On this day in 1862, future Duluthian A. C. Weiss, editor and publisher of the Duluth Herald, was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Weiss first moved to Minnesota in 1870, were he was educated in St. Paul public schools. He then went to work for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, who sent him to the Zenith…

On this day in Duluth in 1972, bottle house employees at Fitger’s Brewery reported for work for the last time. John Ferris, who had become president of the brewery in 1969, had been dealing with the State of Minnesota regarding the two significant situations that arose before his involvement in Fitger’s. The brewery was supposed…

On this day in 1873 Jay Cooke ran out of money, and all of his businesses failed. This sent the entire nation into a depression known as the Panic of 1873, and no community was hit as hard as Duluth, in which Cooke had heavily invested. With no money, much of the business in the…

On this day in Duluth in 1883, former president U. S. Grant and other distinguished visitors arrived in the Zenith City on the Northern Pacific Railroad at 2:15 p.m. and were “properly greeted” by a committee of civic leaders at the original Union Depot. The greeters included Mayor C. H. Graves, Duluth Board of Trade official George…

On this day on Lake Superior in 1901, the steamer Hudson sunk off northern Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. The vessel had foundered eight miles off Eagle River, Michigan, in heavy southwest gale. All 24 aboard went to the bottom along with a full load of grain. Since there were no survivors, the circumstances that lead to…

On this day in Duluth in 1915, the Duluth Herald reported that Duluth has greater wealth per capita than the Twin Cities. It explained that, “[Duluth’s] homes have better furnishings than homes in St. Paul; its citizens own more gold and silver plate per capita than do the citizens of the Capital City and the…

On this day in Duluth in 1929, Duluth police arrested three people, all speakers at a communist rally held at Sixth Avenue West and Superior Street. They would arrested six others at a similar event the following day. Local communist party leader Robert Newstrom and brothers George and Martin Kwsisto all landed in jail because…

On this day in 1967, the steamer North American suddenly sank about twenty-nine miles northeast of Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts. The North American and her sister ship, the South American were built in Ecorse, Michigan, in 1913 and 1914 for the Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Transit Company of Detroit. Both vessels were regular visitor to Duluth…

On this day in 1829, Duluth’s first mayor Joshua B. Culver was born in Buffalo, New York. Culver  first came to Duluth in the 1850s before leaving to fight for the Union in the American Civil War, where he rose to the rank of full colonel. He returned to Duluth and became a civic leader,…

On this day in Duluth in 1882, work began on Duluth’s streetcar system. Although the streetcar system itself was authorized in 1870, the Duluth Street Railway Company incorporated in 1881 and its first segment ran along Superior Street from Eighth Avenue West to Third Avenue East. According to records, small trolley cars or “dinkies” pulled…