Greetings and welcome to September in the Zenith City! With the seasons about to change, we thought we’d focus this month on a part of town particularly loaded with hardwood trees that turn red, orange, and gold during September: Woodland, originally “Woodland Park.” Heidi Bakk-Hansen in particular celebrates Duluth’s wooded streetcar suburb with a feature story on its early years and later, in her monthly “What’s in a Name” column, shel explains the origins of two streets named for a couple of Duluth’s early “power couples.” Maryanne Norton will answer the question, “what was the original use of that bluestone building at the corner of Woodland and Oxford?” (hint: many Duluthians remember it as the “Snow White”), and I will tell the scandalous tale that led to the demise of Hardy Hall, a private college preparatory school for girls that once stood at 2000 Woodland Avenue. And so we don’t overdo all things Woodland Avenue, Nancy Nelson visits the history of Duluth’s first park, Cascade Square just above downtown; Jim Heffernan remembers his high school dining at A&Dubs, now Duluth’s last surviving drive-in restaurant; and David Ouse’s “Forgotten Duluthians” recalls one former resident of the Zenith City—the grandson of a prominent Duluth pioneer—who advised President Lyndon Johnson that the war in Vietnam was not winnable.
And since this issue launches over a long holiday weekend, we are keeping content from the last week or so of September—articles and several “This Day in Duluth” piece—up on the front page so you can catch up. If you haven’t already, please “like” us on facebook and sign up to subscribe to daily content updates via email by subscribing (bottom of left column on all pages). Thanks for reading—and for all the kind comments. Many of you have sent us encouraging emails, telling us to “keep it up!” We will—as long as you keep reading!
— Tony Dierckins, Editor/Publisher/Janitor
