Minnesota Slip (water), on some 1920s maps called Lake Avenue Slip, is bounded by the Northern Pacific Railway Dock No. 6, and the businesses and warehouses on the harbor edge of Canal Park. The Marshall-Wells water towers are a feature standing tall next to the DeWitt Seitz Company building that stands today. The DeWitt-Seitz Co., whose plant, factory, warehouse and offices were at 390 S. Lake Avenue, was one of Duluth's prosperous businesses. The company, organized in 1905 by Henry F. Seitz and C E. DeWitt, manufactured all grades of mattresses and box springs, and included wholesale and jobbing of furniture and floor coverings. The DeWitt-Seitz best grade mattress and box spring, known as the Sanomade, carried the slogan "Remember the Name, the Rest is Easy." It was used and advertised all over the country. Its wholesale furniture and jobbing business covered Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and Michigan, North Dakota and parts of South Dakota and Montana. Including salesmen, the company employed a total of 60 persons in its nine story building that still stands as the DeWitt-Seitz Market Place in Canal Park. F. S. Kelly Furniture Co. bought the furniture stock of the DeWitt-Seitz Co in June of 1961. DeWitt-Seitz continued manufacturing mattresses and reorganized the firm, but the mattress company was sold in 1962.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
A view of Canal Park and Minnesota Point (Park Point) taken from the Tri-Towers Apartments, 222 North Second Avenue East. The Point has a recreation area at Thirteenth Street and a larger facility including bathhouse, playing fields, and lifeguards at the end of the park. To the right of the Point is Superior Bay; to the left is Lake Superior. Superior, Wisconsin is visible in the background above the Bay.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This view shows light the industrial Canal Park area at the left as you approach the Aerial Bridge and the 1966 completed Duluth Arena Auditorium at the center with its expansive parking lot. Sailboats and small pleasure craft are in the harbor. Fifth Avenue West overpass is at the far right. Note that Canal Park was not a tourist destination until the 1980s. It was zoned as a light industrial site for decades.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Duluth Yacht Club provided Scenic Rides. The Duluth Yacht Basin on the bayside of Park Point or Minnesota Point, near Tenth Avenue, was originally owned by Julius Barnes. It was subsequently owned by A. B. Hargrave. Hargrave sold it to the Lakehead Boat Basin, Incorporated in May 1959. The formal, brief, Duluth Yacht Club organized in 1890 and incorporated in 1905. It was distinct from the Duluth Boat Club but was absorbed by the Boat Club in 1909. The Lakehead investors were making improvements in 1959 and developed two areas. One was for outboard runabouts the other for cruiser operations. The Lakehead company would sell new and used yachts and boats.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This is the lower side of Superior street between Third Avenue West on the left and approaching Fourth Avenue West on the right. The buildings left to right are Lonsdale at 300, Alworth at 306-308, Siewart's 310, Irving Moore Memorial 312, Torrey 314-316, St. Louis Hotel 318. If we could see a little further toward Fourth the Providence building would be near the corner. The St. Louis hotel was razed and the Medical Arts building constructed in its place in 1932.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The lift span is up and a Cost Guard vessel is at the dock in this view of the Aerial Bridge taken by Duluth activist and Minnesota Point resident Jo Goodsell.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The scale of the moored vessel is evident as a person walks beside it. The Aerial Lift Bridge is framed by the Duluth hillside and the moored vessel. The photographer, Elizabeth Jo Goodsell, was a Duluth community activist and a physical education teacher at Duluth East High School. She lived on Minnesota Point and was an avid photographer.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of the Duluth harbor from just east and behind Hotel Duluth in downtown. You are looking across Superior Street down Lake Avenue. You move along Lake Avenue to approach and cross the bridge. Hotel Duluth is at the far right of the photograph. The lift span is down. Grandma's Restaurant (opened in 1976) is at the base of the north tower of the bridge and the Corps of Engineers Building is to the left of the restaurant. The blue building, a flag is to its left, and the facility stretching out from it is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessel yard at 903 Minnesota Avenue. It is on the bayside of the Point after you cross the bridge. There is a Burger King, red, sign visible at the left in front of the Corps administrative building. You can clearly see the bridge was painted silver. In September 1970, the entire structure was scraped, primed and repainted in silver, rather than its former green color. It has been silver ever since.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View in spring of the Aerial Bridge with the grain elevators and other harbor industrial and shipping facilities on Rice's Point. Cargill elevators B2 (far left) and B1 (built 1976) are the white structures at the top left. They are reached off of Garfield Avenue unless you approach by water. The Canal Park Marine Museum sits at the foot of the bridge's north tower. There was a ground breaking Sept 12, 1972 for the museum. It cost $283,000. The dedication was September 29, 1973. Mr. C. Patrick Labadie, native of Detroit, was hired as director in August, 1973. In 1973, it cost $40,000 annually to operate the museum. Entry had always been free to the public. The museum expansion dedication was July 5, 1979. The brown building at the right middle of the photograph is the Paulucci building, the common name for the Stone-Ordean-Wells building. It was built here, at 525 Lake Avenue South, in 1915. The architect of the project was Frederick George German.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The vessel is 62.5 meters long. Under engine power, she reaches a top speed of 10 knots, while she can make up to 14 knots under sail. She has a crew of 18 and can accommodate 88 passengers. The Christian Radich, a full rigged three masted steel hull ship, is known through the international release in 1958 of the movie Windjammer. The Christian Radich sailed to the United States in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial Celebration. She was in New York on July 4, 1976. The vessel was built for training sailors for the Norwegian merchant navy, and did so for many years.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This image shows spectators lining the Ship Canal to witness the first foreign ship entering the Duluth harbor. The merchant vessel Ramon de Larrinaga arrived in Duluth on May 3, 1959, to load grain. Departing from its home port of Liverpool, it was the first foreign ship to arrive in Duluth through the newly opened St. Lawrence Seaway.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Members of the Duluth Fire Department create water sprays to mark the arrival of the Ramon de Larrinaga. The Larrinaga was the first foreign ship to arrive in Duluth through the newly opened St. Lawrence Seaway. It was followed five minutes later by the Liberian-registered Herald. The photographer, Elizabeth Jo Goodsell, was a Duluth community activist, teacher, and long time resident of Minnesota Point.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The businesses and housing of the East End are visible in this wide view facing west. Superior Street, East First Street and East Second Street run diagonally from left to right in the lower right quadrant of the image. In the distance beyond the Lift Bridge is Rice's point.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The businesses and housing of the East End are visible in this wide view facing west. Superior Street, East First Street and East Second Street run diagonally from left to right in the lower half of the image.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Duluth harbor is frozen over and snow covered, but the lake is still open. It is very rare for Lake Superior to freeze fully. Which ever way the wind blows the lake ice shifts. Lake ice piles up on Minnesota Point or moves out into the lake or onto the northeast segments of shore. It changes every minute. This is a terrific view of the shape of Canal Park in the foreground and the Point as it extends toward Wisconsin. The U.S. Naval Reserve Training Center is at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Minnesota Avenue on the Point. Thirteenth is where the road, Minnesota Avenue, jogs to the right. The structure at the right is the Arena Auditorium (will be added to and renamed the DECC in 1987) and Pioneer Hall. The feature in the harbor off of Minnesota Point is the snow covered Hearding Island. The skywalk from downtown Duluth to the arena through Pioneer Hall is known as the "Northwest Passage."
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View in winter of the Canal Park area at the base of the bridge with the Blatnik or High Bridge in the distance. The Canal Park Marine Museum and Visitor Center is joined to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Building. Both are visible just in front of the lift span in the middle of the photograph. There was a grand opening for the Museum on September 29, 1973. The brown, tall building at the right is the Paulucci building which is the common name for the Stone-Ordean-Wells building. It was built at 525 Lake Avenue south in 1915. The architect of the project was Frederick George German.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Fifty-second Congress First Session Executive Document Number 80 United States Senate
Date Created:
1892-04-18
Description:
Thirty-one page government document, beginning with a letter form the Secretary of War, in response to Senate resolution of April 12, 1892, relative to the proceedings of the board of officers convened to consider the construction of a bridge in Duluth. This document is discussing placing a bridge over the Duluth ship canal where a bridge has never existed. The document uses the language "Aerial Lift Bridge" which must have been a design under consideration. In fact, the Aerial Ferry Bridge, or Aerial Transporter Bridge was the initial bridge constructed in 1904-1905. It wasn't until 1929 that the first bridge was remodeled with a lift span.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This carbon copy of a Claude Turner document is an historical overview about the bridge re-design. It includes discussion of contracts, alternate design, and petitions. Also includes exhibits A, B, and C from interested parties communicating with the Duluth City Council.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections