Duluth History

Duluth 1856–2006: Its First 150 Years

A Timeline of Duluth Civic History

Before Duluth (To 1850)

Fire & Ice: Duluth’s Geographic Past

First Peoples

The Fur Trade (1550–1847)

Treaties and Reservations (1826–1854)

At the Head of the Lakes (1854–1869)

North Shore Copper Rush (1854–1858)

The Townsites that Became Duluth (1856–1857)

Panic and War (1857–1865)

Railroad Dreams (1866–1868)

Boom to Bust to Boom (1869–1887)

A City is Born (1869–1870)

From Promise to Panic (1870–1877)

Up from the Ashes (1877–1884)

A City Reborn (1885–1887)

Expansion and Prosperity (1888–1919)

Expanding Borders (1888–1895)

Infrastructure, Industry & Immigrants (1888–1900)

Becoming the Twin Ports (1893–1910)

Reorganization, War, Fire & Flu (1911–1919)

Prohibition, Depression & War (1920–1955)

Prohibition & an Ugly Influence (1918–1933)

Battling Depression (1930–1940)

War & Post-War Boom (1940–1955)

Decline and Adaptation (1956–1987)

Duluth’s Industrial Decline (1956–1993)

The Expansion of Interstate 35 through Duluth (1960–1987)

Duluth’s Gateway Urban Renewal Program

Early Tourism & Environmental Efforts (1960–1974)

Reinvention Begins (1975–2006)

Creating Canal Park (1975–1985)

Starting to Stabilize (1985–1995)

Creating a New Identity (1996–2006)

Immigrant and Minority Patterns

Duluth Immigration 1869–1920

Duluth’s Lack of Diversity

Neighborhoods

Ashtabula Heights (Lost)

Colbyville

Duluth’s “Bowery”

Duluth Heights

Finn Town (Lost)

The Town of Fremont (Lost)

Hunters Park

The Influence of Isle of Lewis on Hunters Park

Hunters Park Grocery

Lakeside & Lester Park

Little Italy, aka The Glenn

The Town of Oneota (Lost)

Lyman Park (Lost)

Morgan Park

Morgan Park Streetcar Depot

Morgan Park School

Morgan Park Hospital

Good Fellowship Club

Lake View Store

Park State Bank

United Protestant

Blessed Mary Margaret Church & Rectory

The Suburb of Proctor

Slab Town (Lost)

Swede Town, aka Garfield Avenue District (Lost)

Woodland