Piedmont Heights

By Tom Olsen tolsen@duluthnews.com

With housing, recreation, business and education opportunities, Piedmont Heights offers a suburban vibe close to the heart of Duluth.

The neighborhood was platted by the city of Duluth in 1891 as a “streetcar suburb” — a primarily residential addition, accessible via rail — built to accommodate Duluth’s flourishing population, which burgeoned from 33,000 in 1890 to 53,000 in 1900.

Piedmont Heights covers a fairly vast area, with borders of Haines Road to the east, Anderson Road to the north, Trinity Road to the west and Skyline Parkway to the south. Piedmont Avenue serves as a main thoroughfare, cutting through the oldest part of the neighborhood where a small business district includes the likes of Big Daddy’s Burgers.

The neighborhood includes abundant single-family homes, with newer development bringing a twisting network of full of culde-sacs, including Exhibition Drive, where residents are known for their annual over-thetop Christmas light displays. While seemingly isolated, residents have quick access to both downtown Duluth and Miller Hill Mall corridor via U.S. Highway 53.

Children today attend Piedmont Elementary School, which was built anew in 2011, but longtime residents will recall the Ensign School, a neighborhood landmark from 1908 until 1981, when it was destroyed by arson two years after closing. On its eastern edge, Piedmont Heights is home to Lake Superior College, which has continued to expand since it was established in 1995 at the site of the former Duluth Technical College.

The neighborhood also offers one of the busiest and most extensive trail systems in the city, used year-round for hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling.

Lake Superior College has continued to expand since it was established in 1995 on the site of the former Duluth Technical College on