Duluth: An Urban Biography

Published by Minnesota Historical Society Press and winner of the Northeast Minnesota Book Award, Duluth: An Urban Biography covers the city’s history, from the Precambrian lava flows of 2.6 billion years ago that formed the bed of Lake Superior through the November 2019 mayoral election, just months before Duluth’s 150th anniversary as a city. The book highlights the fascinating stories of Duluth: Its significance as the final stop in the Ojibwe’s legendary westward migration; the cycle of booms and busts that shaped its early civic history; the natural port on St. Louis Bay that made shipping its first and most important business; the industries, industrialists, and immigrants that drove its commerce; the city’s boundless natural beauty; the ugliness of the 1920 lynchings of three African American circus workers; Duluth’s contributions to popular culture—and popular culture’s long history of disparaging Duluth; and throughout the years, how Lake Superior and the St. Louis River have driven and sustained Duluth’s economy, offered its residents unlimited recreational opportunities, attracted tourists who flock to their shores—and created an east-west sociopolitical split that divides the city to this day.