Search results for: , 1870
November 28, 1870: The first issue of the Duluth Morning Call
On this day in Duluth in 1870, the first issue of Seth Payne Wilbur’s Morning Call, Duluth’s first daily newspaper, hit the streets of the Zenith City. It was a tiny paper, measuring just 7 x 6 inches, printed front and back. Instead of reading a description of the first edition, we thought you might…
Read MoreNovember 25, 1870: Duluthians establish city’s volunteer fire department
On this day in Duluth in 1870, Duluth Hose Company No. 1—the foundation of what would become today’s Duluth Fire Department—was first organized. Foreman E. M. Bloomer, assistant foreman T. H. Pressnell, secretary A. S. Chase, steward James Farrell, and vigilance committee members E. M. Bloomer, L. H. Tenney, and George Spencer led the group,…
Read MoreOctober 25, 1870: Culver and Sargent named wardens of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
On this day in Duluth in 1870, prominent Duluthians George Sargent and Joshua B. Culver were voted in as the first wardens of Duluth’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, which was established in May of 1869. It wasn’t the first church established in Duluth, but it would be the Zenith City’s first church to build a…
Read MoreOctober 24, 1870: Property for site of Duluth Ship Canal purchased
On this day in Duluth in 1870, the city of Duluth purchased the lots on Minnesota Point that would be dredged up to become the Duluth Ship Canal. Digging was already underway—it had begun September 5 of that year, when the dredging tug Ishpeming took its first bite of the sandbar. According to historians Dwight Woodward…
Read MoreSeptember 5, 1870: The dredging tug Ishpeming starts carving a canal
On this day in Duluth in 1870, the dredging tug Ishpeming, owned by W. W. Williams & Co. and piloted by Major John Upham, bit into Minnesota Point along a dirt roadway platted as Portage Street. The undeveloped street followed the same path local Ojibwe called Onigamiinsing or “Little Portage”—the very trail thought to have…
Read MoreAugust 31, 1870: Birth of pioneer and civic leader Bert Wheeler
On this day in Duluth in 1870, Bert N. Wheeler was born to Oneota founders Henry and Sarah Wheeler, the last of their eleven children. According to his 1946 obituary Wheeler graduated Hamline University, where he lettered in nine different sports including football, baseball and track, in 1894 and returned to Duluth that same year…
Read MoreAugust 22, 1870: the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad begins daily service
On this day in 1870, the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad began daily passenger service between the newly minted Zenith City and St. Paul, with LS&M president William Banning hosting dignitaries in a specially outfitted train on the trip from the state capital to the Zenith City. That same year the LS&M had finished construction…
Read MoreAugust 17, 1870: Fires in Duluth test new volunteer fire department
On this day in Duluth in 1870, a fire on Minnesota Point was the first call to Duluth’s newly established volunteer fire department, which was little more than a bucket brigade. The fire inside J. C. Funston’s furniture store was discovered by a Mr. Berkelman, who also resided in the building. Berkelman was only able…
Read MoreAugust 9, 1870: Duluth council passes bond for ship canal
On this day in 1870, Duluth’s Common Council (akin to today’s City Council) voted to take on a $50,000 bond to dig a ship canal. The bond was essentially an agreement with the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad and the Banking House of Jay Cooke to loan the city $50,000 to hire a dredging tug…
Read MoreAugust 1, 1870: Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad completed
On this day in 1870 in Thomson, Minnesota, at eleven minutes past 8 p.m., the last spike was driven into the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad. Hundreds of laborers on hand for the event broke into cheers—they had been working double shifts to meet the August 1 deadline. At 11:30 that same evening, the first…
Read MoreApril 23, 1870: Superior Tribune crosses bay in dead of night, becomes Duluth Tribune
On this night in 1870, newspaper editor Robert C. Mitchell “slipped the Superior Tribune across the bay…and gave Duluth its second paper.” Mitchell arrived in Superior roughly ten months earlier, leasing the facilities of the Superior Gazette from the widow of its former publisher, Washington Ashton. He called his paper the Superior Tribune, and according…
Read MoreApril 21, 1870: Robert Bruce appointed Chief of Police
On this day in Duluth in 1870, Mayor J. B. Culver appointed Robert Bruce the Zenith City’s first Chief of Police. The Minnesotian thought Bruce a good choice, but wished Culver had made a more local choice: Bruce lived nine miles from Duluth on Rice Lake in his very own township, Bruceville. But Bruce had…
Read MoreApril 16, 1870: Duluth’s first mayor delivers the city’s first inaugural address
On this day in Duluth in 1870, newly elected Mayor Joshua B. Culver delivered his inaugural address not to a large gathering of citizens, but to the handful of men who made up Duluth’s first city council, most of whom were his friends. Mayor Culver began his inaugural address by saying, “I fully realize the…
Read MoreApril 12, 1870: City of Duluth holds its first City Council meeting
On this day in Duluth in 1870, the new City of Duluth’s first city council held its initial meeting in the Portland School at Third Avenue West and Superior Street. The city council was then made up of alderman representing four voting wards, one was elected for a two-years term and the second a one-year…
Read MoreMarch 6, 1870: Duluth becomes a city for the first time
On this day in Duluth in 1870, the Minnesota State legislature passed a bill making the town of Duluth and several other surrounding townsites the city of Duluth. Duluth stretched between Twenty-First Avenue East and Thirtieth Avenue West from Fifth Street to to Minnesota Point’s Oatka Beach at Thirty-Eighth Street South, including Rice’s Point. The…
Read MoreSeptember 3, 1870: Minnesotian reports that “Big” Hanson has left town.
On this day in Duluth in 1870, the Duluth Minnesotian reported that George “Big” Hanson had left town—and Minnesotian editor and publisher Dr. Thomas Foster couldn’t have been happier. Foster had been bullying Hanson in print for months. Hanson came to Duluth from Minneapolis, bought into the Bay View House hotel, and established Duluth’s first performance space,…
Read MoreAugust 27, 1870: Organization of Duluth’s First Baptist Church
On this day in Duluth in 1870, several Duluthians gathered at the home of Mrs. I. C. Spaulding to establish Duluth’s First Baptist Church. Two Minneapolis Baptist clergymen, Reverend Amos Gale and Reverend A. L. Cole presided over the meeting. Those in attendance included Mrs. Cynthia Parker, Mrs. Adaline Van Brunt, Mrs. James S. Campbell,…
Read MoreAugust 9, 1870: J. D. Ensign accepted to the St. Louis County Bar
On this day in Duluth in 1870, attorney Josiah Davis Ensign was accepted to the St. Louis County Bar. Ensign, a native of Erie County in New York Sate, had arrived in the Zenith City just months earlier. When Ensign was just 15 years old he began teaching school, using his income to study law.…
Read MoreJuly 4, 1870: Pioneer Jerome Cooley arrives in Duluth
On this day in Duluth in 1870, Jerome E. Cooley first arrived in the Zenith City. Cooley would go on to form the Lavaque-Cooley fisheries, which set up shop at roughly the same location as the back of the Paulucci Building in Canal Park. The business was later purchased by A. Booth & Co. This…
Read MoreMay 3, 1870: First edition of the Duluth Tribune
On this day in Duluth in 1870. R. C. Mitchell published the first edition of the Duluth Tribune. Mitchell had come to Superior less than a year before and leased the Superior Gazette, and changed its name to Superior Tribune and urged “the people who controlled the destiny of the place to ‘get a move…
Read MoreApril 4: 1870: Duluth’s first mayoral election
On this day in Duluth in 1870, Colonel Joshua B. Culver was elected the city’s first mayor. Historic accounts of this event differ. Walter Van Brunt, future historian and Duluth’s first City Clerk, soberly recorded that the election was held, “in the schoolhouse at Portland, and the candidates for election to mayoral office were Col.…
Read MoreFrom Promise to Panic (1870–1877)
Duluth continued to boom during its first three years as a city. More immigrants poured in to build the railroads. Loggers clear-cut the city’s hillside, defining its streets and providing timber that Culver’s and Munger’s sawmills cut into the lumber that became the city’s first houses, churches, docks, and warehouses. Duluth’s Minnesota neighbors joined in…
Read MoreA City is Born (1869–1870)
By May 1869 Jay Cooke’s agents had arrived in Duluth and began spending his money as well as that of his associate E. W. Clark. Those agents—George Sargent, George C. Stone, and Luther Mendenhall—would become prominent figures in Duluth’s history. They opened the town’s first bank, which everyone called Jay Cooke’s Bank. They built one…
Read MoreFebruary 10, 1870: Camile Poirer strikes out from St. Paul to Duluth
On this day in 1870, Camile Poirer set out from St. Paul to make a new home in Duluth. Poirer was born in Canada in 1838. After his mother died he went to live with an uncle near Montreal. He worked on his uncle’s farm until he was fourteen, then left to apprentice as a…
Read More1870: Duluth’s First Year as a City
The following story—adapted from Tony Dierckins’s Duluth: An Urban Biography (Minnesota Historical Society Press, April 2020)—was first published in the Duluth News Tribune in March, 2020, in celebration of Duluth’s 150th anniversary of first becoming a city on March 6, 1870. ___________ In 1870, its first year as a city, Duluth—destined to become the “Zenith…
Read MoreSubverting Duluth’s Sunday Liquor Laws, 1870–2017
While the sale of liquor on Sundays was illegal in Minnesota starting in 1856, Duluth’s early history shows a revolving-door policy regarding adherence to the statute even though the city paid keen attention to liquor issues from its start—the very first ordinance passed by Duluth city officials regulated the “trading in intoxicants.” On July 21,…
Read MoreDuluth’s Grain Trade (1870–1972)
In 1869 Jay Cooke financed Duluth’s first grain elevator at the very corner of Lake Superior, where Third Avenue East once met the shore next to Sidney Luce’s warehouse. Cooke’s Union Improvement and Elevator Company purchased wood from Roger Munger’s sawmill on Lake Avenue to build Elevator A, a grain terminal that could hold 350,000…
Read MoreFirst Methodist (1870, 1893)
3rd Avenue West & 2nd Street (NW corner) | Architect: Unknown | Built: 1870 | Moved ca. 1893 215 North 3rd Avenue West | Architects: Weary & Kramer | Built: 1893 | Lost: 1968 The Reverend Harvey Webb arrived in Duluth in October 1869 and began conducting Methodist church services at the town of Portland’s schoolhouse. In…
Read MoreFirst Presbyterian (1870)
231 East 2nd Street | Architect: Abraham Radcliffe | Built: 1870 | Lost: 1971 Established June 1, 1869, by Reverend W. R. Higgins, Duluth’s First Presbyterian Church was the first Christian congregation organized in the town of Duluth. (St. Paul’s Episcopal was organized not long after, and beat the Presbyterians to the punch by building…
Read MoreSacred Heart Roman Catholic (1870)
201 West 4th Street | Architect: Unknown | Built: 1870 | Lost: 1892 Prior to 1870 Catholics in Duluth attended masses at various locations led by Slovenian missionary priest John Chebul. In 1870 land was donated for a Catholic church on the corner of Fourth Street and Second Avenue West, and Father Chebul began an effort to…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The Depots of Fond du Lac
This week‘s sneak peek from our forthcoming book Twin Ports Trains: The Historic Railroads of Duluth & Superior 1870–1970 features the historic passenger depots of Duluth‘s Fond du Lac neighborhood, the original built in 1870 by the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad and the second in 1896 by the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad and…
Read MoreMarch 20, 1956: Duluth adapts Mayor/Council form of government still in use today
On this day in Duluth in 1956, citizens of the Zenith City voted to toss out its old form of “commissioner” government, first adapted in 1913, and turn to a “mayor/city council” form of government, still in use today. Under the old system, five elected commissioners were in charge of five different aspects of city…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The DSS&A’s Flour Slogan Trains
This week‘s sneak peek from our forthcoming book Twin Ports Trains: The Historic Railroads of Duluth & Superior 1870–1970 features the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad’s efforts to market not only its services, but the products of Duluth as well. In particular, the DSS&A used “flour slogan trains” to get the word out. Enjoy!…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The D&IR Locomotive Three Spot
This week‘s sneak peek from our forthcoming book Twin Ports Trains: The Historic Railroads of Duluth & Superior 1870–1970 features another early locomotive, the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad’s Three Spot, which helped build the D&IR’s original line from today’s Two Harbors to Tower on the Vermilion Iron Range after surviving a harrowing crossing of…
Read MoreMarch 1, 1908: Dedication of new First Baptist Church
On this day in Duluth in 1908, parishioners and celebrants dedicated the new edifice of Duluth’s First Baptist Church at 830 East First Street, the southeast corner of First Street and Ninth Avenue East. The church was first organized on August 27, 1870, by pioneers including attorney William W. Billson, who in 1892 lured Chester Congdon…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The NP’s Grassy Point Bridge
West Duluth and West Superior were first connected in 1887 when the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad built the first incarnation of the St. Louis River Bridge—aka the Grassy Point Bridge—the second of eventually five mechanical swing-arm draw bridges (with a total of six draw spans) constructed over the St. Louis River between Superior Bay…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The Twin Ports Depots of the Omaha Road
The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad (CStPMO, aka the “Omaha Road”) first arrived in the Twin Ports in 1885 and served Duluth and Superior providing both freight and passenger until 1961, after it had been absorbed by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. Below is the history of the Omaha‘s passenger stations at the…
Read MoreFebruary 12, 1893: Duluth Society Men Condemn Crinoline and Hoop Skirts
On the day in Duluth in 1893, the Duluth News Tribune reported that local “Society men” had condemned the wearing of crinoline and hoop skirts. The fashion trend of hoop skirts made from crinoline (a combination of horse hair and linen) peaked in the 1870s, but it threatened to return in the 1890s and those Duluth…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The NP’s Fond du Lac Branch & Lost Forbay
About a month back we shared a story about the old St. Paul & Duluth‘s Short Line, aka the “Skally Line,” which was built so that the St.P&D could stop running trains over the dangerous trestles between Thomson and Fond du Lac. This week‘s sneak peek from our forthcoming book Twin Ports Trains: The Historic…
Read MoreFebruary 9, 1883: Duluth newspaper thanks local brewery for keg of beer
On this day in Duluth in 1883, the the Duluth Daily Tribune wrote that its staff was “indebted to M. Fink for a sample keg of his new beer, made by a brewer he lately engaged in Milwaukee and they pronounced it excellent.” “M. Fink” was Michael Fink, who came to Duluth in the mid…
Read MoreTony Dierckins
Zenith City Press founder Tony Dierckins—a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Duluth resident since 1984—has written more than two dozen books, from the fun and fascinating Duct Tape and WD-40 books to critically acclaimed illustrated histories celebrating the history of Duluth, Minnesota, and the western Lake Superior Regional (listed below). Along the way Dierckins…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The Locomotive Minnetonka
A few weeks ago we introduced you to the historic Great Northern Railroad‘s locomotive Wm. Crooks, which went on to become the motive power for James J. Hill‘s private train and eventually ended up right here in Duluth at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. This week‘s sneak peek from our forthcoming book Twin Ports Trains:…
Read MoreSneak Peek: The NP‘s St. Louis Bay Bridge
As you drive over the Blatknik Bridge fro Duluth and Superior, if you look out the passenger window you can see a small island in the bay, often covered with ring-billed gulls and common terns during warmer months. Some call it Bird Island, but its technical name is Interstate Island. It is entirely man-made and…
Read MoreSneak Peek: Duluth’s First “Union Depot”
This week’s sneak peek from our forthcoming book Twin Ports Trains: The Historic Railroads of Duluth & Superior 1870–1970 takes us back to 1870 and the very first passenger train depot built at the Head of the Lakes, where people could board an LS&M or Northern Pacific passenger train and, briefly, trains on the Omaha…
Read MoreJanuary 20: 1922: The funeral of Guilford Hartley
On this day in Duluth in 1922, Guilford G. Hartley was laid to rest at Forest Hill Cemetery following a simple service in his stately home at 1308 East Superior Street. His pall bearers included his brother Hebert, his sons Guilford and Cavour, and his sons-in law James Claypool, D. H. Lewis, and Walter Congdon.…
Read MoreSneak Peek: What was the “Skally Line”?
Recently the Duluth Monitor, which publishes the work of intrepid independent journalist John Ramos, ran a wonderful story titled “Abundant remnants of Duluth’s first railroad overlooked in Jay Cooke Park.” It includes photographs of trestle foundations and views taken from the former Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad (LS&M) line built along and over the St.…
Read MoreJanuary 9 , 1889: Duluth’s C. H. Graves named Minnesota Speaker of the House of Representatives
On this day in 1889, Duluth’s Charles Hinman Graves was named speaker of Minnesota’s House of Representatives. Graves was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1839, and rose to the rank of Colonel fighting with the 40th New York Volunteers During the Civil War. He participated in many battles, including Bull Run, Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburgh,…
Read MoreLooking Forward: The Locomotive William Crooks
As we work toward the completion of Twin Ports Trains: The Historic Railroads of Duluth & Superior 1870–1970, we are sharing excerpts from the book to give readers a little taste of what’s in store. As we finish editing selected stories from the book, we will share them with you here through our Monday Updates.…
Read MoreJanuary 7, 1879: John Drew elected president of the Village of Duluth
On this day in Duluth in 1879, John Drew was elected president of the Village of Duluth. (The title was essentially that of mayor.) Drew was born in Redding, Connecticut, in 1815. His family later relocated to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Drew first came to Duluth in 1870 after purchasing a Superior Street lot for his…
Read MoreJanuary 6, 1881: C. D. Kreimer advertises “For Sale Cheap: Brewery at Duluth”
On this day in Duluth in 1881, merchant Charles D. Kreimer advertised in the Lake Superior News that he was selling a “brewery at Duluth” and that the price was “cheap.” Kreimer’s brothers August and Paul established the brewery in 1872, when Duluth’s future looked very bright. The precise location is unknown, as early newspaper…
Read MoreHere’s What’s in Store for 2024!
Welcome to 2024! While the world will no-doubt be focused on war and the U.S. presidential election, we here at Zenith City Press are focused on completing a project we’ve been working on (with many interruptions!) since about 2015: Twin Ports Trains: The Railroad History of Duluth and Superior, 1870–2020. My coauthor on the project…
Read MoreJanuary 1, 1893: Duluth annexes the City of Lakeside
On this day Duluth in 1893, Duluth annexed the City of Lakeside, which was made up of today’s Lakeside and Lester Park neighborhoods that stretch east from Fortieth Avenue East to the Lester River up to Skyline Parkway. A small portion of today’s Lakeside was established in 1856 as the town of Belmont, but was…
Read MoreDecember 29, 1913: Death of Charles Chester, namesake of Chester Creek and Chester Park
On this day in 1913, Duluth pioneer Charles Chester died in Oakland, California. In September 1857, Chester purchased a large parcel of land along the creek that bears his name (most of Duluth’s creeks are named for the early pioneers who first established homes along their banks). Little is known of Chester during his time…
Read MoreDecember 20, 1891: Dedication of Duluth’s new First Presbyterian Church
On this day in Duluth in 1891, officials dedicated the new First Presbyterian Church at 300 East Second Street, a masterpiece of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture faced in Lake Superior brownstone and designed by Oliver Traphagen and his new partner, Francis Fitzpatrick. Organized June 1, 1869, First Presbyterian was Duluth’s first established church. In 1870 the…
Read MoreNovember 1, 1872: Lawsuit over Duluth Ship Canal moves to Supreme Court
On this day in 1872, the state of Wisconsin filed suit with the United States Supreme Court to shut down the Duluth Ship Canal. The canal was dug between the fall of 1870 and the spring of 1871, and was completed before Superior, Wisconsin, filed an injunction to stop its construction. Superior argued that the…
Read MoreArchive Dive: The Lonsdale Building
This week’s archive dive takes us to downtown where in 1895 a new office block rose along the lower side of West Superior Street—and still stand there today, but it is several stories taller than when it was first built. It was also once owned by newborn John Nicholas Brown II, dubbed the “richest baby…
Read MoreSeptember 21, 1891: Cornerstone laid for Duluth’s new First Methodist Church
On this day in Duluth in 1891, Methodists gathered to lay the cornerstone of the 1893 First Methodist Church at 215 North Third Avenue West during a ceremony the Duluth News Tribune described as “very solemn and fitting character.”The new building would replace the congregation’s original 1873 wooden church, which stood nearby at the northwest…
Read MoreSeptember 14, 1907: Maiden voyage of the ore boat Ward Ames
On this day in Duluth in 1907, the ore boat Ward Ames departed Duluth on its maiden voyage, carrying 10,101 gross tons of iron ore—lighter than her capacity due to the shallowness of some of the rivers that connected the Great Lakes at the time. The Ames was the third vessel built by the Acme…
Read MoreArchive Dive: The Locomotive Minnetonka
Visitors to Duluth’s Lake Superior Railroad Museum have seen this week’s archive topic first-hand and fully restored. The Locomotive Minnetonka arrived in Duluth in 1870 on a boat to be used by the Northern Pacific Railroad to carry construction materials to today’’s Carlton and beyond, playing an instrumental role in the railroad’s construction west across…
Read MoreSeptember 11, 1875: Minnesotian-Herald begins publication
On this day in Duluth in 1875, the Minnesotian-Herald—a weekly newspaper—printed its first edition. Its proprietors were Edward and Clarence Foster, sons of Dr. Thomas Foster, who moved his St. Paul Minnesotian newspaper to Duluth, altered its name, and gave a speech first naming Duluth “The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas.” In June 1872…
Read MoreArchive Dive: First Unitarian
This week’s archive dive takes us to Duluth‘s Endion neighborhood, where in 1910 Duluth Unitarians constructed a new Tudor-inspired chirch designed by local architect Anthony Puck. From our book Duluth‘s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940. Check out the story here.
Read MoreAugust 16, 1965: Fire destroys historic Duluth warehouse and thirty automobiles
On this day in Duluth in 1965, fire destroyed a warehouse at the southeast corner of Third Avenue East and Michigan Street. At the time the building was owned by Arrowhead Distributors, Inc., who leased it as a warehouse to Verne D. Johnson, who used it to store cars and other items related to his…
Read MoreArchive Dive: Hayes Block
This week‘s trip to the archive takes us to the southwest corner of Superior Street and First Avenue East, where two different buildings—both called the Hayes block—have stood since 1870. The first was financed by Duluth parks visionary William K. Rogers and his pal, future US. president Rutherford B. Hayes. Read a history of the…
Read MoreJuly 30, 1891: Duluth parks visionary William K. Rogers resigns from Parks Commission.
On this day in Duluth in 1891, William K. Rogers resigned from his post as the president of Duluth’s Board of Park Commissioners. Rogers had been president of the group since its inception and is credited as the man behind the plan of Duluth’s amazing park system: A collection of corridor parks along streams and…
Read MoreJuly 21, 1895: Mark Twain speaks at Duluth’s First Methodist Church
On this day in Duluth in 1895, nationally beloved author and humorist Mark Twain spoke at Duluth’s First Methodist Church. The event started an hour late—Twain, with his wife and one of his daughters, had traveled to Duluth on the steamer North West, which was delayed getting to port. Twain promised to make up for…
Read MoreJuly 20, 1856: First Christian sermon delivered on Minnesota Point
On this day in 1856 in what would become Duluth, Rev. John M. Barnett, a Presbyterian minister, delivered the first Christian sermon on Minnesota Point. Barnett recalled the event: “On the evening of July 20, in the summer of ’56, I preached my first sermon on the point in a house owned by a man…
Read MoreJuly 14, 1888: Duluth’s Germans dedicate Turner Hall
On this day in Duluth in 1888, Duluth’s German’s dedicated their brand new Turner Hall at 601 East Third Street. Most city’s in America had their own Turner Hall at the time, a gathering place for members of the local Turnverein Society. The Turners were founded in Germany in 1811 by a group of men who…
Read MoreJuly 10, 1869: Brewery owner buys building to open saloon
On this day in Duluth in 1869, Nicholas Decker purchased property at 31 West Superior Street to open a saloon to sell his beer. In the mid 1860s Decker had purchased Duluth’s first brewery, built on Washington Avenue along Brewery Creek in 1859 by Gottlieb Busch andand financed by Sidney Luce (later Duluth’s third mayor).…
Read MoreArchive Dive: Duluth‘s Grainy Memories
Moving grain from the Red River Valley through Duluth via railroads and Great Lakes freighters to flour mills int he east helped Duluth get back on its feet after the Panic of 1873, played an important link in Duluth for the next one hundred years, and still contributes to the local economy. Consequently, Duluth was…
Read MoreJune 26, 1894: Cornerstone laid for new Board of Trade Building
On this day in Duluth in 1894, Duluth’s Masons laid the cornerstone for the second Board of Trade Building at 301–307 West First Street “with all the circumstance incident to the Masonic ritual.” The day’s event started at three p.m. with a horse-drawn carriages bringing dignitaries to the Masonic Temple. At four p.m. a procession…
Read MoreArchive Dive: “Boom to Bust to Boom (1869–1887)”
This week’s archive dive presents the third chapter of Zenith City Press publisher Tony Dierckins’s Duluth: An Urban Biography, winner of the 2020/2021 Northeast Minnesota Book Award. Titled “Boom to Bust to Boom (1869–1887)” the excerpt tells the tale of how Duluth booked with the coming of the railroads in 1869, went bust when Jay…
Read MoreJune 5, 1889: Duluth’s volunteer fire department voluntarily disbands
On this day in Duluth in 1889, Duluth’s volunteer fire department officially disbanded. It had been organized in early March 1870, right after Duluth officially became a city for the first time. The first fire-fighting equipment the department owned were three dozen buckets donated by local hardware salesman A. A. Clifford. In November 1870 the…
Read MoreArchive Dive: St. James Orphanage
This week’s Archive Dive takes us inside our newest book, “Duluth’s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940,” for a look at the 1910 St. James Orphanage at 4321 Allendale Avenue and designed by Duluth architect A. Werner Lignell. You might know the building as Woodland Hills, a residential youth treatment center later renamed the Hills Youth and…
Read MoreMay 5, 1861: Creation of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad
On this day in 1861, the charter for the Nebraska & Lake Superior Railroad Company, designed to run from St. Paul to Omaha, was changed to instead create the Lake Superior & Mississippi (LS&M) from St. Paul to the westernmost tip of Lake Superior. Construction of the LS&M—designed as a portage railway to connect the…
Read MoreMay 4, 1872: Saboteurs attempt to blow up dike
On this day in Duluth in 1872, saboteurs used explosives in their attempt to destroy a dike between Duluth and Superior. The dike was built to settle a lawsuit between Duluth and Superior over the Duluth Ship Canal. Superior argued that the canal would divert the waters of the St. Louis River, allowing silt to…
Read MoreArchive Dive: The F. A. Patrick House
This week’s Archive Dive takes us inside our newest book, “Duluth’s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940,” for a look at the 1900 Patrick House at 2306 E. Superior Street and designed by Duluth architect I. Vernon Hill. One of the few homes in Duluth using a Picturesque design, accented with some Tudor Revival, it was a…
Read MoreApril 8, 1920: J. D. Ensign, twice former Duluth mayor, resigns as district court judge
On this day in Duluth in 1920, after nearly 32 years on the bench, 87-year-old Judge Josiah D. Ensign announced his resignation. He first came to Duluth in 1870 and was almost immediately elected as the St. Louis County Attorney. In that capacity, Ensign was instrumental in the legal fight with Wisconsin concerning the Duluth…
Read MoreApril 7, 1905: The Bon Ami becomes first vessel to enter the Duluth-Superior Harbor passing under the Aerial Transfer Bridge
On this day in Duluth in 1905, the Bon Ami became the first vessel to pass through the Duluth Ship Canal from the lakeward side and pass under the brand new Duluth Aerial Transfer Bridge before entering the Duluth-Superior Harbor. The Bon Ami, a 108-foot wooden steamer, had set out for Port Wing and Herbster,…
Read MoreMarch 25, 1710: Duluth’s namesake dies from gout
On this day in 1710, Duluth namesake Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut died of complications from gout in Montreal, New France. du Lhut had been born in the French village of Saint-Germain-Laval, near Lyons, in 1639 and served in King Louis XIV’s Royale Guard before traveling to what would become Canada. Biographer’s suggest that in…
Read MoreMarch 5, 1877: Duluth park visionary named personal secretary of President Rutherford B. Hayes
On this day in 1877 former and future Duluth William K. Rogers was named personal secretary of his good friend, President Rutherford B. Hayes. Rogers had met Hayes when he was attending Kenyon College, Hayes’s alma mater. Rogers greatly admired the future president Hayes, and they began what would become a lifetime friendship. In 1870…
Read MoreMarch 3, 1837: Birth of Duluth Pack creator Camille Poirer
On this day in 1837 (some say 1838) Camille Poirer was born in Montreal, Quebec. By 1870 he had visited Duluth often and decided to make the Zenith City his home. Here he first provided drinking water to local homes and businesses and later established a boot and shoe company on Superior Street just west…
Read MoreFebruary 10, 1920: Former President William Howard Taft speaks at Duluth’s First Methodist Church
On this day in Duluth in 1920, former president William H. Taft spoke at Duluth’s First Methodist Church. The event was sponsored by the David Wisted American Legion Post as one of 100 speaking engagements Taft would make that winter. The legion committee that brought Taft to the Zenith City included F. Rodney Paine, son…
Read MoreFebruary 8, 1883: Charles Winters elected “superintendent of repairs on the ship canal bridge”
On this day in Duluth in 1883, Charles Winters was elected “superintendent of repairs on the ship canal bridge.” “Wait a minute,” asks the careful reader. “We didn’t have a bridge over the canal until 1905, right?” Right—not a permanent bridge. But since the early 1870s a temporary wooden bridge was set up to cross…
Read MoreArchive Dive: The Pioneer Breweries of the Twin Ports
This week we dive into the archive to pull up some history on the pioneer brewers of Duluth and Superior. Brewing began in both communities in 1859, providing both a potent potable and jobs, as at the time the entire Head of the Lakes was struggling financially in the wake of the Panic of 1857.…
Read MoreArchive Dive: The Duluth’s Polish Catholic Churches
This week’s Archive Dive takes us inside our newest book, “Duluth’s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940” to tell the story of Duluth’s Polish Catholics through its three Polish Catholic churches: St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, Stes. Peter & Paul, and St. Josephat. Together their stories include mistreatment by Duluth’s Irish and German Catholics, the local…
Read MoreJanuary 1, 1895: Fond du Lac Joins the City of Duluth
On this day in Duluth in 1895, the Village of Fond du Lac officially joined the city of Duluth, extending the Zenith City’s western boundary. Prior to European settlement the entire area familiar to us as Duluth and Superior was known as Fond du Lac, French for “bottom of the lake.” The name was also…
Read MoreHoliday Sale Continues!
We are continuing our online Holiday Sale through the end of December—and since we no longer sell our books via Amazon.com, these are the best prices you‘ll find on the internet. All our titles are on sale and we have some great package deals when you buy our latest, Duluth‘s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940, and…
Read MoreDecember 15, 1856: The platting of the town of Endion
On this day in what would become Duluth, the town of Endion was platted between today’s 14th Avenue East and 21st Avenue East, essentially between Chester and Oregon Creeks from the lake shore to today’s Skyline Parwkay. Captain T. A. Markland established the townsite as “a quiet suburb for capitalists doing business at Superior,” which…
Read MoreSale at Depot Great Hall this Saturday; Holiday Sale Continues
Zenith City Press publisher and author Tony Dierckins will be selling and signing copies of all his books at the Duluth Depot’s Great Hall Marketplace from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Meanwhile, we are continuing our online Holiday Sale through the end of December—and since we no longer sell our books via Amazon.com, these…
Read MoreSigning Saturday At Glensheen; Holiday Sale Continues
Zenith City Press publisher and author Tony Dierckins will be signing copies of all his books at Glensheen Historic Estate this coming Saturday, December 10, from 1 to 3 p.m. Meanwhile, we are continuing our online Holiday Sale through the end of December—and since we no longer sell our books via Amazon.com, these are the…
Read MoreHOLIDAY SALE: 10–33% OFF ALL BOOKS!
Happy “Cyber Monday” to all! Here at Zenith City Press, we‘ll be honoring Cyber Monday every day now through New Year’s Eve—and since we no longer sell our books via Amazon.com, these are the best prices you‘ll find on the internet. All our titles are on sale and we have some great package deals when…
Read MoreNovember 28, 1915: Death of Frances Woodbridge, Duluth’s “Foremost woman civic leader”
On this day in Duluth in 1915, Duluth pioneer and “foremost woman civic leader” Frances Woodbridge died at 74 years old. Woodbridge was born Frances Poole in Portland, Maine, in 1841 and was educated in Boston. She taught at Mississippi’s Holy Springs seminary before returning to Massachusetts to marry William S. Woodbridge in 1870. Shortly…
Read MoreNovember 26, 1843: The birth of Duluth pioneer George Spencer
On this day in 1843, future Duluthian George Spencer was born Westminster, Vermont. After attending high school in Boston, Spencer came to Duluth in 1870 to manage the Union Improvement Elevator Company. In 1880 he entered the grain shipping business with Melvin J. Forbes as Spencer & Co. In 1889, he and Forbes parted company…
Read MoreLast Chance to Get Holiday Sale Deals!
It is now the final week of our Holiday Sale—and since we no longer sell our books via Amazon.com, these are the best prices you‘ll find on the internet. All our titles are on sale and we have some great package deals when you buy our latest, Duluth‘s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940, and we’ve cut…
Read MoreSmall Business Saturday: Author Signing at Zenith Book Store!
SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY (November 26): Zenith City press’s Tony Dierckins will be signing copies of all his books—including the new “Duluth’s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940” and “Duluth: An Urban Biography” (winner of the 2020-2021 Northeast Minnesota Book Award)—at Zenith Book Store, 318 N Central Avenue, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Read MoreNovember 16, 1881: Fire destroys Duluth’s Clark House Hotel
On this day in Duluth in 1881, fire destroyed the Clark House, Duluth’s finest hotel and the unofficial seat of all business in the fledgling city since it was first built in 1870. The fire had originated in an old boiler room behind the kitchen—a boiler that was scheduled to be replaced the very next…
Read MoreThis Week’s Author Events
THIS THURSDAY (November 17): Zenith City’s Tony Dierckins will present “Duluth’s Grand Old Buildings” at the University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library Rotunda. The presentation, which is derived from “Duluth‘s Grand Old Architecture 1870–1940” and introduces the audience to Duluth Landmark structures and those listed on the National Register of Historic Places,…
Read MoreThis Week’s Author Events
THIS WEEKEND (November 12–13): Zenith City Press will be setting up shop at the Festival of Trees at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. Publisher Tony Dierckins will be on hand to sign all of his books, and we are offering special prices on several titles. A great way to pick up a signed copy…
Read MoreUpcoming Author Events for November
Monday, November 7: Zenith City’s Tony Dierckins will give a brief presentation on the history of ski jumping in Duluth before Minnesota author Peter Geyer takes the stage to read from his newest work, ”The Ski Jumper.” Hosted by the Bookstore@ Fitger’s, the event will take place in the Fitger Complex’s Spirit of the North…
Read MoreOctober 22, 1922: Cornerstone laid for Duluth’s St. Anthony Padua Catholic Church
On this day in Duluth in 1922, the cornerstone was laid for a new St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and school at 1030 East 8th Street. Duluth’s parish of St. Anthony of Padua was established December 27, 1890, to serve German Catholics living east of Garfield Avenue. (St. Clements Catholic Church, which served German…
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