March 2, 1887: Duluth regains its status as a city

On this day in Duluth in 1887, the Zenith City regained its status as a…city! Financial troubles starting with the Panic of 1873 cost Duluth its city charter in 1877 and it reverted to village status. Over the next ten years Duluth began to boom, thanks on part to investments in the harbor made years earlier, including the digging for the Duluth Canal. The new grain trade once again made Duluth prosperous, and it began paying off its debts. During the 1887 legislative session in St. Paul, Duluth Senator Alonzo J. Whiteman introduced a bill reincorporating Duluth as a city. On March 2, the bill passed. The next day Mayor Sutphin was alerted by telegraph, and the news of it made the papers on March 4: “Duluth is now a city; Mayor Sutphin received a telegram yesterday from Senator Whiteman stating that the bill had been signed by the governor, and it was now a law.” To illustrate how slow the speed of news moved in those days, the same edition carried a story about a village council meeting that included a motion for several alderman to travel to St. Paul to ensure the governor signed the bill without daily and that mayor Sutphin telegraph Senator Whiteman to find out why the governor had remarked that “there would probably be delay in the bill for the Duluth charter reaching his hands.” Read more about Duluth’s unique and unstable early history here.

Zenith City Press’s unofficial seal for the community formerly and currently known as Duluth. (Image: Zenith City Press)