Glen Avon Elementary

Glen Avon Elementary. (Image: Duluth Public Library)

St. Andrews Street & Roslyn Avenue | Architect: Palmer & Hall | Built: 1893 | Lost: 1910

In 1887 the patriarch of Glen Avon and Hunter’s Park, Angus MacFarlane, built a one-room school on his own property between Lewis and St. Andrew’s Street, right on the bank of Tischer Creek (the “Avon” of the Glen Avon name). The building itself had two rooms; the other served as the MacFarlane family’s ice house. MacFarlane also donated the land upon which a second Glen Avon school was built in 1893. The school was a small, two-story frame building with four classrooms and no architectural decoration, save for two interesting oval windows shown in the undated photo above. Glen Avon closed in 1905 when Washburn Elementary School opened nearby.  It was demolished in 1910; houses now occupy the lot.

From Lost Duluth: Landmarks, Industries, Buildings, Homes and the Neighborhoods in Which They Stood by Tony Dierckins and Maryanne C. Norton (Zenith City Press, 2012), featuring over 400 historic photos, illustrations, and lithographs. Click on the cover to preview the book.