Postcard from the Duluth Children’s Museum and Art Center

This undated postcard shows the Duluth Children’s Museum at 1832 E. Second St., its home from 1936 to 1975. The house was built in 1902 for Archibald Mark Chisholm, the namesake of the city of Chisholm. He discovered the mine there at the turn of the 20th century and laid out the townsite.

The house was donated to the Duluth Board of Education by Archibald’s widow, Lillian Chisholm, in 1936, and was converted to the A. M. Chisholm Memorial Children’s Museum. Two wings were added to the house in 1960 with funds from the 1956 Duluth Centennial.

The Duluth Children’s Museum was founded in 1930 by Mabel Mackinney Wing, and was originally housed in a classroom at Salter School, 1608 London Road. After its nearly 40-year run at the Chisholm house, the museum moved to the St. Louis County Depot in 1975, then Clyde Park in 2012, and finally to its present location at 2125 W. Superior St. in 2021.

From 1975 to 2013 the Chisholm house was owned by St. James Home of Duluth, operating as Woodland Hills, a home for at-risk boys. The house is now a private residence.