DNT Extra December 2019

Aerial Lift Bridge

Famous bridge evolved from aerial ferry

By Peter Passi ppassi@duluthnews.com

Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge traces its history back to 1905, when the city opened a structure equipped with a gondola to ferry people and vehicles across the canal that separates Park Point from the rest of the city. The 186-foot-tall bridge was one of just five such structures in the world and the first of its kind in the United States. It was built at a cost of about $111,700 — the equivalent of more than $3.2 million today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The gondola took about 70 seconds to traverse the canal, and it cost a nickel per trip.

The aerial ferry bridge was converted into the Aerial Lift Bridge, and on Oct. 29, 1929, about 5,000 people came out to see its first lift. The structure was equipped with two 450-ton counterweights and four 95-horsepower electric motors that were used to lift the concrete roadway 42 feet in the air, providing marine traffic with free passage through the shipping canal.

Work on the conversion stretched into the winter of 1930 and cost about $400,000 — the equivalent of about $6 million today.

In the 1950s, as Duluth moved away from streetcars, tracks were removed from the bridge and its deck was replaced with steel grating.

After the St. Lawrence Seaway opened, throngs of people gathered at the Lift Bridge on May 3, 1959, to

Two geese on the wing are framed by the Aerial Lift Bridge at sunrise in this file photo. (File / News Tribune)

welcome the first saltwater ship ever to call on the Twin Ports: the Ramon de Larrinaga.

Residents raised about $21,000 to install lighting on the bridge in 1966, and in 1970 the bridge’s original Essex Green paint job was replaced with silver.

The bridge received upgrades in 1985 and 2000, when more than $5 million was invested to repair and renovate the structure. u

Illustration of the proposed Aerial Ferry Bridge published in the Duluth Evening Herald on Oct. 5, 1901. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

6-7

Enger Tower

Rick Lubbers

We pass them every day in our cars or on foot. Some of us work in them. We tour them and snap selfies in front of them, show them off to relatives or friends visiting from out of town. Unfortunately, we are often oblivious after seeing them so much and can tend to take them for granted.

But they are invaluable landmarks of the region, totems of the past that remind us where we’ve been, where we are now and even cast light on or foreshadow our future.

They are the historic buildings of the Northland.

Whether it’s sparkling Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, the splendid Hibbing High School and its auditorium, the history-filled Duluth Armory, or the unique structures of the Davidson Windmill in rural Douglas County and the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station in downtown Cloquet, these buildings all have played a vital role in our history and remind us how important it is to take care of these invaluable structures for posterity. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list. We don’t have nearly enough room in this magazine to get them all in — maybe we’ll create a sequel in a future DNT Extra? — but we hope you’ll enjoy this special look at many of the buildings that have helped Duluth and the Northland carve a unique identity. Thanks for being a loyal reader of the Duluth News Tribune.

11

Denfeld High School

18-19

Davidson Windmill

36-37

Historic Old Central High School

44-45

Frank Lloyd Wright gas station

46-47

Duluth Armory

Rick Lubbers is the executive editor of the Duluth News Tribune. Contact him at 218-723-5301 or rlubbers@duluthnews.com.

Page design for this section by Renae Ronquist. Editing by Rick Lubbers. Photos by from Clint Austin, Tyler Schank, Steve Kuchera and Jed Carlson, and graphics by Gary Meader.

COVER: Historic Old Central opened in 1892.

(Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Cover designed by Gary Meader / gmeader@duluthnews.com

Wade Stadium

Duluth’s baseball haven has hosted the boys of summer since 1941

By Tom Olsen tolsen@duluthnews.com

More than 380,000 bricks were salvaged from nearby Grand Avenue to build this iconic ballpark in West Duluth.

A $230,000 project funded by the Works Progress Administration, the stadium opened July 16, 1941, with the Duluth Dukes and Superior Blues squaring off in a Northern League baseball game at what was then known as the Duluth Municipal All-Sports Stadium.

It wasn’t until 1954 that the ballpark took its current name in honor of Frank Wade, longtime owner of the minor league Dukes.

Through the club’s years as a major league affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers, the park hosted to future greats such as Hank Aaron, Roger Maris, Willie Stargell and Lou Brock.

But the Dukes shuttered in 1970, leaving the Wade without much upkeep for the next two decades as it continued to host University of Minnesota Duluth and local high school baseball games. During this time, it also hosted of a series of high-profile concerts, including Willie Nelson, the Beach Boys and Three Dog Night.

The Duluth-Superior Dukes brought professional baseball back in 1993, winning a league championship in 1997, before relocating to Kansas City, Kan., after the 2002 season. Since 2003, the ballpark has been home to the Duluth Huskies, a summer collegiate team, and continues to host high school and college games.

With bricks literally crumbling from the walls and the natural grass surface plagued by drainage issues, a much-needed $4.6 million renovation project was completed in 2015, bringing artificial turf, an improved drainage system, new brickwork, improved lighting and a new scoreboard to the aging park. u

Duluth Municipal All-Sports Stadium and the adjacent ore docks are seen in this aerial view around the time the ballpark opened in 1941. The facility took its current name, Wade Stadium, in 1954. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Players line up for introductions and the national anthem at the start of a Duluth Huskies game at Wade Stadium on the ballpark’s 75th anniversary. (2016 file / News Tribune)

Enger Tower

Iconic structure has watched over Duluth since 1939

By Tom Olsen tolsen@duluthnews.com

Located on the hill off Duluth’s Skyline Parkway, Enger Tower offers panoramic views of the Twin Ports and Lake Superior. The five-story, 80-foot bluestone structure was erected in 1939 and serves as a prominent site atop the Duluth skyline.

It is named for Bert Enger, a native of Norway who immigrated to Duluth and made his fortune selling furniture. At the time of his death in 1931, Enger donated two-thirds of his estate, including 600 acres of land that now includes Enger Park and Golf Course, to the city. He also contributed $50,000 to

Built in 1939, Enger Tower provides scenic views of downtown Duluth and Lake Superior. This photo was taken around 1966. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

build the tower.

The structure was formally dedicated by Norway’s Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha on June 15, 1939. For the past 80 years, countless area residents and tourists have climbed the stairs of the octagonal tower, stopping for photos at the open-air windows on each level.

“It’s an important icon for the region, not just Duluth,” Terry Groshong, a retired city architect, said in 2014.

The city in 2011 approved spending $372,226 in tourism tax money for repairs that included tuckpointing; replacement of missing bluestone; electrical and lighting work; plaster and concrete patching; roof work; replacement of railings and a gate; and

improved accessibility.

Meanwhile, Rotary Club 25 of Duluth contributed $100,000 to install a new LED lighting system that allows the tower to be illuminated in an array of colors to support awareness for various causes.

The improvements were celebrated with a rededication ceremony on Oct. 17, 2011. Doing the honors were Norway’s King Harald, whose parents prosided over original dedication, along with Queen Sonja.

“Standing here, I can easily see why so many Norwegian immigrants decided to settle here in this area, by the splendid shores of Lake Superior,” the king said during a ceremony at the tower. u

Norway’s King Harald speaks about the importance of the connection between Duluth’s residents and Norway during a rededication ceremony at Enger Tower in 2011. His parents, Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha, first dedicated the structure in 1939. (File / News Tribune)

Fairlawn Mansion

Built by Martin Pattison in 1891, mansion is a Superior landmark

By Adelie Bergstrom abergstrom@duluthnews.com

Fairlawn Mansion was built in 1891 as the family home for lumber and mining baron Martin Pattison and his wife, Grace, along with their six children.

Martin Pattison served three terms as Superior’s mayor and was elected sheriff of Douglas County,

while Grace Pattison was active in civic organizations and charities.

The 42-room Queen Anne Victorian house at 906 E. Second St. was built at a cost of $150,000, according to Superior Public Museums. That’s more than $4 million in today’s dollars.

Fairlawn Mansion today. (Photo courtesy of Superior Public Museums)

After her husband’s sudden death in 1918, Grace Pattison moved to California and deeded the house to the Superior Children’s Home and Refuge Association, which had operated a children’s home in Billings Park since 1904.

The children’s home moved to Fairlawn in 1920 and operated there until 1962, housing up to 75 children from newborns to age 16. Most of the children weren’t orphans; rather they had parents who couldn’t care for them for various reasons. More than 2,200 children lived at Fairlawn during its 42-year run.

Eventually, the Douglas County Historical Society moved into the home and stayed there until 1999.

Restoration work began in the 1990s, and today the home is open for tours and special events.

The mansion’s first floor, which has been fully restored, features gilded murals, a grand entrance hall and open staircase, marble and tile fireplaces and original leaded and stained-glass windows.

The second floor includes family bedrooms that are furnished much as they were during the Pattisons’ time at the house. The third-floor displays, including what once was the mansion’s ballroom, are dedicated to the Fairlawn’s era as a children’s home.

Fairlawn also features a tower that runs from the basement to a lookout above the third floor, and it once included a pool and a bowling alley. u

Fairlawn Mansion in the 1890s. (Photo courtesy of Superior Public Museums)

Oliver G. Traphagen House

Mansion gets new life after 2014 fire

By Adelle Whitefoot awhitefoot@duluthnews.com

Oliver G. Traphagen, one of the most prolific architects in Duluth history, built his home in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood.

The Oliver G. Traphagen House, located at 1509 E. Superior St., was built in 1892 as a double residence divided longitudinally into equal units, each with a private entrance. Each side of the house contained a parlor, sitting room, library, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor with chambers on the second and third floors.

All major rooms were given their own fireplace as evidenced by seven massive chimneys that protrude above the roof lines.

Traphagen lived in the house until he moved to Hawaii in 1897 when one of his children became ill. Then, Chester Congdon and his family moved in until the Glensheen Mansion was finished in 1908. The Congdon family continued to own the house into the 1930s and converted it into a nine-unit apartment building in 1919.

The building switched owners countless times since the Congdon family sold it. In 1986, Howard Klatzky purchased it and used it as residential and commercial space for HTK marketing communications. But in August 2014, the historic Oliver G. Traphagen House was damaged by a fire.

HTK was in the process of moving its business to Canal Park at the time of the fire and the building was for sale. The fire caused more than $150,000 in damage and was eventually ruled as arson.

The historic mansion now has new life as the Redstone Lofts, with 11 modern luxury lofts. The mansion was bought by Dean Jablonsky, a Minneapolis businessman and president of Redstone Lofts, in March 2016 for $45,000. u

The Oliver G. Traphagen House is shown in 1940. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Redstone Lofts is located in the 126-year-old Oliver G. Traphagen House on East Superior Street in Duluth. (File / News Tribune)

Denfeld High School

The home of the Hunters and many renovations

By Adelle Whitefoot awhitefoot@duluthnews.com

Denfeld High School, home to more than 800 students, is far different than the original building that opened in September 1926.

Duluth Public Schools’ western high school was named after Robert E. Denfeld, superintendent of the district from 1885 to 1916. The current building was constructed in red brick and limestone for $1.25 million. Duluth architects Abraham Holstead and W.J. Sullivan designed the original H-shaped building, which features medieval carvings by Duluth stone carver O. George Thrana.

Denfeld’s auditorium was built in 1926 as well for an additional $25,000. After enduring years of deterioration, the auditorium was restored to its original glory in 2006 for $1.2 million. It took six months to create plaster molds, paint walls, clean and rewire the chandeliers and install a new copper roof.

The restoration of the auditorium was not the only construction the building endured since it was first constructed in the 1920s. It has had multiple additions, with the most recent, the “Red Plan,” finished in 2011. Denfeld was closed for the 2010-11 school year to complete the project.

Part of the newest addition is a commons area and cafeteria with a view of the 120-foot-tall clock tower, which was erected after the architects won a battle with the school principal at the time of construction. The principal wanted a pool, but the architects wanted a tower. u

Denfeld High School circa 1940 (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Denfeld High School as it looks today. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)

Board of Trade Building

It’s the city’s second, and it retains its charm

By Jimmy Lovrien jlovrien@duluthnews.com

Duluth’s Board of Trade Building, at 301 W. First St., isn’t the city’s first.

The original, designed and built in 1885 by George Wirth and Oliver Traphagen, was just one block down, on 302 W. Superior St., until a fire — and frozen fire hydrants — caused the structure to collapse. Its replacement, which still stands today, was finished in 1895.

The second time around, Traphagen had a larger role, said Tony Dierckins, publisher of Zenith City Press and a local historian.

“George Wirth was Oliver Traphagen’s boss. Traphagen was his construction supervisor in Duluth, and when Wirth moved back to Germany in ’85 or ’86, that’s when Traphagen decided he was an architect,” Dierckins said. “And then he becomes the most remarkable architect in Duluth.”

Traphagen went on to design some of Duluth’s most recognizable buildings, including Central High School, Chester Terrace and Munger Terrace.

The building was built to house the Board of Trade, which controlled the Twin Ports’ grain industry, and a trading floor sits on the top floor.

As the grain industry changed, so did the building’s purpose. The Board of Trade moved out in the 1970s when the grain trade

This is what the façade of the Board of Trade Building originally looked like. The cornice ornamentation was removed and never replaced after it was damaged by a 1948 fire in a neighboring building. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

The Board of Trade building in Duluth. (File / News Tribune)

in Duluth declined, according to Dierckins. The floors were rented by other businesses, though not always fully, while restaurants, bakeries and salons filled the street-level storefronts.

The trading floor stood vacant from 1965 until 1999 when the Minnesota Ballet moved in, enjoying the space’s high ceiling and arched windows for its rehearsal space and headquarters.

Through a capital campaign, the ballet preserved the Grain Exchange’s maple hardwood floor, telephone booths and catwalk where workers once posted grain prices on a large blackboard.

But in 2018, the Minnesota Ballet moved out so the building’s new owner, Dubin Guru Group, can convert the building into 84 apartments, including studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Some units will be offered at reduced rates to lower-income residents.

The carvings of O. George Thrana, a master stone carver who emigrated from Norway to Duluth, remain. Examples of his work can be found throughout the region, including the fountain at Glensheen Mansion and ornamentation on the Kitchi Gammi Club, Denfeld and Central high schools, the College of St. Scholastica and Holy Rosary School.

Dierckins said the building’s two-story entrance, where many of Thrana’s carvings remain, is one of the last of its kind in town. The others had been covered up in the mid-20th century with marble and other stone.

“The Board of Trade building still has that original grand entrance,” Dierckins said. “And that’s what we’re losing on some of our landmarks that are still with us on Superior Street.” u

Traders buy and sell grain on the floor of the Board of Trade Building in November 1953. Brokers used the phone booths located below the chalk commodity board to take orders and consult with clients while the exchange was operating. The trading floor closed for good in 1972. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn

A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

The Minnesota Ballet rehearsed in the Board of Trade’s trading floor for almost 20 years. (File / News Tribune)

Split Rock Lighthouse

1905 storm demonstrated need for North Shore light

By Jimmy Lovrien jlovrien@duluthnews.com

It started with a November gale. On Nov. 28, 1905, winds gusted at 70 mph over Lake Superior. Mammoth waves pounded the shore.

In Duluth, the freighter Mataafa tried entering the harbor through the canal, but the waves tossed against the piers. Onlookers watched helplessly from Canal Park as it broke in two and nine of its crew members died.

Ships ran aground all along the North Shore.

By the time the storm passed, 29 ships had been damaged or destroyed and 33 people were dead. Many of the ships were owned by the U.S. Steel Corp.

In the storm’s aftermath, the company began lobbying for a lighthouse on the North Shore, but officials couldn’t decide where. Eventually, they settled on the cliffs north of the Split Rock River. From there, ships could be warned of reefs near the mouths of the nearby Split Rock and Gooseberry rivers.

But without roads, construction of the lighthouse proved difficult.

“There is not even a rabbit path leading to the point from the land side, and the whole of the 600 tons of materials had to be landed from a boat at times when the sea was calm and hoisted by a derrick to the top of the rock on which the lighthouse will stand,” the News Tribune wrote of construction.

Split Rock Lighthouse began guiding ships when it was commissioned in 1910, and as soon as a road was built along the North Shore in 1924, it started to serve another function as a tourist attraction.

Eventually, advancing navigation technology made the lighthouse obsolete, and the U.S. Coast Guard decommissioned Split Rock in 1968. The state of Minnesota took over the property in 1971, and the Minnesota Historical Society has managed the site since 1976.

Today, it remains a popular tourist destination,

and the Minnesota Historical Society has restored it to its 1920s condition.

Although the light is no longer needed to guide ships, it still lights up every Nov. 10 to honor the 29 crew members who died when the Edmund Fitzgerald freighter was lost in a November 1975 gale. u

Lighthouse keeper Franklin J. Covell, left, poses for a photo in front of the Split Rock Lighthouse in the 1920s or 1930s. (Photo credit unknown)

Fireworks explode over Split Rock Lighthouse northeast of Two Harbors, on July 31, 2010. The fireworks display and lighting of the beacon were to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first lighting of the beacon, which was first lit July 31, 1910. (File / News Tribune)

NorShor Theatre

Its glory was restored after it fell by the

By Adelle Whitefoot awhitefoot@duluthnews.com

The NorShor Theatre has had many ups and downs in its lifetime. But city officials made a promise to the community to bring it back to its former glory, and that’s exactly what they did with the help of a generous developer.

The NorShor Theatre opened in August 1910 as the Orpheum Theatre, built by G.G. Hartley for the cost of $150,000.

“It is gorgeous where the gorgeous is appropriate and subdued where the inconspicuous is fitting. The lighting is perfection and the acoustics such that every word from the stage is as distinctly heard in every corner and in the gallery as in the nearest box,” the News Tribune reported after the theater’s opening.

After extensive remodeling, the Orpheum reopened as a movie theater in July 1941 and was renamed the “NorShor”. The first movie shown in the theater was “Caught in the Draft,” starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

In 1982, the theater was closed and sold to Eric Ringsred. After that, the theater went through many managers and was sold to a nonprofit in the 1990s before it ended back under the control of Ringsred.

Under Ringsred, the NorShor opened and reopened many times and as many different businesses,

wayside

NorShor Theatre circa 1941. When the NorShor Theatre opened in the summer of 1941 it billed itself as “The Northwest’s Finest Luxury Theatre.” (File / News Tribune)

including a strip club, which closed in 2010 after the city announced an agreement for the Duluth Economic Development Authority to buy the NorShor and the adjacent Temple Opera building from Ringsred for $2.6 million, with plans to hand over the theater to the Duluth Playhouse.

The city partnered with developer George Sherman, who was instrumental in bringing the NorShor back to life. The newly restored NorShor had its grand unveiling Feb. 1, 2018. Its first show was “Mamma Mia!” u

The exterior of the NorShor Theatre on its grand opening after being restored. (File / News Tribune)

Davidson Windmill

Windmill showcases Finnish engineering, Douglas County history

By Maria Lockwood mlockwood@superiortelegram.com

The Davidson Windmill, located along Wisconsin Highway 13 about a 10-minute drive from Superior, is a Douglas County landmark.

Built by Jacob Tapola Davidson, a Finnish immigrant, the town of Lakeside structure ground grain into animal feed and flour for local farmers from 1904-1926. Its octagonal shape was inspired by a coffee percolator that sat on the woodburning stove in Davidson’s kitchen. Neighbors pitched in to help with construction, which began in 1900.

The windmill melded Finnish design and folk style to meet a local need, according to Jim Pellman, secretary of the Old-Brule Heritage Society. When the building’s 17-foot-long sails were turning, it

could grind up to 300 pounds of grain an hour, generating about 25 horsepower of energy. The long poles attached to the structure were used to turn the windmill’s turret to catch the wind.

The Davidson Windmill, circa 1925.

(Courtesy of the Brule History Research Group)

The Davidson Windmill circa 1920. (Hanson family photo)

The inside of the windmill is both a study in engineering and a walk through Douglas County’s past. All the materials except the steel nails, bolts and sheeting came from the surrounding area.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the windmill was passed on to the Old-Brule Heritage Society in 2001.

“It’s a unique structure in the state,” Pellman said. “We have an obligation to take care of it.”

That includes yearly painting projects and other upkeep, funded by donations and furnished by volunteers.

The windmill site is also home to a Finnish

dovetail corner log cabin built in the early 1900s and the last wooden queen-post truss bridge in the state.

The Blueberry Depot, built in 1900, was trucked to the Davidson Windmill site in June. The Erkkila family in Lakeside has also donated a Finnish log sauna for the site.

Donations are accepted; volunteers are needed. The group is actively seeking artifacts from the area, particularly old records and railroad artifacts. New members are always welcomed.

Visit the Old Brule Heritage Society site or Facebook page for more information on the windmill and other preservation efforts. u

Below: Jim Pellman, of the Old Brule Heritage Society, talks about the blades on the Davidson Windmill during a tour. (Jed Carlson / jcarlson@superiortelegram.com)

Right: The Davidson Windmill is pictured along Wisconsin Highway 13 south of Superior. (Jed Carlson / jcarlson@superiortelegram.com)

First Unitarian Church of Superior

Short-lived as a church, the old Onaway Club in Superior served Central Park for decades

By Shelley Nelson snelson@superiortelegram.com

Aformer community center in Central Park, the Onaway Club, didn’t start out that way.

The First Unitarian Church of Superior consisted of “forward-thinking intellectuals” who organized in 1890, according to the Wisconsin

Historical Society. The following year, they moved into the octagonal church with a 60-degree roof on East Fifth Street.

Col. Hiram Hayes, an early settler in Superior who held several positions in county government,

The old Onaway Club in Central Park got its start as the First Unitarian Church of Superior. (Courtesy of the Douglas County Historical Society collection)

told church officials he would pay for the shingling, which accounted for shingles that originally clad the walls.

The small congregation’s stay in the church ended by 1895 because of the limited number of members and the loss of their clergyman.

The building became the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a congregation for black families throughout Superior, from 1899 to 1912. By then, the church had fallen into disrepair and with only two or three members of the original Unitarian church remaining in Superior, it was turned over to the Western Conference of the American Unitarian Association in 1912, with the condition it be used as a house of worship for 20 years, according to an agreement filed with the Douglas County register of deeds.

The promise wasn’t honored. The association sold the church for $400 to the Northern Improvement Company in 1914, which turned it over to the Onaway Club of Women of the Second Ward (Central Park).

The Onaway Club was used as a community center starting in 1914. To pay for upkeep, members held rummage sales, luncheons, style shows and rented the building for special occasions like weddings and anniversaries. The Onaway Cookbook, sold since 1961, helped pay for renovations in 1970, according to the Evening Telegram.

The club sold the building to a private party in 1979, and it has served as a home ever since. u

The home on East Fifth Street in Central Park was once the Onaway Club, and served two congregations as a church before that. The Onaway Club sold the building in 1979 to a private party.

(Jed Carlson / jcarlson@superiortelegram.com)

Superior’s octagon house

Housing oddity may be the only one of its kind in northern Wisconsin

By Shelley Nelson snelson@superiortelegram.com

Eight-sided homes became all the rage in the mid1800s after Orson Fowler published “The Octagon House: A Home for All” in 1848. Thousands of homes were built across America with an eight-sided geometric configuration. There’s scarce evidence the trend ever really caught on in northern Wisconsin.

In fact, the octagon house in Superior’s Central Park neighborhood may be the only one built in northern Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Nathan M. Reynolds, a native of New York state where he was an architect and builder, erected the wood-clad octagon house in Central Park between

This undated photo shows the octagonal-shaped home constructed in Central Park in 1890-91. It was once called the Orvald House, named for the family that owned it from 1917 to 1984. (Courtesy of the Douglas County Historical Society collection.)

1890 and 1891, during Superior’s most significant period of growth. Reynolds, who had served in the Civil War, was a partner in Reynolds and Atwood fuel dealers, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Swedish immigrants Mattie and Andrew Lundgren and their eight children lived in the house from 1908 to 1915, and the house was purchased by Ole Orvald in 1917, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. A contractor, Orvald was the first to install electricity in the home.

The home featured a wood-paneled vestibule at the front entrance and an interior spiral staircase rose to the second floor. Another steep stairway rose

into the low cupola with small square windows. The cornice of the roof had flat block trim with gables on alternate sides of the roof.

Two of Orvald’s nine children, Everette Orvald and Olive Robb, remembered climbing those steep stairs to the cupola or “widow’s walk,” a feature frequently seen on the eastern seaboard and so named because it was used by the wives of seafaring men to watch for their return, according to a 1973 report in the Evening Telegram.

The house remained with the Orvald family until it was sold to its current owner, Paul Guello, in 1984. u

The octagon house on Laurel Avenue is a one-ofa-kind in Superior’s Central Park neighborhood. (Jed Carlson / jcarlson@superiortelegram.com)

Roosevelt Terrace

Father of 32nd president invested in Superior

By Shelley Nelson snelson@superiortelegram.com

Superior was in the midst of an economic boom when James Roosevelt, a New York businessman with interests in the West Superior Iron and Steel Company, purchased land on the corner of Ogden Avenue and North 21st Street in 1890. There, he financed the construction of a row house to provide upscale housing for the developing city. Local architect Carl Wirth designed the three-story, L-shaped, 11-unit townhouse in a Richardsonian Romanesque style. It was constructed by Land and River Improvement Company of New York and cost $85,000 to build.

Like many of the commercial buildings constructed by the Land and River Improvement Company in Superior between 1888 and 1892, Roosevelt Terrace took its name from the Eastern financier who fueled its development during that period.

Roosevelt, father of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other Eastern investors at the time, believed Superior would grow to be the next Chicago because of many booming industries, the railroad line built in the mid-1800s and the natural canal that linked Superior’s busy bays to Lake Superior.

The Roosevelt Terrace, which was built in 1890 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, is located at the corner of North 21st Street and Ogden Avenue in Superior. (Jed Carlson / jcarlson@superiortelegram.com)

The grand style of Roosevelt Terrace reflected the prosperity of the boom era. The stone arches and brick exterior; built-in cabinets and bookshelves, pocket doors, ornate wood and tile open fireplaces; woodwork of quarter-sawn polished oak and cherry; and a skylight atop the stairs were just some of the amenities of the similarly styled townhouses.

At the time it was built, Roosevelt Terrace had an unattached heating plant with a 60-foot chimney

on the southwest corner of the courtyard that was destroyed by fire in 1982.

“Overall … Roosevelt Terrace remains an excellent example of the architecture of Carl Wirth and still exudes the grandeur of the time it was built,” according to the application for its placement on the National Register of Historic Places granted in 2005. u

This undated image shows what Roosevelt Terrace looked like prior to windows being added to enclose the porch at 1708 N. 21st St. (Courtesy of the Douglas County Historical Society collection)

UMD Limnology building

Structure originated as a fish hatchery

By Adelie Bergstrom abergstrom@duluthnews.com

The University of Minnesota Duluth’s Limnology building is a familiar sight to anyone traveling between Duluth and the North Shore.

The Victorian house-styled building at 6008 London Road began its life as the Lester River Fish Hatchery, perched on Lake Superior at the mouth of the Lester River.

The building, completed in 1888, was designed by Dr. Robert Ormsby Sweeny, a noted fish expert, artist

and pharmacist, who was president of the Minnesota Fisheries Association at the time, according to Duluth historian Tony Dierckins’ Zenith City Press website. When the hatchery was finished, Sweeny became its first superintendent.

In its prime, the hatchery produced 150 million fish eggs each year. The eggs came from mostly whitefish, trout and walleye, which typically were then returned to the mouths of rivers and streams

The University of Minnesota Duluth Limnology building in Duluth. (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)

The University of Minnesota Duluth’s Limnology building started life as a U.S. fish hatchery when it was built in 1888.

along Lake Superior.

The “gingerbread house,” as it’s known colloquially, features scalloped trim edges, ridge cresting, decorative gable cutouts and a weather vane featuring a large fish.

The U.S. government closed the hatchery in 1946, and the building was sold to UMD the next year, when it started a new chapter as a freshwater research facility.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, though the building fell into disrepair in the decades that followed.

In 2012, UMD began to restore the limnology building, using old photographs to replace ornamental pieces from scratch and to match the building’s original paint colors. The effort earned UMD an award from the Duluth Preservation Alliance in 2013.

In recent years, limnology research moved to UMD’s Large Lakes Observatory, and today the building’s main level is used for meetings. The school’s Recreational Sports and Outdoor Program also uses the site. Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory and Sugarloaf, a North Shore stewardship association, rent space upstairs. u

(Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Glensheen Mansion

Chester and Clara Congdon’s sparkling home shines on

By Peter Passi ppassi@duluthnews.com

Glensheen Mansion remains one of Duluth’s most popular tourist destinations. The stately 39room waterfront home just off London Road was constructed between 1905 and 1908 to house the family of Chester and Clara Congdon.

The Jacobean Revival-style dwelling was designed by Minnesota architect Clarence H. Johnston Sr., and no expense was spared on its interior design and furnishings overseen by William A. French Co.

The original 22-acre property was forested and rugged, but landscape architect Charles Wellford Leavitt Jr. sculpted it into a largely self-sufficient homestead with a greenhouse, terraced gardens, an orchard, a livestock barn and a reservoir.

Chester Congdon, an attorney for the Oliver Mining Co., formed an alliance with industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who would later spin off his holdings to form U.S. Steel Corp. Congdon also had the foresight to purchase significant tracts of land on the Iron Range and continued to profit from the lease of mineral rights to growing mines in the region.

Congdon named his well-appointed new residence in Duluth “Glensheen” in memory of his family’s ancestral home of Sheen in Surrey, England, and with a nod to the narrow valley the estate occupied, with Tischer Creek running through it.

The mansion was one of the first homes in the area to boast electricity and hot running water.

Just eight years after completing work on the mansion, Chester Congdon died of a heart attack. His daughter, Elisabeth Manning Congdon, inherited the estate, where she lived with two adopted daughters, Jennifer and Marjorie Congdon.

On June 27, 1977, Elisabeth Congdon, 83, and her night nurse, Velma Peitila, were found murdered in the mansion. An investigation implicated Marjorie Congdon and her husband, Roger Caldwell. He subsequently was convicted for the murders in 1978, but Marjorie Congdon was acquitted.

In 1983, the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned Caldwell’s conviction and authorized his

release for time served. He committed suicide just five years later.

The family donated the home to the University of Minnesota, and it was opened to the public as a historic house museum in 1979. u

Visitors admire the front of Glensheen Mansion Oct. 2, 2019. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

Glensheen Mansion, circa 1930. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Preserving Minnesota’s most iconic home

Fighting an aging building, wicked weather and increasing repair costs, Glensheen staff work to keep mansion around for another 110 years

By Jimmy Lovrien jlovrien@duluthnews.com

Preserving what many people consider to be Minnesota’s most iconic home is no simple task.

Glensheen’s collections manager Milissa Brooks-Ojibway’s job might be to curate the artifacts left behind by the Congdon family and display the mansion as it might have looked in 1910, but she’s also found herself keeping an eye on the aging mansion.

Brooks-Ojibway and her staff routinely go through the estate with a checklist and photograph areas of the house, comparing them to earlier photos to ensure its condition isn’t worsening.

“I watch for things that go wrong and call in people when necessary,” Brooks-Ojibway said.

Some things can be handled by the University of Minnesota Duluth’s maintenance staff, but other projects require a conservator or historic architect so it meets State Historic Preservation Office standards.

“The sooner we can see these things and make sure that they’re taken care of, the better,” Brooks-Ojibway said.

Conservation, not restoration

When something needs repair, Glensheen staff are careful

to keep the mansion true to its 1910 self.

“We don’t restore here,” Brooks-Ojibway said. “Restore implies bringing it back to more of a normal condition, more of a new condition.”

She pointed to a stained-glass window on the mansion’s grand staircase that was once bowed in. A conservator meticulously repaired it to its intended shape, but the cracked glass remains.

And that’s OK.

“We’re retaining all the original material as much as we possibly can. A restore is not as concerned with that,” Brooks-Ojibway said. “(Restorers) are willing to willy-nilly replace whatever needs to make it pretty again.”

Throughout the house, crews are slowly removing layers of paint to reveal the original surfaces.

For the larger repairs, staff have more trouble finding material and historic matches.Thankfully,

Milissa Brooks-Ojibway, the collections manager at Glensheen, points to a stained-glass window that was repaired using its original pieces. Glensheen opts to keep the building as true to 1910 as it can. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

the mansion’s original builders left extra supplies in the attic. In one case, staff even found the tiles they needed buried under rock in the boathouse.

Tony Dierckins, publisher of Zenith City Press and the author of several books about Glensheen and the Congdon family, said keeping the mansion true to 1910 in an authentic way serves guests, too.

“It’s a really remarkable snapshot of what life was like,” Dierckins said.

Unlike some homes-turnedmuseums, namely St. Paul’s James J. Hill House, which was once used for offices, Glensheen went directly from family home to a museum.

Everything in it, such as furniture, was donated, too. Like its brick exterior and historic stained-glass windows, what’s inside is just as important to telling the Glensheen story.

“This is what’s remarkable about Glensheen,” Dierckins said. “Not only because of the work that they’ve done, but of what was left behind.”

$26 million in repairs needed

When Glensheen and UMD asked for state bonding funds for “critical repairs,” a request fact sheet came with a warning: “DETERIORATING STRUCTURES AT GLENSHEEN COULD COLLAPSE IF NOT REPAIRED IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS.”

The brick terraces and walls surrounding the lakeside garden are being pushed out and cracked. In several places, bricks sit unattached to one another — no mortar left.

That makes Dennis Lamkin, who serves on Glensheen’s citizen’s advisory committee, nervous.

“Every time we have a big storm like this one this last week,” Lamkin said, referring to the Oct. 21 storm

Glensheen staff uncovered stencils of birds in Robert’s room under layers of plaster. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

Large waves can damage Glensheen’s boathouse, in the background. Staff hope to rebuild an L-shaped pier that would block many of the waves. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

The bedroom that once belonged to Robert, the youngest son of Clara and Chester, with many original pieces of furniture. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

that brought heavy rains, winds and waves, “I worry that some of it is going to collapse.”

The Legislature in 2018 heard the cries for help, and Glensheen was authorized to use up to $4 million in state bond funds for critical repairs. But the mansion still needs to match that with $4 million of its own funds to unlock the state money.

In addition to shoring up the garden walls, the combined $8 million would also fund a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system building system, repair exteriors of the Manor and Carriage houses and, if funds allow, replace the existing pier.

The pier, which juts straight into Lake Superior from beside the boathouse, was once an L-shape, offering the boathouse protection from waves. Without that, strong waves made more severe by high lake levels pummel the boathouse.

After all of that work is complete, there’s still another $10 million needed to prevent future critical repairs and $8 million is needed to bring the estate back to its 1910 status, according to a legislative flyer provided by Glensheen.

In total, $26 million is needed for Glensheen.

Lamkin said it’s worth it. On top of daily tours, it’s become a hub for concerts and events.

“Glensheen is not only a great property for historic interpretation,” Lamkin said. “It is a community asset.”

Brooks-Ojibway said the costs to repair Glensheen are steep but will likely last up to 110 years, as the original construction has.

“We can’t sit back on our laurels and just hope it all is OK,” she said. u

The brick wall holding back Glensheen’s garden is in need of immediate repair, according to staff. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

Milissa Brooks-Ojibway shows the blueprints for Glensheen that are on display. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

Tile near the kitchen window on the left began to bow out, but has since been repaired. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

Munger Terrace

Building’s history includes the early days of St. Scholastica Monastery

By John Lundy jlundy@duluthnews.com

Looming over busy Mesaba Avenue, Munger Terrace has a history that includes the early days of St. Scholastica Monastery.

According to a history written in 2017 for the monastery by Sister Judine Mayerle, the Benedictines settled in the early 1890s in Munger Terrace, renting three of the eight townhomes. They used two of the rooms in one townhome as a chapel and the rest as living quarters. By 1894, they had outgrown that space and moved to their own building at Third Street and Third Avenue East. Before long, they established a permanent home at their present site.

Munger Terrace was young when it briefly housed the Benedictines. According to local historian Tony Dierckins, publisher of Zenith City Press, it was built in 1892 for Roger Munger, whose family in 1868 had been the 12th to locate in what was then Duluth Township.

A small house that still exists next to Munger Terrace was the carriage house for Roger Munger’s Italianate mansion, built around 1871. The mansion later was bulldozed to make way for parking, Dierckins said.

Designed by Oliver Traphagen and Francis Fitzpatrick in what’s known as the Chateauesque style, Munger Terrace originally was called Piedmont Terrace, according to Dierckins. At that time, Mesaba Avenue was known as East Piedmont Avenue.

The building was converted from eight to 32 units in 1915, two years after Munger died. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.

Originally built for $75,000, it was rehabbed in 1978-79 at a cost of $1 million, Dierckins said. u

The Munger Terrace is still an apartment building today, but is subdivided into 32 units. (File / News Tribune)

The Munger Terrace apartment building, circa 1893. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Chester Terrace

Richardsonian Romanesque-style structure

named for nearby Chester Creek

By John Lundy jlundy@duluthnews.com

Sprawling the length of the 1200 block of East First Street, Chester Terrace is part of the legacy of late 19th century Duluth.

According to research done by Tony Dierckins, publisher of Zenith City Press, Chester Terrace was built in 1890 for Henry A. Smith and Fred W. Smith and originally was known as the H.A. and F.W. Smith Terrace. It was quickly renamed for Chester Creek, which flows east of the building.

Famed local architect Oliver G. Traphagen designed the apartment building in partnership with Francis W. Fitzpatrick. It was built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style known for arched openings, towers or turrets and bold ornamentation, according to Old House Journal.

The Smiths arrived in Duluth in 1870, according to Dierckins’ research. Henry was involved in grain trading, and Fred was a lawyer who also presided over tug and passenger boat lines. After Chester Terrace was built, Fred Smith lived there.

First ready for occupancy in March 1891, it originally consisted of 25 residential units ranging from one-bedroom apartments to 2,800-squarefoot townhouses. Eleven of the townhouses were three-story, single-family units.

It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1890.

Today, Chester Terrace is managed by ShipRock Management. Its website lists a twobedroom, one-bath apartment for $924 monthly, plus electricity. According to the website Apartments.com, it currently consists of 39 units.

Its location puts it within a block of two pharmacies and a short walk from the Rose Garden at Leif Erikson Park. u

Chester Terrace in Duluth. (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)

The Chester Terrace Apartments on East First Street as they appeared in 1913. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Lake View Store

U.S. Steel built what may be nation’s first indoor mall

By John Lundy jlundy@duluthnews.com

Considered by some to be the nation’s first indoor mall, the Lake View Store building opened for business July 20, 1916, according to Duluth News Tribune archives.

U.S. Steel began building Morgan Park in 1913 as a bedroom community for its steel mill next door, according to Tony Dierckins’ book, “Zenith: A Postcard Perspective of Duluth.”

Named after U.S. Steel founder J.P. Morgan, the community at the time had the most modern school, hospital and community facilities in the nation, Dierckins wrote.

Lake View Store was built at the heart of the community. According to News Tribune archives, the building had everything people might need: a bank, a barbershop, a dentist’s office, a grocery store, a shoe store and a hair salon. A corridor connected the storefronts, which is why some, at least, consider it to have been the country’s first indoor mall.

The steel mill was starting to reduce operations by the early 1970s, and by 1979 closed down completely. Lake View Store gradually emptied out with it.

Attempts to revitalize the building have met with mixed success at best. The Iron Mug, a coffee shop in one corner of the building, has had two iterations in recent years. It closed most recently in September 2019. u

Recently, the Lake View Building has been home to a coffee shop, but it closed in September 2019. (File / News Tribune)

The Lake View Building in Morgan Park, shown in about 1916, held shops and medical offices. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Duluth Civic Center

3 levels of government united

By Tom Olsen tolsen@duluthnews.com

Influenced by the “City Beautiful” movement of the early 20th century, the Duluth Civic Center unites three levels of government on the western side of downtown Duluth.

Set amid gardens off West First Street, the site incorporates Duluth City Hall, the St. Louis County Courthouse and the Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse and Customhouse.

The complex began to take shape June 15, 1908, when ground was broken for the construction of a new county courthouse. The building opened its doors to the public Nov. 3, 1909.

Featuring towering columns on granite facades, the neoclassical building was designed by worldrenowned architect Daniel Burnham and was considered a masterpiece at the time of construction, built for a modest sum of just under $1 million.

On Memorial Day 1919, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was added in front of the building. Designed by architect Cass Gilbert, the monument pays homage to soldiers who served during the Civil War.

The long-planned civic center continued taking shape with City Hall, which opened its doors to the courthouse’s east in 1929. A year later, a new federal courthouse was established on the west side of the complex, completing the trio of conforming buildings.

A new St. Louis County Jail was built behind the county courthouse, across Second Street, in 1923. But the building closed when a replacement facility opened in 1995, and it has long stood vacant as public officials and developers have pursued ways to repurpose the structure.

For decades, the buildings were surrounded by concrete and grass until longtime St. Louis County Commissioner Joe Priley took it upon himself to begin planting flowers, shrubs and trees. He also raised $40,000 in donations to construct a five-tier water fountain, which opened in 1970, bearing his name. u

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which includes a 60-foot flag pole, overlooks the fountain and gardens of the Duluth Civic Center. The monument was unveiled on Memorial Day 1919 to honor Civil War veterans. (2016 file / News Tribune)

The federal courthouse (from left), St. Louis County Courthouse and Duluth City Hall were built between 1909 and 1930 as part of the long-planned Duluth Civic Center. Behind and to the left of the county courthouse is the old St. Louis County Jail, which closed in 1995. This photo was taken around 1938. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Historic Old Central High School

landmark remains a beacon of education

By Adelle Whitefoot awhitefoot@duluthnews.com

Standing in the center of Duluth, Historic Old Central High School still serves students 127 years after it was built.

Historic Old Central opened in 1892 when the lumber and shipping industries were making Duluth a thriving, wealthy city at the head of the lake. Modeled after the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, the Richardsonian Romanesque-style school was designed by Emmet S. Palmer and Lucien P. Hall. It is considered one of the state’s finest examples of that type of architecture.

The Lake Superior brownstone, three-story structure is one of the most recognizable buildings in Duluth. The clock tower alone, which stands about 230 feet high, is an icon of the city’s skyline.

The clock was produced by E. Howard Bell Company of Boston and was installed in the tower in 1893. The face is about 10 feet in diameter and previously operated on a system of weights until it was converted to an electric motor in the 1940s. The bells still chime to this day. The inside contains names of students who graduated from the school.

The school has been modernized over the years, but is still one classroom stuck in time. The 1890s Classroom Museum in Historic Old Central is open to the public at 9 a.m. the first Friday of every month in Room 112.

Historic Old Central served as a high school until 1971, when the new Central High School on top of the hill opened. It is now home to Academic Excellence Online high school and the Area Learning Center as well as the school district’s administration offices. u

Historic Old Central High School as it stands today. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@ duluthnews.com)

Duluth

Historic Old Central opened in 1892. (Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Duluth Depot

An American treasure, the Depot’s Immigrant Waiting Room is nearly 130 years old

By Brady Slater bslater@duluthnews.com

Down a wide flight of stairs, through a couple sets of old doors, the destination bloomed in multicolored subway brick.

It hid shower and bunk rooms in the back and was lined with cast-iron benches and clerk counters.

Updated to its well-preserved state in 2013, the Immigrant Waiting Room is a hidden gem within the Depot, located on West Michigan Street in downtown Duluth and now three years shy of its 130th birthday.

Shuttled along from Ellis Island on the Atlantic coast to Middle America, immigrants to the Northland would spend several days traveling by rail, transferring track to track while never really hopping off until they reached Duluth, said Mary Tennis, who started as executive director of the Depot in July 2019.

“This room has really impressed me and I didn’t really know how important it was,” Tennis said from within its walls. “If you’re a second or third generation living in this area and your ancestors came through to work in the mines or farms on the Iron Range or in St. Louis or Lake counties, or anywhere in the immediate area, your

ancestors came through this room. They got their papers stamped and were processed here, and the first time they really set foot on American soil was here in Duluth.”

People would wait days housed within the Depot until family members or employers would come to claim them, Tennis said.

“It’s a profoundly important room,” she said.

When it opened in 1892, the Depot served seven rail lines and accommodated up to 5,000 passengers at a time, said its website.

Now owned by St. Louis County, it is home to

1958 view of the Depot. (Photo by Lyman Nylander)

(Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)

eight entities making up the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center, including the county historical society, Veterans Memorial Hall, a train museum and a scenic touring railroad.

It is ticketed to one day again become a commuter train station, as the Depot is a planned destination for the Northern Lights Express passenger train between the Twin Ports and Twin Cities. The project has the support of a rail operator, Amtrak, and track owner, BNSF, and is in the process of seeking state and federal funding for its half-billion-dollar price tag.

“Who would have thought we’d have talk of passenger trains coming back to Duluth in 2019?” Tennis said.

The Depot is vast and for every square foot of floor space is a roof above it—several roofs, in fact, including “the big, beautiful château-esque roof over the main part of the building,” Tennis said. “And that’s one of the things we really want to address.”

The Depot is seeking $8 million in state bonding funds to repair leaks in the roofs and perform other necessary maintenance projects, including tuckpointing exterior bricks, rebuilding the portico overhanging the sidewalk patio outside the Great Hall, and redoing the heating, air conditioning, electrical and plumbing systems. u

Mary Tennis, executive director of the Duluth Depot, in its Immigrant Waiting Room. The room is where many immigrants first set foot on American soil after a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and then on rail across the United States to Duluth.

Eric Watson Class of 2019 Exercise Science

Hibbing High School auditorium

A work of art that comes along ‘once in a lifetime’

By Brady Slater bslater@duluthnews.com

HIBBING — Built across six years ending in 1924, majestic Hibbing High School is on the National Register of Historic Places, a fact that certifies its future as a protected gem on the Iron Range. Repairs and updates come a few million dollars at a time — the price it took to build it 100 years ago.

It’s so large, said Bob Kearney, that the White House could fit inside it, surrounded by a race track, grandstands and a parkway to drive around it all.

Sharp in all facets like a pocket watch, Kearney, 72, went to school there, retired as its maintenance supervisor and gives tours for about 1,000 people a year.

“I’ve given over 40,000 tours and half the tours are kids bringing their kids back and saying, ‘You’ve got to see my high school,’ ” Kearney said.

Still home to more than 1,000 students in grades 7-12, Kearney took the News Tribune into the pearl at the center of it all; the auditorium. His breath remained capable of being taken away.

“I still can’t find any seams,” he said, his eyes trained above him in the vestibule at an ornate ceiling that looked like cake font.

Inside, the auditorium was its usual cavernous self, gleaming in pastels and the fall gold in the plush seats.

“It reminds me of an opera house,” Kearney said, recalling a long line of entertainers and influencers

who have graced the stage. None, he said, was more impressive than Amelia Earhart. She famously disappeared shortly after an appearance there.

Today, the chandeliers repel on mechanical cables for cleaning and the stage is fully loaded with metropolitan-style tech. During the News Tribune’s visit, schoolkids prepared for a fall musical production of “Grease.”

Kearney sparkled with pride for it all, recalling how the different people of more than 30 nationalities came together to build such a marvel.

“It’s literally handmade,” he said. “Most of the people couldn’t talk to each other because they spoke different languages. You hope that the people coming up cherish things like this because this comes along once in a lifetime.” u

Hibbing High School was built between 1920 and 1922 and cost nearly $4 million. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

The now golden seats have been reupholstered in various colors over the years. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

The Hibbing High School auditorium seats 1,805 people and was modeled after the Capitol Theater in New York City. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

The auditorium features stained-glass exit signs. Fire extinguishers are also placed behind intricately designed stained glass. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

Fitger’s Brewery Complex

Iconic structure bears the name of August Fitger, a German-trained brewer

By Peter Passi ppassi@duluthnews.com

Fitger’s Brewery Complex grew out of Duluth’s first brewery, launched by Sidney Luce in 1857 more than a block away from the brewhouse’s current site.

In 1881, Luce sold out to Michael Fink, who expanded building at the brewery complex’s current location. Work on the new facility, called “Fink’s Lake Superior Brewery”, began in 1881 and was completed in 1882. Fink brought August Fitger, a German-trained brewer, aboard as a partner that same year. In 1884, Percy Anneke of Milwaukee purchased Fink’s ownership stake, with the operation then doing business as the A. Fitger & Co./ Lake Superior Brewery.

The business chugged along until 1920, when the passage of a national Prohibition Act forced Fitger’s to change gears. Fitger’s weathered the next 13 years until the repeal of Prohibition by producing soda pop and a line of candies. It also began business as a cigar distributor.

As the ban on alcohol ended, Fitger’s resumed beer production

in the 1930s, and it ramped up to 100,000 barrels a year by 1940. The Duluth brewery was one of the first in the Midwest to begin selling its product in cans.

The Beerhalter family bought Fitger’s in 1944 and continued to operate it until 1972. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency cited the brewery for pollution violations and required it to install new equipment, but the cost was prohibitive, so the ownership decided to call it quits.

The 10-building complex — currently owned by Fitgers on the Lake LLC, a partnership between Vlasie Solon and Scott Vesterstein — has since reopened as a venue for a luxury hotel, a mix of retailers, a brewpub, a bar and a handful of restaurants. u

Fitger’s Brewery building in Duluth. (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)

Fitger’s Brewery Complex was one of the first in the Midwest to begin selling its product in cans.

(Courtesy of UMD Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections)

Frank Lloyd Wright gas station

Cloquet icon was Wright’s only service station design ever built

By Kelly Busche kbusche@duluthnews.com

The Frank Lloyd Wright gas station — also known to some by its formal name, R.W. Lindholm Service Station — stands on the corner of an intersection in Cloquet.

Wright, a notable architect, designed the station, making it his only gas station build out of his 150 designs, according to Pine Journal reporting.

A glass-enclosed observation deck on the second floor looks over the intersection of Cloquet Avenue and Minnesota Highway 33. The 1958 gas station

once housed a table and egg-shaped chairs custom designed by Wright. The table was stolen years ago, and a previous owner held onto the chairs.

Its iconic rigid, cantilevered roof is topped by a large metal sign reading “FL Wright.” The copper shingles are now green patina.

The roof’s design came out of Wright’s idea that standing pumps could be eliminated by running the fuel lines through the roof. Unfortunately, his idea never materialized, as fire code standards didn’t allow the lines to be run there, according to the Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce.

Cloquet resident and Best Oil company owner Ray Lindholm requested Wright to build it after Wright built his house. Lindholm’s daughter and sonin-law encouraged him to employ Wright to build the house, as they both studied architecture.

Wright had plans to create a service station for 20 years. Its design was centered on the architect’s ideas to establish a decentralized urban landscape, according to the chamber. He sought to incorporate

The R.W. Lindholm Service Station, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, as it looked shortly after construction in 1958. The long wall at the eastern side of the parking lot (at left) no longer exists. (Submitted photo)

beauty into a commonplace entity, like a service station. Lindholm’s daughter, Joy (Lindholm) McKinney, then passed it down to her sons.

Last year, the sons sold the gas station as they turned retirement age. The Minneapolis buyer,

Broadacre, LLC, bought it for $250,000.

People from across the world are still drawn to the gas station for photos and to see one of Wright’s buildings. u

completed in 1958.

(File / News Tribune)

Vintage photos are on display upstairs in the lounge area of the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station in Cloquet. (file / News Tribune)

The R.W. Lindholm Service Station, commonly known as the “Frank Lloyd Wright” gas station, was

Duluth Armory

Empty building once hosted biggest entertainers of the decades

By Kelly Busche kbusche@duluthnews.com

The Duluth Armory, which currently stands shuttered, was once the hub of the region’s entertainment.

The 1915 building is located on the corner of London Road and South 13th Avenue East. It once hosted countless notable performances until it turned into a storage facility in the late 1970s, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.

However, the Armory initially had a different purpose. It served as a triage center for victims of the deadly Spanish flu as well as the Cloquet fire, both of which occurred in 1918.

In the winter of 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (the “Big Bopper”) performed at the Armory three days before they died in an Iowa plane crash. During that Duluth leg of their “Winter

Dance Party” tour performance, a young Bob Dylan stood among the crowd — a moment he cited as influential during a Grammy acceptance speech. Other notable figures who have appeared at the Duluth Armory include President Harry S. Truman, Bob Hope, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Dale Carnegie, Patsy Cline, the Everly Brothers, Oral Roberts, Hank Williams Sr., Liberace and John Philip Sousa.

As Duluth later built a more modern Army facility and arena-auditorium, usage of the Armory for military and entertainment purposes waned. In the late 1970s, the city of Duluth purchased the building and it then became a home for storing maintenance vehicles and municipal offices, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.

Refugees from the 1918 fire in Duluth get help at the Duluth Armory. (Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota Duluth)

Then, it seemed the building’s end was near. It was scheduled to be demolished in 2001 until a local group of people working to save the building purchased it. The group, called the Armory Arts and Music Center, funded renovation projects to fix some of the problems that influenced the demolition order, according to Business North.

The local architects who designed it were at the forefront of a new era of armory designs, as they used sleek and simple designs instead of castle-like features, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. And, with over 107,000 square feet, it was the largest armory in Minnesota, according to the Historical Society. u

The Duluth Armory has been a part of rock ‘n’ roll lore. (File / News Tribune)

Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly and Tommy Allsup perform at the microphone during the Buddy Holly Winter Dance Party concert at the Armory on Jan. 31, 1959. (Photo by Colleen Bowen)

Endion Station

Century-old building still functioning

By Kelly Busche kbusche@duluthnews.com

Duluth’s Endion station is the last passenger small depot of its kind.

It cost $10,000 to build the small depot in 1899, which stood 100 feet from Lake Superior’s shores.

The rail line that serviced the station connected Duluth and Two Harbors, with its first stop outside of downtown Duluth at Endion — a former town located north of Duluth. But as the city grew, the independent town was absorbed and the resulting neighborhood (and station) now don the Endion name, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.

It also took Duluth residents between downtown and the suburbs for work. Some say the line was crucial for developing Duluth’s east neighborhoods, the Historical Society says.

But, as passenger rail ridership declined in the years following 1950, the depot saw its last passenger train in 1961 and the final freight train in 1978.

The building was then moved to Canal Park from the Endion neighborhood in 1986 to make way for Interstate 35. At this location, the station served as Duluth’s tourism bureau, Duluth Police Department substation, outdoor adventure company Midnight Sun’s store and the Nelson & Company advertising business space, according to Perfect Duluth Day.

The station’s Richardsonian Romanesque style includes rounded arches, deeply recessed windows and heavy stonework. Local Kettle River sandstone was used for foundation and trim, red bricks make up the building’s walls and a slate roof tops it off, the Historical Society says.

Now, the station has a new life. Rod Raymond, who owns Fitger’s Brewhouse, The Rathskeller and Burrito Union, turned it into a hotel earlier this fall. u

The remodeled Endion Station now serves as a hotel in Canal Park. (File / News Tribune)

Endion Station at its former location, where it served as a passenger depot. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

For Johnston Masonry, renovating historic homes is a labor of love

By Jimmy Lovrien jlovrien@duluthnews.com

When driving his pickup truck through Duluth, Ken Johnston is proud to see the work he and his masonry company have completed on many of the city’s historic buildings.

“It’s amazing,” Johnston said. “You see these places for years, then you get a chance to work on them. It’s a real honor.”

From Congdon neighborhood mansions more than 100 years old to downtown’s historic buildings, there’s a good chance the Johnston Masonry crew has renovated or restored it.

“If it’s brick, we’ve probably touched it,” Johnston said.

Johnston Masonry is one of only a few masonry companies in the Northland, proof it’s a job that requires traditional skills and specialized training that few have.

Johnston, who learned the trade from his father in Washington, started building new cabins on Lake Vermillion in the 1990s, but quickly found demand for restoring the many historic brick and stone buildings in the Duluth area.

Standing outside a mansion at 314 N. Hawthorne Road in the Congdon neighborhood, Johnston and Pat Bruckelmyer, a project consultant for Johnston, described what it was like restoring the exterior’s stucco.

Now owned by Gene and Jane Shull, the house once belonged to Margaret and Marshall W. Alworth, whose name is on the

University of Minnesota Duluth’s planetarium and science buildings.

It’s one thing just to re-stucco a house, but it’s another to restore the details that give the mansion its character. Alworth, who joined his father’s Marshall H. Alworth mining and real estate business, incorporated Mediterranean style into the home and nearby carriage house.

Bruckelmyer pointed to the exterior trim along the roofline, which required careful layering to match the mansion’s original finish.

“It’s a lot more intricate,” Bruckelmyer said. “It takes a lot more time.”

Bruckelmyer and Johnston agreed it takes time get their employees up to that caliber of work, but have managed to do it through continual in-house training and sending employees to seminars led by industry experts.

To get the details right, and historically accurate,

Johnston Masonry founder Ken Johnston and project consultant Pat Bruckelmyer pose for a photo in front of a mansion at 314 N. Hawthorne Road in Duluth. The company recently finished restoring the stucco exterior of the home once owned by Marshall W. Alworth. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

it helps when the owners have some primary sources to reference.

“I try to learn (a lot of) history on each place,” Bruckelmyer said. “In fact, a lot of these old places — they’ll even bring me out the old blueprints.”

While the white stucco exterior now looks as it did when the mansion was built, crews used a modern mix that is far more durable, Johnston said.

For projects with unique materials — historic bricks, sandstone, Terra cotta, specific grout material or color — crews often send samples to lab for analysis. From there, they can find a match or create a mix to match the material’s color.

“They use new technology … with old-world craftsmanship,” said Dennis Lamkin, an owner representative for people renovating historic structures. He’s worked with Johnston Masonry on 10 mansions throughout town.

Lamkin said that Johnston crews have a strong attention to detail, and use the latest technology like drones to document hard-toreach parts of homes and high-tech adhesives to make their work last.

And there’s no shortage of work.

Lamkin said that many of Duluth’s iconic buildings and homes built in the early 20th century are all due for some work so they can

last another 100-plus years.

“All of that was built in that time frame, so they’re all at the age now … when they need tuckpointing in order to preserve them, and those projects are now being all done,” Lamkin said.

One drive through the Congdon neighborhood, past blocks upon blocks of brick mansions built in the early 20th century, and you’ll see what he means.

“There’s an unending demand for it,” Lamkin said. u

With a Mediterranean-style, the home still features many of its original features – copper gutters, Terra cotta and stucco exterior. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

The exterior had been cracked and in need of repair, but Johnston Masonry restored it to its original look using a more durable, modern stucco mix. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

A detail restored by Johnston Masonry on the mansion’s nearby carriage house. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)

An archway and driveway into the courtyard. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)