History
Photos from Clifford E. Johnson of Cliff’s Barber Shop
Cliff’s Barber Shop in West Duluth is for sale. The proprietor, Clifford E. Johnson, died two years ago. I took the photo above in April, when Cliff’s shop was being cleared out after an estate sale.
The sale included boxes upon boxes of old slides. Most of them were of vacations to Hawaii and so on, but I found two boxes that had some local images, so I plopped down $10 and brought them home for a slide show. The folks at Swim Creative have scanned a few of the more interesting slides so I can share them on Perfect Duluth Day. (more…)
Jewish Immigration History in the Twin Ports
Thursday, July 7, noon
Duluth Art Institute, Depot Building
The Duluth Art Institute welcomes Dr Robert Goldish as he explores some highlights from Jewish immigration history in the twin ports. Learn about some of our community’s founders and leaders and their personal stories and lives. The event and accompanying air conditioning are free; guests are welcome to bring their own lunch.
M’haha Window on “History Detectives”
Duluth’s “Minnehaha” Tiffany window (sometimes referred to as the “Hiawatha” window) designed by Duluth’s Ann Weston-and a watercolor associated with it-will be featured on next week’s “History Detectives” on PBS North. Look for Wade Lawrence, former director of Glensheen, for his expert analysis of the window.
Here are the air times/dates/PBS description:
Tuesday, June 28 – 7pm on PBS North
Tuesday, June 28 – midnight on PBS North
Saturday, July 2 – 6pm on PBS 2ndChance
Sunday, July 3 – 5pm on PBS North
(more…)
When in Duluth? Downtown Waterfront Interim Report
I was trying to find an old photograph last week and I did not find what I was looking for but I did find something that only a history nerd, Duluth loving, public space adoring, Lake Superior worshiping kid like me would appreciate. So naturally I am posting images here as best I can.
Several images after the jump, so you might not want to try this over dial up or on your smartphone, and if anyone knows how to ge the full image in a downloadable PDF or another handier document type, knock yourself out. I’d love that.
Skyline: The Pride of Every Duluthian
The recent post “Lost Dog at Lakeside Super One,” which reunited Jessica with her sweet and crazy dog Marley, ended up spinning off into a discussion about the Lakeside neighborhood and it’s history/boundaries/etc.
While pondering that, PDD’s Fairy Research Spy unearthed this June 30, 1907 Duluth News Tribune article about the ongoing development of Skyline Parkway. (Of course, it wasn’t called “Skyline” until 1929.) (more…)
Psychedelic Signatures: Rock & Roll Posters at the Tweed Museum of Art
June 21 – Jan. 15
Opening Reception on Tuesday, July 5, 4-6 p.m.
The Tweed Museum of Art is thrilled to present Psychedelic Signatures, an exhibition of classic rock music posters from the collection of Andrew and Victoria Olson. These amazing images were part of an explosion of creative energy, centered in San Francisco, where new music, light shows, and psychedelic art all came together for a few short years between 1966 and 1972.
(more…)
Duluth’s Providence Building, Wangenstein & Baillie projects
The Providence Building opened in 1895 on the corner of Superior Street and Fourth Avenue West in Downtown Duluth. Originally it was a more ornate five-story building. A Northern Pacific Railroad office was located on the first floor.
(more…)
Where the hell’s Cooper?
This article was originally published in the June 2006 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine.
A corner of the Squirrel Cage Bar in Willow River still pays tribute to the town’s most infamous citizen. At the top of a collection of framed newspaper clippings is a computer printout asking a question that once appeared on hundreds of bumper stickers in the area: “Where the hell’s Cooper?”
U. S. Marshals are still trying to answer that question. (more…)
Final Trip Through Original Laura MacArthur Elementary School
An open house was held at MacArthur Elementary School yesterday as the last day of classes was wrapping up. I brought my camera on a final tour before the place is demolished and turned into a field. A new MacArthur is being built across the street from the original. (more…)
Drink up
100 years ago, from the front page of the Duluth News Tribune, June 10, 1911.
Where in Duluth 1890?
File:Duluth MN Panorama circa 1890s.jpg
TITLE: Duluth, Minn. CALL NUMBER: PAN US GEOG – Minnesota no. 8 RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.
MEDIUM: 1 photographic print : albumen ; 4.5 x 41 in. CREATED/PUBLISHED: [between 1886 and 1905]
RELATED NAMES: Newton, George A., photographer.
This may have been posted before but I don’t remember seeing it. I found it on one of my new favorite sites, Wikimedia Commons. Click the image to go directly to the page, you should be able to enhance it there as well.
I believe this picture was taken close to my current domicile but I can’t exactly say. Could anyone else tell where it appears to radiate from? I’d also love to see one of you photoshop wizards try overlaying modern images so I can compare side by side, but that’s asking a lot on a rare warm summer day, I know.
Tom’s Burned Down Café Fire
Fire at Tom’s Burned Down Cafe, May 19, 1992.
Duluth Master Bread & Arco Billboards
Back in December, the subject of the old Master Bread billboard came up in the thread about the Peerless Auto Body fire.
I’m guessing that’s the reason this showed up in my e-mail:
Does anyone know where the Master Bread billboard with the moving slices of bread coming out of the package ended up? Or, the Arco Coffee billboard with the steaming coffee being poured into the pot?
The e-mail is from former Duluthian Wayne L. Anderson.
Is anyone out there holding on to these collector’s items, or can someone confirm they were destroyed?
Video: Early Days of Duluth’s Friendly West End
Learn more about the West End / Lincoln Park neighborhood in this 38-minute video.
Duluth’s Homegrown Chicken Craze!
The first paragraph of the story above, from the April 27, 1902, Duluth News Tribune, might as well be about the Homegrown Music Festival, which represents itself with the chicken logo at left.
It is said that when the chicken raising microbe once enters the human system there is no known remedy — the victim must succumb to the inevitable. With some it is a fad and with others it is both business and pleasure but those belonging to the latter class are by far the more numerous.
Food from Scratch for the Zenith of the Unsalted Sea: Creating a Local Food System in Early 20th Century Duluth
How do you create a locally harvested food system for a city of 100,000? This question is being asked presently in Duluth and the broader western Lake Superior region as well as in many other cities across the United States. It was also an urgent local question a century ago. (more…)
Duluth Smelting
Rick LeBlanc of Hermantown surpassed tradition by biting the head off not just his first smelt, but about two dozen others, too, at the Lester River on May 5, 1983. (Duluth News-Tribune file photo)
At this time of year, 20 or 30+ years ago, the hot topic in Duluth and Superior would have been the status of the smelt run.
Duluth’s mostly-vanished smelting tradition has been discussed on Perfect Duluth Day at least once before. It’s been a frequently requested item for the News Tribune Attic to cover.
So, by popular demand, the latest post in the News Tribune Attic includes a bunch of photos and a couple contemporary accounts of smelting in Duluth in the early 1980s. Enjoy!
Duluth Central High School class of 1924: Mixers, fussers, boosters and bluffers
These snippets are from the 1924 edition of The Zenith, Central’s yearbook. If you wish to read the text and find it too small, click on any image to see it bigger.
That’s some old ce-ment
I Google-mapped Duluth East High School today for various reasons and found that the corner of E. Eighth St. and N. 26th Ave. E. is “Minnesota’s oldest concrete pavement.”
Is that the cobblestone-y stuff back there, and is it seriously the oldest?
UMD Bulldogs 2011 NCAA National Hockey Champions
Bulldogs win 3-2 in overtime. (more…)
Chief Buffalo, Point of Rocks and “The Mayor of Duluth”
I was reading this month’s new FDL Band Newspaper (PDF) and about halfway through I found a breezy little history piece on Chief Buffalo: Hero of the Lake Superior Ojibwe by historian Christine Carlson. The article was already interesting, then I notice mention of Duluth’s Point of Rocks which has been discussed extensively here on PDD. It sounds like the area surrounding Point of Rocks was selected by Chief Buffalo as part of one of the articles of the Treaty of 1854. The area would have also included Wisconsin Point and much of what is now considered Downtown Duluth and West End/Lincoln Park. (more…)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
“Take Me Out To The Ball Game” was written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer in 1908. These images were shot the same year to help sell the song to the public.
The singer in the video is Edward Meeker, one of Thomas Edison’s technicians. This is how they sold music (sheet music, specifically) back in the day — kind of an early form of music video. These were called illustrated songs. An “illustrator” would stand on stage and sing the song while glass slide images portraying the song’s storyline were projected on a screen. Anywhere from 12 to 16 slides were produced for a song. The last slide was usually the chorus text so audience members could sing along. In this version, I’ve enhanced the chorus with slides from other baseball songs. Illustrated songs were often part of vaudeville and early movie theater programs. Notice the giant wad of Cracker Jacks Katie Casey is enjoying. That’s how it was sold back then.
Kozy Fire: part deux…
REBUILDING IS FUTILE!!!
Lake Superior Nuclear Power Plant
Did you know that Lake Superior was considered for a nuclear power plant site, near Knife River, in the 1960s? It’s scary to think what might have been … but it happened. Check out Jim Heffernan’s blog to learn more.