December 15, 1856: The platting of the town of Endion

On this day in what would become Duluth, the town of Endion was platted between today’s 14th Avenue East and 21st Avenue East, essentially between Chester and Oregon Creeks from the lake shore to today’s Skyline Parwkay. Captain T. A. Markland established the townsite as “a quiet suburb for capitalists doing business at Superior,” which at the time looked to be the region’s city of destiny. (Markland, along with Robert Reed, also platted the town of Middleton—much of today’s Park Point—that same year.) Endion—named after the Ojibwe word for “my, your, or his home”—was located immediately east of the town of Portland, which lay between Third and Fourteenth Avenues East. Due to the Panic of 1857 and the Civil War, Endion remained fairly undeveloped for many years. On March 5, 1870, Duluth became a city, at the same time annexing Endion and Portland. Thanks to the Panic of ’73, Duluth lost population and financing, and in 1877 was forced to reorganize as a village and reduce its borders, rendering Endion an independent community—though very few people lived in Endion at the time. In 1887 Duluth regained its city charter; Endion rejoined the city that year and its border was stretched to 28th Avenue East. Today the former Endion Elementary School is one of few structures that carry the Endion name. Endion Station, which once stood at 15th Avenue East and South Street, was relocated to Canal Park in the 1980s to spare it from demolition for the expansion of I-35.

Endion Elementary School, photographed when it still had its central tower. (Image: Duluth Public Library)