On this day in Duluth in 1921, the Duluth News Tribune reported that Chicago landscape architect Edward H. Bennett said that “A visitor’s first impression as he nears the city is depressing…because of the marked contrast with the beauty of the residential area.” Bennet said the problem could be fixed with “more orderly development in…

On this day in Duluth in 1881, Josiah D. Ensign was elected mayor of the Village of Duluth, and it wasn’t much of a contest. Ensign had become president of the village, organized in 1877 after the city of Duluth went bankrupt, after Peter Dean resigned from the office in September 1880. In January 1881…

On this day in Duluth in 1930, Carl Meeske, president of the Rex Company, called the Fitger Company announcing that “all his men are quitting this evening” and asked Fitger’s to take over the company the next day. The Rex Company had been called Duluth Brewing & Malt prior to Prohibition. After the death of…

On this day in Duluth in 1887, Judge O. P. Stearns “delivered up the last of the old city bonds and coupons, and the old disgrace to the city was finally wiped out.” The previous month Duluth had regained its city charter, so getting rid of those old bonds was the last step Duluth required…

On this day in Duluth in 1880, pioneer Luke Marvin died in the city he helped shape from its infancy. Marvin had first come to Duluth from St. Paul in 1861 and shortly thereafter was appointed registrar of the U.S. Land Office. It took an entire week for Marvin, his wife, and his five-year-old son…

On this day in Duluth in1889, the city organized its first Board of Park Commissioners. In March State Legislature had approved “An Act Providing for a System of Public Grounds for the City of Duluth.” This legislation created the board and gave it broad powers to acquire land, make improvements, and adopt regulations to guide…

On this day in Duluth in 1917, 385 officers and sailors of Duluth’s naval militia marched from Duluth’s new Armory at 13th Avenue East and London Road to the Omaha Station at 200 5th Avenue West (now part of I-35) before boarding trains bound for Philadelphia, the first leg on their journey into the first…

April 7, 1885: On this day in Duluth in 1885, Horace B. Moore was elected mayor. Moore was born in Danville, Illinois, in 1843 and later graduated Dartmouth College. He came to Duluth in 1880 to work for lumber dealer R. L. Henry, a lumber dealer and became the secretary of the Duluth Lumber Company…

On this day in Duluth in 1913, a headline in the Duluth News Tribune shouted “teachers must stop flogging students.” It ran over an article explaining that school superintendent Robert Denfeld said he would no longer tolerate rough discipline in schools. Denfeld declared, “We try to treat the children of the Duluth public schools like human…

On this day in Duluth in 1993, the Duluth City Council passed a resolution of intent to accept donation of the site of the ruins of the 1901 Duluth Normal School from the University of Minnesota Duluth. The building, completed in 1901, was destroyed by an arson fire on February 23, 1993. It was designed…