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 parallel concrete piers jut out into the lake forming the canal leading to the harbor. Since its remodeling into a lift bridge in 1930, every vessel passes under the Aerial Lift Bridge's raised span. In this view the span is down, and traffic and people cross it as a roadbed. The South Pier is at the left, the North Pier is at the right. Minnesota Point's light sand beach draws residents and tourists in all seasons but especially throughout the summer months. The harbor is still the location of warehouses and coal docks. You can see the light road that is Skyline Parkway parallel to the horizon running the length of Duluth. The Civic Center is at the center of this shot. The St. Louis County Courthouse is in the middle with the Federal Building to the left of the courthouse, City Hall to the right, and the St. Louis County Jail to the left and set back from the courthouse. The Civic Center was designed by Daniel Burnham and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This image shows a view from about Ninth Avenue West and waterfront at the top right corner of the shot to First Avenue East and Second Street at the lower left corner of the shot. Duluth Terminal and Cold Storage Company is at Ninth Avenue West and Railroad Street or 400 South Ninth Avenue West. The 1892 Central High School and its clock tower occupy the block on Second Street between Lake Avenue and First Avenue East in the foreground. The Canal Park area and the waterfront warehouse districts are still very industrial. The arena auditorium will not open until August 1966, in the area still filled with scrap in the middle-top of this photograph. Railroad and Commerce streets run parallel to the hillside below Superior Street and the area is well described by their names.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This view shows Canal Park in the right foreground and downtown Duluth behind. The railroad tracks are parallel to Superior Street and will be displaced by the I35 freeway. The flat, undeveloped areas west or to the left of the Arena-Auditorium will later become the site for Playfront Park, Bayfront Festival Park, and the Great Lakes Aquarium. In this photo, Canal Park's recent addition is the 1973 Marine Museum adjacent to the 1906 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Building. Both are near the base of the North tower of the aerial lift bridge. In the middle of this view is the Arena Auditorium (opened in 1966) that will later to added to and renamed the DECC in 1987. To its right is the rectangular Pioneer Hall. Ground was broken on April 7, 1975, for the Pioneer Hall and Duluth Curling Club. It is a world-class curling facility. The Silver Broom World Curling Tournament in March 1976, drew 41,000 fans from ten countries to the new ice sheets. Grand opening celebrations were held August 30 to September 12, 1976. The Northwest Passage, a skywalk from downtown to the Arena-Auditorium through the Pioneer Hall, will be completed in 1976.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Interstate Bridge between Duluth and Superior, originally called the "Duluth-Superior Bridge", was owned by the Great Northern railroad but never used by them. It was used by the Soo Line from 1909 until its closure in December 1961 when the new High Bridge opened. Built in 1897 by the Duluth-Superior Bridge Company, it carried two railway tracks as well as two tracks for streetcars. The center draw span, the largest of its kind when built, was 485-feet in length. Small tugs and ferries could pass underneath, and the outer spans were designed for passage of log rafts to upriver mills. The center span and its granite support pier were pulled out in 1972. The lake vessel Henry Phipps is in the foreground. The 601-foot steam ship was built in 1907, and could carry 12,000 tons of iron ore. The Henry Phipps was sold for scrap in 1976 and scrapped in Duluth in 1978.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
A view from an upper window of the Duluth Malt and Brewing Company at Twenty Ninth Avenue West between Huron and Railroad streets. These Lincoln Park houses will be lost during interstate construction.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
These railroad tracks are parallel to LakeSuperior which is not visible at the far right. Superior Street is at the far left with an edge of the brick Minnesota Power electric company's substation building showing at Fifteenth Avenue West. Superwood Corporation hardboard manufacturers is at the right and appears to be in front of the Huron Portland Cement silos. Garfield is at about Sixteenth Avenue West behind you at you look at this shot. Superwood is at Fourteenth Avenue West and Waterfront and the Huron Portland cement silo at Ninth Avenue West and waterfront.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Looking north from the Minnesota Point beach. The neighborhood of Minnesota Point is called Park Point. The park at the end of the point is also called Park Point. The building to the right of the black and white lighthouse is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Building. built in 1906. The Marine Museum will be joined to it in 1973. The 67-foot tall lighthouse in front of the Aerial Lift Bridge is formally called South Breakwater Inner Light Tower. Owned by the federal government and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, the tower's light was first lit in 1901. It was bought in December 2008 by Steve Sola and Matt Kampf of Duluth. The winning bid was more than $31,000. Mr. Sola grew up on Park Point, Kamps in Hibbing, but lived many years on Cape Cod before moving to Duluth. They cannot move the tower.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
A Pittsburgh Steamship Division vessel is just about to move under the lift span of the bridge. If the crew looks toward the hillside it will see Minnesota Slip, Industrial Slip, remnants of the North Western Fuel Company coal dock, Northern Pacific Railroad docks 5 and 6, the site of Fifth Avenue West and Commerce Street that once was the bustling warehouse district and includes the Lakes Transit Company, F.A. Patrick building, Northern Drug wholesale building, and the electric company power station. The Flame Restaurant is the light rectangular building near the water's edge. Remnants of the Whitney Brothers rock crushing business are at the far right in the lake.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Interstate toll bridge was built between 1896 and 1897, dedicated on July 13, 1897, with more than 4,000 spectators and dignitaries participating or looking on. It connected Rice's Point of Duluth with Connor's Point of Superior, Wisconsin. It was property of the Duluth-Superior Bridge Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railroad. It closed to use on December 3, 1961, the day after the toll-free High Bridge opened. The Interstate bridge was replaced by the High Bridge or the Blatnik Bridge as it was renamed September 24, 1971. The Interstate bridge was struck by vessels and damaged more than once. Considerable damage was sustained in 1906 and 1924.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The Duluth Steam Corporations steam plant was built by many hardworking men in 1932 from March through the summer and autumn. It is frequently in photographs when the view is toward the canal or Canal Park area, and is identified by its smoke stack. The smoke stack is completed in this shot. The building is located at 200 or 202 Lake Avenue South or 1 Lake Place Drive. Its name became the Duluth Steam Cooperative. Today it furnishes steam heat to hundreds of downtown buildings. Note the railroad spur that turns in next to the steam plant.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View from First Street in downtown Duluth. The 1910 Soo Line depot is at the far right at Sixth Avenue West and Superior Street. The newspaper announced in 1971, plans for a 13-story apartment building for the middle-income elderly on the site of the Soo Line Depot which was razed in August of 1972. The 1892 Union Depot at 506 West Michigan Street becomes the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center. A January 11, 1973, newspaper article announced the St. Louis County Board received $201,250 for historical preservation and restoration of Duluth's Union Depot. The Depot was purchased from Burlington Northern for $137,500. The county serves as landlord, which averts tax problems. On March 19, 1973, Don Shank turned the first shovel of dirt for LakeSuperiorMuseum of Transportation and Industry known by locals as the Train Museum.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This view is from just below First Street looking down Second Avenue West. Glass Block department store and the Sellwood building are on the corners of Superior Street and Second Avenue West. Railroad Street and ice filled slips are between downtown and the bridge. Minnesota Point extends beyond the bridge at the top of the image. Glass Block was built in 1893 and three floors added in 1902. It closed in 1981. The Sellwood was built in 1908 and still stands.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This view is from what is today the Corner of the Lake, but was the vicinity of Michigan Street and South Second Avenue East. It is now at the Lake Walk. The railroad tracks are gone. The wooden building is the edge of the LakeSuperior and Mississippi Railroad freight depot buildings. The concrete structure in the water is the remnant of the Whitney Brothers rock crushing company. Canal Park area was an industrial location until it began a slow transformation in the 1970s to the tourist destination familiar today.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View shows Commerce Street in the foreground and Minnesota Point and its sandy beach to the right of the bridge. At the top left, Canal Park businesses and industries fit between Minnesota Slip and LakeSuperior. Two cars are crossing the bridge. Ground was broken December 19, 1963 for the Duluth Arena Auditorium. The Arena Auditorium complex opened to great fanfare in August 1966. UMD hockey was played at the arena which, seating 8,000, was also the site of performances of entertainers and rock concerts. The Auditorium was home to the symphony, opera, ballet, and artists like Marcel Marceau. It was renamed the DECC or Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on August 31, 1987. It was expanded and re-opened June 18, 1990. The Harbor Side Convention Center and Parking Ramp additions were opened January 31, 2001. At the far right are businesses removed for the Fifth Avenue West Overpass, and later, the Great Lakes Aquarium and Bayfront Festival Park.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The lift span is up; a vessel either just entered the harbor or is soon to exit but the ship is not visible. From the Marshall-Wells sign at the left to the Aerial Bridge is the area known as Canal Park. At the time of this image, there is still a mix of business and industry in this compact area. It is not going to be a tourist attraction until Grandma's Restaurant opens in 1976, followed by dozens of other amenities. Minnesota Slip will hold the 600-foot William A. Irvin ore boat museum in 1986. The Marshall-Wells Company started in 1886 as Chapin and Wells Company a wholesale hardware business. Albert Morley Marshall, son of Seth, bought controlling interest in 1893 and changed the name to Marshall-Wells Company. The company grew to include 14 wholesale offices throughout the northwestern U.S. and Canada. In 1955 Ambrook Industries Inc. of New York bought controlling interest. Kelley-How-Thomson, Marshall-Wells merged January 1, 1958. Kelley-How-Thomson had been a subsidiary of Marshall-Wells since 1955 when Ambrook bought Marshall-Wells and reorganized. The Coast-to-Coast Stores bought the Duluth division of Marshall-Wells-Kelley How-Thomson Company in 1958, which ended the Duluth firm's operation. Coolerator Company began in 1908 as the Duluth Show Case Company. Its name changed to Duluth Refrigerator Company in 1928, and to the Coolerator Company in 1934. It was a subsidiary of the Marshall-Wells Building Corporation.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This area is below Superior Street. Superior Street is the main street in downtown Duluth. Minnesota Slip (water), on some 1920s maps called Lake Avenue Slip, is the parking spot for four lake vessels in this photograph. Today this slip holds the William A. Irvin ore boat museum. The slip is bounded by the Northern Pacific Railway Dock and the NP's low freight sheds on the right, and by Canal Park on the left. The sign on the brick building next to the Robert N. Joynt vessel says North Star Terminal and Dock Company; Standard Salt and Cement Company. The Marshall-Wells company was located in Canal Park and was in fact the world's largest hardware distributor for decades. The Coast-to-Coast Stores bought the Duluth division of Marshall-Wells-Kelley How-Thomson Company in 1958, which ended the Duluth firm's operation. The Marshall-Wells water towers stand tall next to the De Witt-Seitz mattress manufacturing building. De Witt-Seitz is a mixed-use building today of shops, restaurants, offices and meeting spaces. Zenith was a brand name for many Marshall-Wells products. Everything in this view will transition into a tourist destination.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of Downtown Duluth from Fourth Avenue West including the Duluth Harbor, Aerial Lift Bridge, Minnesota Point, and LakeSuperior. Duluth City Hall and the St. Louis County Courthouse and jail are visible in the center right. Just below the Lift Bridge are the tall Alworth building and the wider Medical Arts building, both on the lower side of Superior Street. Along the waterfront are Minnesota Slip, Industrial Slip, the North Western Fuel Company coal dock, to the right is the Northern Cold Storage Building, 702 West Railroad Street. A number of lake vessels are grouped together in the center of the harbor.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Skyline Parkway began in 1888 as Terrace Parkway or Rogers Boulevard. It was extended under Mayor Samuel F. Snively. Today, Skyline Parkway Drive stretches about 27 miles. In December 1959 the Duluth City Council and Mayor E. Clifford Bork changed the name of Rogers parkway and Skyline Boulevard to Skyline Parkway. The smokestack at the far left is part of the Duluth steam plant. It heats hundreds of downtown buildings. To the left of the smokestack is Hotel Duluth, which opened to great fanfare on May 21, 1925. Hotel Duluth became senior housing and was renamed Greysolon Plaza in October 1981.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of West Duluth facing downtown Duluth and LakeSuperior. The image includes the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range railroad ore docks, grain elevators on Rice's Point, the Aerial Lift Bridge, Minnesota Point, and LakeSuperior. Wade Stadium is visible in the center of the picture to the left of the ore docks, with Wheeler Field, 3501 Grand Avenue, to the left of the stadium. Denfeld High School, 4405 West Fourth Street, is in the center of the bottom portion of the image with the West Junior High below it at the southwest corner of North Central Avenue and West Sixth Street. The Interstate Bridge connects Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin at Rice's Point. The Duluth Missabe and Iron Range railroad tracks are at the lower left, continuing to the ore docks where three vessels are waiting to be loaded with ore.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of the harbor from above, possibly from Skyline Drive. The long, low Northern Pacific Railroad freight sheds are between Minnesota and Industrial slips. A laker is in Minnesota Slip. The coal dock area will be the construction site for the Duluth Arena Auditorium in 1963. Hearding Island is off Minnesota Point in the harbor. The island is the uninhabited site that has been called Bird Island by Park Point residents and Harbor Island by Duluth Bird Club members. The name Hearding Island is for William Hellins Hearding (England, 1826-1893, Milwaukee) who surveyed the Duluth-Superior harbor in 1861 as assigned by Captain (later a general in the Civil War) George C. Meade. The survey, completed in a little over two months, included the St. Louis River up to Fond du Lac, and the bay including Minnesota Point and the mouth of the Nemadji River. Rice's Point is at the middle left of the image showing a number of grain elevators.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
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
Wooden passenger packet steamer Winslow in a spectacular fire at Duluth's St. Paul and Duluth Railroad dock unloading after grounding at Lakeside the day before; a $55,000 casualty; owned by the Erie and Western Transportation Co in the LakeSuperior Transit Line at the end
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View south from water tower looking across the intersection of 27th Avenue and West Superior Street, in Duluth, Minnesota. Rear of office building at left.
Looking north toward 42nd Street along the Como-Harriet streetcar tracks on the west side of Lake Harriet. Linden Hills depot and Lake Harriet waiting shelters are visible.
Image showing a network of railroad tracks and barges used to construct the second docks in Agate Bay. Footings have already been set, completed wooden ore dock can be seen in the background. Ore dock six was the first steel iron ore dock on the great lakes. Built by the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroad.
Group of men pose for a photograph with shovels. They stand on the clay bottom of the bay, water held back by a berm. The first wooden ore docks were built at Agate Bay in 1884. The docks were upgraded to steel beginning in 1907.
A crew posed with one of the high speed Lake Minnetonka streetcars. Across the bottom of the photograph is written, "Weland & Me 211-26o Cooling the Wheels off 1913"
A shuttle streetcar ran from 52nd Avenue East and Crosley Avenue to a connection with the 45th Avenue East and Superior Street, where it connected with the bus to downtown. This is 45th & Superior, with the motorman waiting for the connecting bus.
The Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester & Dubuque Electric Traction Company was branded as the Dan Patch Line by owner Marion Savage, who owned the champion trotting horse. In 1912 it opened this depot at Diamond Lake Road and Nicollet Avenue, where its passengers transferred to the Nicollet Avenue streetcar line.
Seven members and coach of the General Office D. & I. R. Baseball Team. The letters D. & I. R. herald and "GO" on the uniforms. This photo was used on page 19 of the Christmas 1936 issue of the D. M. & N. Safety and Welfare Magazine.