March 22, 1887: First meeting of the new City of Duluth’s city council

On this day in Duluth in 1887, the new City of Duluth’s first city councilors—18 aldermen representing different geographic wards (four in 1870; seven by 1887; nine by 1912)—met for the first time. Duluth had no city hall at the time, so the council met in rooms the city rented in the Hosmer Block at 15–18 East Superior Street. At the meetings, according to historian Dwight Woodbridge, “A board of public works was constituted consisting of Major Guy Wells, president; B. F. Edwards, clerk; Philip Westaway, street commissioner; and James Fowler, city engineer. A petition for a franchise to the Duluth and Highland Cable Railroad Company was presented and granted, to run from Superior Street up the hill to Fifteenth Street. There was a great protest made by the Duluth Street Railway Company, but the two companies finally came together. The wheat from the burned elevators on the outside dock was declared to be a nuisance on account of the horrible odor arising from it, and a contract was let to John Inglis for $940 to dispose of it. Mr. Inglis had it loaded in dump scows and towed it out into the lake.” Over the next few months, the city council took care of other unfinished business that had gone neglected while Duluth pulled itself out of debt, including fixing Superior Street. According to Woodbridge, “The condition of Superior Street was now something terrible. Horses were mired right in the business section of the city, while the citizens squabbled over the condition of the pavement. Finally it was agreed to put in cedar block pavement with a concrete foundation.” That’s right, the downtown portion of Superior Street was once paved with wooden block (and some people thought—some still do—that the 1980s bricking of Superior and First Streets was a mistake…). Actually, the use of wood blocks to pave streets began in London in the 1830s and was used throughout the U.S. during the second half of the 19th Century.

The seal for the City of Duluth, established (for the second time) on March 2, 1887.