntylä House, designed by visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, has been rebuilt at Polymath Park in southwest Pennsylvania. In the video, CBS Correspondent Lee Cowan talks with the park’s proprietors, and with the Minnesota couple whose home was moved, piece by piece.
Video Archive: Desegregating Duluth Schools in 1971
In June of 1971, 50 years ago this month, WDIO reporter Stu Stronach did a series of special reports on the then-ongoing process of desegregating the Duluth public school system. This video is a compilation of those reports. (more…)
June of ’71: Ports-Range Expressway nearly done
The final four-way segment on Highway 53 between Duluth and Virginia was nearing the end of construction 50 years ago. The June 25, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that “full expressway travel” between the two cities was “10 years in the making. The 12-mile segment between Pike Lake and Independence was expected to open in September. Reconstruction and resurfacing of the 73-mile highway began in 1961. (more…)
June of ’71: Election Day liquor sales coming to Duluth
Off-sale liquor stores in Duluth were closed on Memorial Day and on election days 50 years ago, but things were about to change. The June 23, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that the city’s alcoholic beverage board voted in favor of letting the stores open, leaving it up to the city council to follow the recommendation. The action was authorized by a March 15 action of the state legislature. (more…)
June of ’71: Last Duluth “Gooney Bird” retired
The last C-47 “Gooney Bird” military transport aircraft based in Duluth was retired 50 years ago. The June 23, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that the C-47 left the Duluth Air Force Base to join other obsolete aircraft in the Air Force Logistics Command’s Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center in Arizona. The “Gooney Bird” was a 1944 model that was used in World War II. (more…)
June of ’71: Gravel pit site to become Chester Grove Apartments
An old city gravel pit on College Street near the University of Minnesota Duluth was sold to a Duluth construction firm 50 years ago. The June 22, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that Johnson Builders had plans to build “a student-faculty apartment complex worth nearly $700,000.” (more…)
Glensheen drone fly-through
Jay Christensen, the talented drone pilot and former Duluthian who captured the amazing Bryant-Lake Bowl fly through a couple of months ago, sent his camera spinning through the halls, rooms and grounds at Glensheen Mansion.
June of ’71: Concert Under the Sun
A rock concert staged on a farm field about 20 miles south of Duluth was in the news 50 years ago. The June 21, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that “about 300 young people” attended what was called the Concert Under the Sun, “along with 30 sheriff’s deputies, reserve offices, rescue squad personnel and state game wardens.” (more…)
Duluth is the Summer City of the Continent
Happy solstice! This magazine advertisement from 1918 promotes the summer weather and charm of Duluth, including the “hundreds of miles of perfect roads.” (more…)
Video Archive: Grandma’s Marathon of 1979
WDIO-TV assembled these 16mm film clips of raw footage from the third annual Grandma’s Marathon, held on June 23, 1979. British runner Ricky Wilde won the race that year with a time of 2:14:44; he can be seen in some slow-motion footage taken from a vehicle riding alongside him on the racecourse.
June of ’71: Kenwood 1 & 2 movie theaters open
Kenwood 1 & 2, a twin movie complex in Duluth, opened 50 years ago. The June 17, 1971 Duluth Herald reported work was being rushed for the formal opening on June 18. The two theaters, situated in the Kenwood Shopping Center, had seating capacities of 520 and 280. The opening films were the science-fiction thriller The Andromeda Strain and a reissue of Lawrence of Arabia. (more…)
Summer of ’71: Model City, Model Residents
The Duluth Model City Administration issued a directive 50 years ago to local contractors requiring them to hire more neighborhood residents. The June 16, 1971 Duluth Herald reports that “contractors who bid for work funded at least in part by Model City monies must agree that Model Neighborhood residents be given a certain number of jobs in all construction, rehabilitation, alteration and repair contracts.” (more…)