Captain Ray T. Lewis, born in 1940 in Brunswick, Maine, was a man of the sea. He sailed around the world several times before eventually moving to Duluth in 1886, where he became a successful real estate businessman. In 1894 he was elected mayor, and he is reported to have been a very strict mayor. After his tenure as mayor, Lewis served in the state legislature twice. On a trip to his hometown he was involved in a carriage accident, and he died of his injuries on July 21, 1912.
Roland D. Haven was born the son of a carpenter on October 17, 1866 in Sudbury, Vermont. In 1883 he moved to Minnesota and worked as a carpenter in Northfield, St. Paul, and Minneapolis before reolcating to Duluth in 1889 and becoming a factory foreman. From 1894 to 1908 he worked with several companies in the manufacturing, tug, real estate, and farm implement businesses. He served two terms as alderman (and council president) beginning in 1902, and in 1908 was elected mayor. He served two fairly unremarkable terms, and shortly after leaving office he moved with his wife Belle to Silver City, New Mexico, where he died on April 21, 1930.
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.
Trevanion W. Hugo was born in Boddinoc, Cornwall, England on July 29, 1848 but spent most of his youth in Kinston, Ontario. In 1881 he and his family moved to Duluth, and he soon became an alderman and president of the city council for eight years. In 1900 he was elected mayor by just five votes, and he held the office for four years. He was appointed mayor once again to finish Clarence Magney's term in 1920 but declined to run again in 1921. Outside of City Hall, he was a prominent member of the Masons, rising to the rank of grand chancellor of the supreme council of Scottish Rite Masonry. He died on February 27, 1923 of complications from influenza and was survived by two sons.
Born in Camden, Ohio on October 11, 1867, William I. Prince was a very successful banker in Bessemer, Michigan. He was later elected mayor of Bessemer for three terms, after which he relocated to Duluth, Minnesota in 1902 to organize the City National Bank. In 1913 Prince became Duluth's first mayor under the "commissioner" model, which Prince helped to establish. His single term as mayor was unremarkable, after which he was heavily involved in the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. He died on November 11, 1941, leaving behind his wife Mary and two sons.
This 1950 oil painting is a self-portrait of Esko resident and artist Edgar F. Olson himself. Born July 25, 1896, in Esko, he did a number of artworks, mostly oil paintings, for the community and its members, before his death on August 18, 1974.
Mural painting, "White Bear Captures the Warrior Princess." One of a series of paintings by Gustav Krollmann which illustrate Alice Thorson's novel, "The Tribe of Pezhekee." Photograph by Paul Barsness.
Duluth's longest-serving mayor, Samuel Frisby Snively, was born on November 24, 1859 in Cumberland, Pennsylvania. After earning a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he and a friend opened a law firm in Duluth in 1886. They did very well until the financial ruin of 1893, after which Snively tried his luck in the Yukon gold rush of 1897. He was unsuccessful, but he returned to Duluth and found prosperity in farmland development. After building a creek parkway (Seven Bridges Road) and several others, Snively was elected mayor in 1921 at the age of 61. He held the office for sixteen years, leaving a legacy of beautiful parkland and boulevards. He continued this work after his four terms until he died a bachelor on November 7, 1952 in Duluth.