Newly constructed steel railroad bridge (Black Bridge), and old wooden trestle in background. The wooden bridge was built in about 1879 when the railroad came to Jackson and Lakefield, Minnesota.
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad Bridge. The Black Bridge spans the Des Moines River and was located west of Jackson, Minnesota. The bridge was built in 1900 to replace the original wood bridge.
Streetcar interior advertisement for Bjorkman Furs. Bjorkman Furs offers: "Bjorkmanizing" Feezing Cold Fur Storage. The store was located in downtown Minneapolis at Nicollet Avenue and Tenth Street.
View of Excelsior dock station looking west across the bay from the St. Albans Bay bridge. Ferries and express boats are docked, as well as the Plymouth.
Streetcar interior advertisement for Big Jo Flour. "Big Jo Flour, The Best in the World. Try it and you will use no other. Wabasha Roller Mill company, Wabasha, Minnesota."
Two story brick building, 4 gabled windows on upper level, horse drawn carriage in foreground with two women dressed in black coats in front seat, possibly a third person in the backseat. Two dark horses are attached to carriage they are standing still for photo. A single story building is to the left of the bank, it says "Lumbe" (Lumber) along top, a man is standing in the doorway.
Image of new steel bridge over Beaver River near Beaver Bay, Minnesota. Completed during the Trunk Highway 1 project, now known as Scenic Highway 61. A second, older bridge appears beneath the new bridge. Grand opening of the highway was celebrated in 1925, construction north of Two Harbors began 1922.
Streetcar interior advertisement for Bannon's Department Store. "Share Profits, Save Red Profit Sharing Stamps, Full Book Worth $2.00 Cash or $2.50 merchandise... Besides Lowest Prices Always, Bannons St.Paul's Oldest Large Home Owned Dept. Store."
A crowd of spectators awaiting the ceremonial driving of the Silver Spike on the M & I Railway on September 27, 1907. The Silver Spike celebrated the railroad's arrival in International Falls.
Photograph of a group of Blue Earth men in a car out for a drive, including John J. Frandle (First auto ride at age 78), J. H. Kramar (age 48), Capt. I. E. Chase (age 70), Chris Hamre (age 81), Wesley Pitcher, Mitch Bursaw.
Several automobiles, including Swan J. Turnblad's, second from left, at the state fairgrounds. Mr. Turnblad and his wife are in his 1899 Waverly electric car.
This steamboat seems to have stopped at a dock at the Narrows. This was the scene before the bridge was built across the Narrows. The north side of this channel is in the town of Orono, and the south side is in Tonka Bay. Printed message gives description of Lake Minnetonka, postmarked and dated 1918.
Atlas and Farmers' Directory of Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, 1914. Drawn and engraved by the Kenyon Company of Des Moines, Iowa. Published by the Farmer, A Journal of Agriculture, Webb Publishing in St. Paul, Minnesota. Containing plats of all Townships with owners' names, also maps of the state, United States and world. It also includes an Outline Map of the county showing townships villages, roads, schools, churches, railroads, streams, etc.
Car #1 of the Minneapolis, Anoka & Cuyuna Range Ry. Was built at Twin City Rapid Transit's Snelling Shops as a modified version of the standard TCRT design. This is its builder's photo.
An anchor barge is visible alongside the U.S. Dredge "William A. Thompson" . The dredge is a cutter-head dredge used on the Upper Mississippi and tributaries from 1937 to 2005. It is named for "William A. Thompson" (1864-1925), an engineer with the U.S. Army Corps stationed in Fountain City in 1896 and charged with river improvements on the Upper Mississippi.
The American Hoist & Derrick building is visible on the far right in this photograph of the Mississippi River and its surroundings, taken as part of preliminary work before improvements were made to the river and harbor in the mid 1930s. Improvements to the harbor and river included dredging and other projects in and around the city of St. Paul. Work was completed in 1936.
Four men are posed in front of a carriage in the Alvin Van Campen Livery Barn located at 17 Second Street SE next to the Chicago Great Western Railroad depot. In March 1888, Van Campen purchased the business from Milo Jack. In December 1911, he sold the livery business and building to C. L. Arnold and W. S. Burton and moved into the Van Campen building. Tom Williams drove the baggage wagon; Ed Durkee, a brother of Mrs. Louis Rommel, drove the ""taxi"". all vehicles were horse drawn. Note the old hack in the back of the barn (City Bus and Transfer). This bus met the trains for the Cook Hotel. The men in the photo are (left to right): Tom Williams, George Fitzgerald, Alfred ""Red"" Ennis and Ed Durkee.
Looking north at an in-service car parked on the main line. Employees are looking underneath it, maybe inspecting a defect. Two other cars and the work motor are in the yard at right.
This postcard shows Albin Ruikka and John Ruikka in their Maxwell ragtop convertible. The Maxwell automobile company was formed in 1904 and ceased to exist in 1925. The back of the postcard has handwriting saying, "Albin Ruikka John Ruikka in old Maxwell."
Brainerd railroad shops aerial view toward northeast including the $1,500,000 car shops under construction and roundhouse. The Roundhouse was demolished in the 1960s.
This post card caption says D-88 Showing the new $6,5000,000.00 Duluth Arena-Auditorium on Harbor Drive. The Arena Auditorium opened to great fanfare in August 1966. It was renamed the DECC or Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center August 31, 1987. It was expanded and opened with celebrations on June 18, 1990. The Harbor Side Convention Center and Parking Ramp additions were opened January 31, 2001.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Small post card of the aerial lift bridge with the span up and an outbound lake vessel in the canal. On Monday, July 1, 1929, the suspended car made its last trip across the canal. The bridge's modification to operate with a lift span began on April 8, 1929, with a low bid of $448,000 by the Kansas City Bridge Company. The Aerial Lift Bridge was first operated on March 19, 1930. During the shipping season it makes about 25 lifts a day.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of the lift span taken from the southeast corner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building (1906). The canal's piers have walkways, and there are benches for visitors to linger to watch the ships enter and exit the harbor. The Aerial Lift Bridge is the largest tourist attraction in the state of Minnesota. The enclosed portion on the lift span is the operator's house or the power house of the bridge. On one side of the operator is Lake Superior and the other side is Superior Bay and the Duluth Harbor Basin. Leonard P. Green was the bridge operator for 36 years (died September 16, 1944). He was supervisor when the Aerial bridge was altered to become the lift bridge. In 1932, Mr. Green's seven operators worked in eight-hour shifts, two operators to a shift.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The caption for this post card says The famous Aerial Lift Bridge, at the entrance to the Duluth -Superior harbor, is the largest of its kind in the world. The 900-ton span, lifted by electrical energy stored in batteries, rises 120 feet in 50 seconds each time a boat approaches the harbor.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
139-D The caption of this post card says The unique Aerial Lift Bridge and Ship Canal Entrance to Duluth-Superior Harbor is an outstanding attraction of this popular summer vacation city. Total bridge load lifted is 900 tons. Only 55 seconds are required to lift the span 135 feet. The Harbor is second only to that of New York City in shipping tonnage and through it passes about 60 per cent of America's iron ore production, from the great iron ore ranges just north of Duluth. Another fact, not included in the caption is that John H. Darling (1847-1942), U.S. Engineer for Duluth-Superior Harbor, oversaw replacement of the original wooden canal piers with concrete piers in 1897. The piers have been maintained and repaired with a major remodeling/rehabilitation in 1985-1986.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
John H. Darling (1847-1942), U.S. Engineer for Duluth-Superior Harbor, oversaw replacement of the original wooden canal piers with concrete piers in 1897. The piers have been maintained and repaired with a major remodeling/rehabilitation in 1985-1986.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Whaleback is an unusual ship design with steel hulls (body of the vessel) and rounded decks (boat, hurricane, main -which is the lowest full-length deck in a ship's hull, and spar are all decks at different levels) which was introduced by the inventor Captain Alexander McDougall of Duluth in 1888. It was a very stable vessel. American Steel Barge Company, a New York corporation engaged in shipbuilding and transportation on the Great Lakes as well as on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, purchased all of the patents for McDougalls whaleback vessels for $25,000. The only remaining whaleback is the Meteor, which is now a museum at Barker's Island in Superior, Wisconsin.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Ore boat leaving Duluth. Detroit Publishing Co. was a prolific post card publisher, especially in the U.S. Their cards were published from 1898 to 1933. Using a color process called Phostint, their cards were considered to be very artistic. The hobby of collecting post cards is called deltiology. The first post card was issued by the Austrian government, America's first postcards came out in 1873. Picture postcards were introduced later. The golden age of postcards was supposed to date from 1907 through the first World War.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
In 1893, James J. Hill's Northern Steamship Company built 385-foot ocean style passenger steamers. In 1911, the peak year, 80,000 passengers traveled to Lake Superior. After 1920, the number of passenger cruise ships diminished with the advent of "motor-cars." Very few cruise ships were still in service after World War II. The Canadian steel steamer Huronic was constructed in Collingwood, Ontario, in 1902. She ran on the Northern Navigation Division of the Canadian Steamship Company, on cruise trips from Detroit to Duluth. In 1940, the Huronic was dismantled and made into a package freighter.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The caption says The Aerial Bridge Span 393 feet 9 inches, 135 feet high from water line, cost $100,000 Duluth, Minn. A few more details that are not on this card are that the Aerial Bridge was completed in February, 1905. The Aerial Bridge transporter or gondola or transfer car roadway was 17 feet by 50 feet with sidewalks seven feet by 50 feet and the cabins were 30 feet long. This original bridge was modified with the lift span in 1929 and first operated March 19, 1930.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections