June 26, 1928: President Coolidge first uses office at Superior Central High

On this day across the bay in 1928, President Calvin Coolidge used the desk in his new temporary office at Superior’s Central High School for the first time. The president was in Wisconsin for a lengthy summer vacation that mostly involved fishing along the Brule River. On that first day Coolidge worked for about two hours, going over routine matters and conferring with his staff at the “Summer Whitehouse.” When the president arrived at the school, more than 100 people were gathered to see him. He smiled and offered a simple “hello” before ducking inside. That day was the start of the Democratic National Convention, but Coolidge had no time to listen to it on the radio; instead, he “frolick[ed] with the White House dogs on the lawn of the of the lodge. “The Lodge” was the Cedar Island lodge on the Brule, where Coolidge and the First Lady stayed and where he would “shunt all but the most pressing matters of state from his mind.” He made no plans for July 4th, both the nation’s and his own birthday—he preferred quite time with his family, and fishing. The president often spent entire mornings on the river in a birchbark canoe with his “Indian” guide, John Larock. By the time he spent his first day at work in Superior, he had already landed a 3.5-pound rainbow trout and six salmon. Read more about Coolidge’s 1928 stay in northwestern Wisconsin here.

A postcard commemorating Superior Central High School’s moment as the “Summer White House.” (Image: Zenith City Press)coolidge