My role here is to write about Duluth’s western neighborhoods in the past, particularly the West End where I grew up long before its name was changed to Lincoln Park.
This being the political season, I know many readers of Zenith City have been wondering: Have any presidents ever visited the West End? Or maybe not too many readers have wondered that.
Nevertheless, I am pleased to report that I know of two greatly admired presidents who found themselves in the West End of Duluth in my lifetime (I can’t speak for earlier lifetimes): Democrat Harry S. Truman and Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Yes, HST and Ike…in Duluth’s West End neighborhood.
Taking them chronologically, we’ll start with Truman. When he ran for election in 1948 (recall that as vice president he had assumed the presidency in 1945 when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office), he toured the country by train, making what were called “whistle stops” in places where he hoped to pick up votes.
Often he’d speak on the back of the train, but when he came here he got off the train and was driven down Superior Street in an open convertible, waving at the multitudes lining Duluth’s main street to catch a glimpse of the president.
Not exactly the West End, right?
Well, stay tuned. Truman’s train had pulled into one of the Superior depots, where he got off and was transported to Duluth by car. I was only nine years old so I don’t recall if he spoke in Superior before crossing the Arrowhead Bridge to Duluth.
In traveling between Superior and Duluth the president and his entourage went along Garfield Avenue to where it meets the base of Piedmont Avenue before turning eastward on Superior Street and heading downtown. That intersection is the eastern edge of the West End. So, technically, the president was in the West End, if only for a moment.
I didn’t see the motorcade there, but a neighbor friend walked down to the intersection to catch a glimpse of Truman. When the president’s car turned onto Superior Street, my friend’s dog, an inveterate car chaser in those pre-leash law days, chased Truman’s car, nipping at the wheels. (The dog was Republican. Trust me on that.)
The city was in such a frenzy over the presidential visit that public school pupils were dismissed early—the visit occurred mid-afternoon—so they could see the president.
I was standing in front of the Hayes Block on First Avenue East and Superior Street with my mother when Truman was slowly driven eastward along the thoroughfare. My memory has him seated atop the back seat where the convertible top folds down, waving and smiling.
Across the street a group of teenage boys, gathered on the roof of a one-story building, where shouting “phooey on Dewey, phooey on Dewey.” It was a reference to Truman’s Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, whom everyone thought would defeat Truman, but didn’t.
What about Ike? What was the 1952 Republican presidential candidate and retired World War II supreme commander of allied forces in Europe doing in the humble West End of Duluth? Well, just passing through it.
Eisenhower’s campaign visit to Duluth was on a chilly, cloudy fall Saturday. I learned later that he made a big splash downtown, giving an outdoor speech in Duluth’s Civic Center where a stage had been set up for him in front of the St. Louis County Courthouse. (Click here to see a photo of Eisenhower in Duluth.)
Somehow I’d found out (probably in the newspaper) that his motorcade, after the downtown event, would take him just a block west of my home—routed north on 24th Avenue West en route to the airport. By 1952 trains had given way to planes.
Sleeping in on that non-school weekend day, I realized after getting up that Eisenhower would be going up 24th in just a few minutes. I jumped on my bicycle and pedaled a block across the Fifth Street alley to the avenue, where a small group of neighbors had gathered waiting for the famed candidate. Eisenhower was seeking his first term and facing Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson.
It wasn’t long before they showed up, Eisenhower seated in the back seat of a black luxury sedan, probably a Cadillac, headed up the avenue. A neighbor woman, not shy, shouted, “Hi-ya, Ike” just as Eisenhower passed us, and he quickly glanced our way and waved. It was a five-second brush with history.
I’ve seen other presidents pass through Duluth—John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush—but I don’t think they made it to the West End. That’s their misfortune.
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Former Duluth News Tribune columnist and journalist Jim Heffernan continues his musings while in retirement on his blog (www.jimheffernan.org) and as a monthly columnist with Duluth~Superior Magazine. A collection of Heffernan’s classic newspaper columns in his book, Cooler Near the Lake, depicts his wry humor, interesting life perspectives and as a chronicler of Duluth history. Click here to access Jim’s archived stories.
I happened to see Ike that day, too. On my way to Confirmation class at Zion Lutheran Church, I walked to the northeast corner of 24th Avenue West and Third Street, where the Methodist Church (Wesley Methodist I think it was called) was located. I couldn’t cross 24th Avenue because a small crowd blocked my way. Then someone said that Ike would be passing by, so I joined the crowd, risking coming late to Confirmation…which didn’t hurt my feelings greatly. In my mind’s eye I can still see him zip past through the intersection heading up the hill. His auto was moving so fast I only got a glimpse of him. I wonder what it was like speeding up-hill, then flatening out across 3rd Street, and then nose up again as the car continued climbing up the hill at that speed! As I recall, Eisenhauer kept looking straight forward, with no eye contact or waving to the crowd. Perhaps he was startled by the ride through the intersection. My memory is that he was in an large open automobile, much like what presidents use in parades, but I wouldn’t argue the point. I don’t recall if I got to Confirmation class late or not.
Jim Heffernan writing: Great photo of Eisenhower in Duluth. I didn’t know it existed. Everybody knows Eisenhower, but the others are not identified. I think — not sure — the man on the left (to Ike’s right) is Billy Petrolle, the former boxer who operated a religious goods business in Duluth. I don’t know the man immediately to Ike’s left, nor the woman next to him, but the man on the right in the photo is then-Duluth Mayor George W. Johnson. The W in Johnson’s name was for Washington, another ex-general who became president.