Most photographs of downtown Duluth will also capture the Aerial Bridge, and so it is with this image of Superior Street at Fifth Avenue West. The Spalding hotel was completed in June 1889. It was razed in the summer of 1963 along with many other buildings in the Gateway Renewal Project. The total cost of razing Gateway buildings was $258,000, including demolition of the Spalding hotel at the cost of $43,500.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This photograph may have been shot from Seventh Street and about Lake Avenue. The bright narrow strip in the lower middle of the image is Lake Avenue leading to the Aerial Bridge. The rectangle and three dots parallel to the piers of the canal are the remnants of the Whitney rock crushing enterprise. The Whitney Brothers, of Superior, Wisconsin, had a sand and gravel processing business that was functioning in 1919. The concrete form that is still in the water was the dredging/crushing building. A tunnel ran from the building to the Point. There was a conveyor belt and railroad spur adjacent to the concrete building. Sand from the Apostle Islands and gravel from Grand Marais were carried to Duluth on a small vessel named Limit. The business also used a tug the William A. Whitney. The Limit was secured to the concrete building and the load of sand or gravel was unloaded into the steel hopper using a jaw-like clam shell, steam powered device. The belt conveyed the materials to shore and it dropped into a tunnel where trucks were ready. On Federal lake charts it is referred to as cribs. Telephone lines are in this photograph. In 1880, the first telephones were installed in Duluth by Walter Van Brunt for C. H. Graves and Company. In 1881, the Duluth Telephone Company was incorporated with $10,000 capital. In 1882, the first telephone directory was issued for 30 subscribers. In 1898, long distance lines between Duluth, Cloquet and Carlton were strung. In 1899, Duluth had 794 telephones. In 1900, the Zenith telephone Company (independent) started operations in competition with Duluth Telephone Company. The tower is the Central High School clock tower. The 1892 school has been the Central Administration Building for ISD 709 since the late 1970s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Aftenro Society was organized in 1908 by a group of Norwegian women to raise money for the construction of a good Christian old people's home. Their first building was opened in 1921 with 30 residents and was named for the Norwegian word meaning �Evening�s Rest� (Aftenro). The Aftenro home presently continues its function as a home for the aged, in its location at 1423 North Nineteenth Avenue East. In this view of the new building, the entire front grounds area is a vegetable garden.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This view of the west side of Central Avenue facing north shows the Alhambra Theatre at 321 North Central Avenue in the center of the image. Other businesses include W.B. Getchell Real Estate, Olson and Beck Shoes, Swanstrom and Ericson Clothing.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The American Exchange National Bank staff assembled with the bank's founder Hamilton M. Peyton who is in the front row with the white side burns. Peyton was bank president from 1879-1921. The bank merged with First National Bank and renamed First and American National Bank in 1929. It became First American National Bank in 1958, First National in 1974 and Norwest in 1983. In 1998 Norwest merged with Wells Fargo and elected to take the more familiar name Wells Fargo.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Berg Brothers Drapery Shop and Universal Electric Supply Company are on the street level of the Builders' Exchange office building at the corner of First Street and Lake Avenue North. In 1902, the Duluth Builders' Exchange incorporated. Local builders saw advantages in mustering the most reliable firms into one accessible organization.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Berg Brothers Drapery Shop and Universal Electric Supply Company are on the street level of the Builders' Exchange office building at the corner of First Street and Lake Avenue North. In 1902, the Duluth Builders' Exchange incorporated. Local builders saw advantages in mustering the most reliable firms into one accessible organization.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The 300 block of North Central Avenue in West Duluth. Businesses include the Boston Store at 320-322, Albert Bergstein Clothing at 326 and the Pekin Cafe at 330.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Citizens State Bank, 331 Central Avenue in West Duluth. Also on Central Avenue are Wieland Hardware Company, Swanstrom and Erickson Clothing, and Lurye Furniture.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Clyde Iron Works Incorporated manufactured heavy equipment from 1889 in Duluth. This is the manufacturing plant at Twenty-ninth Avenue West and Michigan Street from 1908. It had sales warehouses in several cities, including New York, Chicago, Savanna, and New Orleans. The company initial manufactured logging tools and eventually built cranes that could handle up to 2,000 tons. Its initial acclaimed machine was the McGiffert Log Loader first sold in 1902 whose inventor became a company officer.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections