This photograph by Duluth photographer William Whitesides is taken from Point of Rocks looking east and shows much of downtown Duluth and the hillside.
This 1912 atlas provides eleven detailed plat maps showing Duluth streets, divisions, tracts, and additions. A key map in the beginning shows the location of each of the plat maps.
United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, 42nd Congress, 2nd session
Date Created:
1872
Description:
This 62-page document, from the 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, reproduces letters regarding the digging of the canal that connected the Duluth harbor with Lake Superior in 1871. The first letter, from William W. Belknap, Secretary of War, describes the process that was followed to dig the canal. Following letters, often exchanged between engineers or politicians and J.J. Egan, city attorney for Duluth, contain a discussion of the legality of the canal being dug as well as a discussion of the building of a dike to keep the waters of the St. Louis River from flowing through the canal and filling the Superior, Wisconsin, entry with silt. (United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, 42nd Congress, 2nd session, no. 60 Senate Executive Document.)
Sidney Luce, Duluth's second mayor, was born in Kingsville, Ohio, on September 19, 1819. He moved to the Duluth area in the mid-1850s and served as registrar for the U.S. Land Office. He built Duluth's first commercial structure, a warehouse at the foot of Third Avenue East at the lake shore, and helped found the city's first brewery. He was elected mayor in 1872, but resigned while still in office to return to Ohio. His portrait was painted by J.W. Trussler in 1896.
Peter Dean was born in New York City in 1828 and worked in a number of professions in several towns around Michigan before moving to Duluth. He was elected to office twice, once as Mayor of the City of Duluth (1875) and again as President of the Village of Duluth (1880). Though neither of his terms lasted more than a year, he was well-remembered as an eccentric and good-hearted man who cared deeply for the community and its financial troubles. When he died on January 4, 1884, he willed most of his property to Duluth itself, however it was organized at the time.
The first mayor of Duluth, Joshua B. Culver, was born on Sept. 12, 1829 in Armenia, New York. Culver first came to Duluth in the 1850s when he surveyed and plotted the town site. He fought for the Union in the American Civil War, where he rose to the rank of full colonel. He returned to Duluth and became a civic leader, elected as Duluth's first mayor after the community initially became a city in 1870. Culver was elected to a second term as mayor in 1882, but on July 17, 1883, he died while visiting Buffalo, New York. In addition to his role as mayor, Colonel Culver served Duluth as its first clerk of court, postmaster, and superintendent of schools, and founded the first steel plant. His portrait was painted by J.W. Trussler in 1889.
Josiah Davis (J.D.) Ensign was born in New York on May 14, 1833, and he earned a law degree and began practicing law in Ashtabula County, Ohio. He married Kate Jones, but after ten years of marriage she died in 1868. By 1870, Ensign had moved to Duluth, and in 1872 he married Rose Watrous. He served as Duluth's city and county attorney and wrote the seminal work on the history of the Duluth Harbor development in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1880, Ensign was selected to serve out Peter Dean's incomplete term as president of the village, and he was elected in his own right to the office in 1881. He succeeded in expanding the borders of the village of Duluth and was elected to a second (non-consecutive) term in 1884. After his terms he served as a District Court judge for thirty-two years, including work as the first "juvenile judge."
John B. Sutphin was the last mayor of the village of Duluth and the first mayor of the rebord city of Duluth. He was born in 1848 in New Jersey, and he arrived in Duluth at the age of 20. He was elected as village mayor in 1886 and reelected to the same office in the newly restored city of Duluth one year later. He presided over the construction of a new City Hall to celebrate the regained charter. During his time in office Sutphin began Duluth's sewer system and fire department in addition to improving city and harbor infrastructure. He was also involved in quelling citizen unrest with regards to labor issues. Sutphin died in 1908 of kidney failure; he was survived by his only son Robert and his wife Anna Louise Anderson.
Horace B. Moore, born in 1843, was employed with a lumber company before his stint in public office. In 1885 he was elected almost unanimously as the village mayor. Although his time in office was short, only one year, he enjoyed several successful accomplishments, including a new mail delivery system and the erection of named street signs. H.B. Moore died on December 2, 1906 with no known wife or children.
Born on June 2, 1851 in Angelica, New York and well-educated in law, Charles E. d'Autremont, Jr. moved to Duluth on a whim in 1882 with his family. He soon began to make a name for himself, becoming county attorney in 1884 and running for state Attorney General in 1888. In 1892 d'Autremont was elected mayor and served two efficient but unremarkable terms. After his tenure he was heavily and successfully involved in mining throughout western North America. He died in Angelica, New York on July 25, 1919.
This photograph by F.A. Taylor shows the Duluth hillside from below Superior Street and between 3rd and 4th Avenues East; probably from the late 1880s, it shows First Presbyterian Church (built in 1870) in the upper left corner, at 231 East 2nd Street.
St. Louis County Country Club (Gilbert, Minnesota)
Date Created:
1950 - 1970
Description:
The map of northern Minnesota's Arrowhead region shows highways with inset photographs of attractions including mines, mills and picturesque streams. The reverse side includes lists of points of interest and resort accommodations and photographs
This 1890 atlas embraces the corporations of West Duluth and Lakeside and the platted lands adjoining; also acreage maps of the territory in the State of Minnesota, within a radius of about twelve miles, showing the property of the different land and improvement companies. The atlas shows houses, businesses, government buildings, schools, and churches. It includes an index of correct titles of all Duluth additions, divisions, and sub-divisions.
References on map read: Duluth is laid out on the head of Minnesota Point under the Town Site Law of 1844 for George E. Nettleton, F.B. Culver, O.W. Rice, William Nettleton and R.E. Jefferson owner and occupants of Town Site. Avenues and Streets are 60 ft. wide, Blocks are 400 ft. long by 200 ft. deep, Lots are 40 ft. front and 100 ft. deep. Upper Duluth to the left and Lower Duluth to the right of Pine Street. Pier at Portage St. is 25 ft. wide the "T" is 140 ft. front. The stone monuments on Pine Street govern the survey. Richard Relf, Surveyor. Horizontal Scale 500 ft. 1 inch, Perpendicular 250 ft. 1 inch.
Eugene Lambert was the first mayor under a new system eschewing the "commissioner" model. He was born in Duluth on November 5, 1915. He served in the military until 1946 and worked in labor relations until his election in 1956. As mayor, Lambert emphasized long-range planning and improved communication with state and federal agencies. After his term, Lambert worked in many fields, including publishing the Duluth Herald and News Tribune until his death in 1994.
Emil Clifford Mork, who usually only used his first initial, was born in Duluth on August 22, 1905. He and his wife operated Mork Food Supply, a business started by Mork's father. Mork was also involved in the Minnesota Food Retailers Association and several other food associations before his election on April 7, 1959. He planned to run for reelection, but he unfortunately (and mysteriously) died in office on August 14, 1962.
This color map of the layout of Duluth, Minnesota, in 1886, was carefully compiled from the official records and actual surveys, and drawn at a scale of 800 feet to one inch. It includes streets, block numbers, docks, railroads, public parks, and neighborhood divisions. Information about lot sizes and street widths is included.
Norwegian Students America Chorus; Normanna Male Chorus; Norsemen's League
Date Created:
1939
Description:
This program from a concert in Duluth on May 17, 1939, by the Norwegian Students' America Chorus from the Royal Frederick University of Oslo, Norway, includes photographs of the Norwegian chorus and of the Normanna Male Chorus of Duluth, a list of the songs performed in the concert, a greeting from Duluth Mayor Carl Rudolf "Rudy" Berghult, a short history of Duluth, and many ads from local businesses.
Norwegian Students America Chorus; Normanna Male Chorus
Date Created:
1925
Description:
This program is from a concert in Duluth on June 1, 1925, at the Armory, by the Norwegian Students' America Chorus from the Royal Frederick University of Oslo, Norway. The program includes greetings from Duluth's Mayor Samuel F. Snively, photographs of the chorus and of the Normanna Male Chorus of Duluth, a brief history of Duluth, information on the Duluth-Superior Harbor, photographs of some Duluth landmarks and of the Duluth homes of some Norwegian-Americans, and many interesting ads from local businesses.
This book provides a history of West Duluth before 1916 and a detailed look at business and industry active in West Duluth at that time. It includes many photographs and brief biographies of early settlers and photographs of homes, buildings, and industrial facilities, including the Zenith Furnace Co., the Island Creek Coal Dock Co., the Union Match Co., the Diamond Caulk Horse Shoe Co., the People's Brewing Co., and the Berwind Fuel Co.
This booklet describes the steel and wire-making process at the Minnesota Steel Plant in Morgan Park in the 1920s. Topics include raw material for wire making, the galvanizing department, the barb wire and woven fence department, the wire nail department, and the steel plant. The booklet includes photographs of Morgan Park homes, the Lake View Store in Morgan Park, and one of the community's infant playgrounds. A small map of Morgan Park shows locations of steel plant offices, the school, churches, the hospital, and community garages.
This 64-page booklet, published by the Minnesota State Board of Immigration, extolls the value of Northeastern Minnesota as a land ideal for agriculture and livestock. The booklet describes a fertile new country with unique conditions unparalleled elsewhere." It also describes "established railways and rich markets within its own borders; contiguous to the most populous cities between Chicago and the North Pacific Coast. The booklet describes the various crops that can be raised successfully and the projected profit per acre. Includes numerous photographs of farms and livestock.
This typescript was copied in November 1926 from Alfred Merritt's original 1915 manuscript. The author described his family's experience on the north shore of Lake Superior from the time of their arrival via steamboat in 1856 until the year 1894, including accounts of pioneers, settlers and land claims, and the discovery of iron ore on the Mesaba Range. Merritt also addressed the creation and demise of the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railroad.