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Brrrr: America's 50 coldest cities

Feb 28 2015

Duluth mayor touts plan for retiree health care

Oct 7 2014

Duluth tornado/waterspout might not have been a first

Aug 13 2012

Good Question: Where Does Clean-Up Money Come From? - CBS Minnesota

Jun 21 2012

Como Zoo gives refuge to Duluth polar bear, seals (w/ video)

Jun 20 2012

Jeno Paulucci, a Pioneer of Ready-Made Ethnic Foods, Dies at 93

Nov 25 2011

The Next Retirement Time Bomb

Dec 10 2005

Freedom of the Skies

Jun 1 2001

People, animals flee floods in NE Minnesota city

foxnews.com

History

Native history

The Ojibwe occupied a historic settlement at Onigamiinsing ("at the little portage"), the portage across Minnesota Point between Lake Superior and western St. Louis Bay, which forms Duluth's harbor.⁶ For both the Ojibwe and the Dakota, interaction with Europeans during the contact period revolved around the fur trade and related activities.

According to Ojibwe oral history, Spirit Island, near the Spirit Valley neighborhood, was the "Sixth Stopping Place" where the northern and southern branches of the Ojibwe Nation came together and proceeded to their "Seventh Stopping Place" near the present city of La Pointe, Wisconsin. The "Stopping Places" were places the Native Americans occupied during their westward migration as the Europeans overran their territory.⁷

Exploration and fur trade

Several factors brought fur traders to the Great Lakes in the early 17th century. The fashion for beaver hats in Europe generated demand for pelts. The French trade for beavers in the lower St. Lawrence River led to the depletion of the animals in the region by the late 1630s, after which the French searched farther west for new resources and new routes, making alliances with the Native Americans along the way to trap and deliver furs.

Étienne Brûlé is credited with the European discovery of Lake Superior before 1620. Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers explored the Duluth area, Fond du Lac (Bottom of the Lake), in 1654 and again in 1660. The French soon established fur posts near Duluth and in the far north where Grand Portage became a major trading center. The French explorer Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, whose name is sometimes anglicized as "DuLuth", explored the St. Louis River in 1679.

After 1792 and the independence of the United States, the North West Company established several posts on Minnesota rivers and lakes, as well as in areas to the west and northwest, for trading with the Ojibwe, the Dakota, and other native tribes. The first post was where Superior, Wisconsin, later developed; known as Fort St. Louis, the post became the headquarters for North West's new Fond du Lac Department. It had stockade walls, two houses of 40 feet (12 m) each, a shed of 60 feet (18 m), a large warehouse, and a canoe yard. Over time, Native American peoples and European Americans settled nearby, and a town gradually developed.

In 1808, German-born John Jacob Astor organized the American Fur Company. The company began trading at the Head of the Lakes in 1809. In 1817, it erected a new headquarters at present-day Fond du Lac on the St. Louis River. There, portages connected Lake Superior with Lake Vermilion to the north and with the Mississippi River to the south. After creating a powerful monopoly, Astor got out of the business around 1830, as the trade was declining. But active trade continued until the failure of the fur trade in the 1840s. European fashions changed, and many American areas were getting over-trapped, causing game to decline.

In 1832, Henry Schoolcraft visited the Fond du Lac area and wrote of his experiences with the Ojibwe Indians there. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow based the Song of Hiawatha, his epic poem relating the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman, on Schoolcraft's writings.⁸

Natives signed two Treaties of Fond du Lac with the United States in the present neighborhood of Fond du Lac in 1826 and 1847; in them, the Ojibwe ceded land to the American government. As part of the Treaty of Washington (1854) with the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa, the United States placed the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation upstream from Duluth near Cloquet, Minnesota.

Permanent settlement

As European Americans continued to settle and encroach on Ojibwe lands, the U.S. government made a series of treaties, executed between 1837 and 1889, that expropriated vast areas of tribal lands for their use and subsequently relegated the Native American peoples to a number of small reservations. Interest in the area was piqued in the 1850s by rumors of copper mining. A government land survey in 1852, followed by a treaty with local tribes in 1854, secured wilderness lands for gold-seeking explorers, sparked a land rush, and led to the development of iron ore mining in the area.⁹ The 1854 Ojibwe Land Cession Treaty would force the Ojibwe onto what are now known as the Fond du Lac and Grand Portage Reservations, though some land rights such as hunting and fishing were retained.¹⁰

Around the same time, newly constructed channels and locks in the East permitted large ships to access the area. A road connecting Duluth to the Twin Cities was also constructed. Eleven small towns on both sides of the St. Louis River were formed, establishing Duluth's roots as a city.

By 1857, copper resources were scarce and the area's economic focus shifted to timber harvesting. A nationwide financial crisis, the Panic of 1857, caused most of the city's early pioneers to leave. A history of Duluth written in 1910 says: "Of the handful remaining in 1859 four men were unemployed and one of those was a brewer. Capital idea; build a brewery. The absence of malt and hops and barley did not at all embarrass those stout-hearted settlers."¹¹ The water for brewing was obtained from a stream that emptied into Lake Superior that came to be called Brewery Creek. While the brewery "was not a pecuniary success", it became the Fitger Brewing Company a few decades later.¹²

The opening of the canal at Sault Ste. Marie in 1855 and the contemporaneous announcement of the railroads' approach made Duluth the only port with access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Soon, the lumber industry, railroads, and mining were all growing so quickly that the influx of workers could hardly keep up with demand; storefronts popped up almost overnight. By 1868, business in Duluth was booming. In a Fourth of July speech, Thomas Preston Foster, the founder of Duluth's first newspaper, coined the expression "The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas".

In 1869–70, Duluth was the fastest-growing city in the country and was expected to surpass Chicago in only a few years.¹³ When Jay Cooke, a wealthy Philadelphia land speculator, convinced the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad to create an extension from St. Paul to Duluth, the railroad opened areas due north and west of Lake Superior to iron ore mining. Duluth's population on New Year's Day of 1869 consisted of 14 families; by the Fourth of July, 3,500 people were present to celebrate.¹⁴

In the first Duluth Minnesotian printed on August 24, 1869, the editor placed the following notice on the editorial page:

Newcomers should comprehend that Duluth is at present a small place, and hotel and boarding room accommodation is extremely limited. However, lumber is cheap and shanties can be built. Everyone should bring blankets and come prepared to rough it at first.¹⁵

In 1873, Cooke's empire crumbled, and the stock market crashed, causing Duluth to almost disappear from the map. But by the late 1870s, with the continued boom in lumber and mining and the completion of the railroads, Duluth bloomed again. By the turn of the century, it had almost 100,000 inhabitants and was again a thriving community with small-business loans, commerce, and trade flowing through the city. Mining continued in the Mesabi Range, and iron was shipped east to mills in Ohio. The trade continued into the 20th century.

"The Untold Delights of Duluth"

Early doubts about the Duluth area's potential were voiced in "The Untold Delights of Duluth," a speech U.S. Representative J. Proctor Knott of Kentucky gave in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 27, 1871. His speech opposing the St. Croix and Superior Land Grant lampooned Western boosterism, portraying Duluth as an Eden in fantastically florid terms. The speech has been reprinted in collections of folklore and humorous speeches and is regarded as a classic.¹⁶ The nearby city of Proctor, Minnesota, is named after Knott.

Duluth's unofficial sister city, Duluth, Georgia, got its name in 1871 shortly after Knott's speech gained national attention. Prominent Georgia newspaperman and politician Evan Howell had been called upon to make remarks at the dedication of a new railroad line into Howell's Crossing, a village named for his grandfather. There, Howell humorously suggested that the community be called "Duluth" instead, and townspeople agreed.

Proctor Knott is sometimes credited with characterizing Duluth as the "zenith city of the unsalted seas," but the honor for that coinage belongs to journalist Thomas Preston Foster, who spoke at a Fourth of July picnic in 1868.¹⁷

20th century

During the 20th century, the Port of Duluth was, for a time, the busiest port in the United States, surpassing even New York City in gross tonnage.¹⁸ Lake freighters carried iron ore through the Great Lakes to processing plants in Illinois and Ohio. Ten newspapers, six banks, and an 11-story skyscraper, the Torrey Building, were founded and built.¹⁹ As of 1905, Duluth was said to be home to the most millionaires per capita in the United States.²⁰

In 1907, U.S. Steel announced that it would build a $5 million plant in the area. Although steel production did not begin until 1915, predictions held that Duluth's population would rise to 200,000–300,000. Along with the Duluth Works steel plant, U.S. Steel developed Morgan Park as a company town for steel workers. It is now a city neighborhood within Duluth.

The Diamond Calk Horseshoe Company was founded in 1908 and later became a major manufacturer and exporter of wrenches and automotive tools. Duluth's huge wholesale Marshall Wells Hardware Company expanded in 1901 by opening branches in Portland, Oregon, and Winnipeg, Manitoba; the company catalog totaled 2,390 pages by 1913. The Duluth Showcase Company, which later became the Duluth Refrigerator Company and then the Coolerator Company, was established in 1908. The Universal Atlas Cement Company, which made cement from the slag byproduct of the steel plant, began operations in 1917.

Immigration

Because of its numerous jobs in mining and industry, the city was a destination for large waves of immigrants from Europe during the early 20th century. It became the center of one of the largest Finnish communities in the world outside Finland.²¹ For decades, a Finnish-language daily newspaper, Päivälehti, was published in the city, named after the former Grand Duchy of Finland's pro-independence liberal paper. The Finnish community of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) members published the widely read labor newspaper Industrialisti. From 1907 to 1941, the Finnish Socialist Federation and then the IWW operated Work People's College, an educational institution that taught classes from a working-class, socialist perspective. Immigrants from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Ireland, England, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Romania, and Russia also settled in Duluth.²² At one time, Duluth was home to several historic immigrant neighborhoods, including Little Italy.²³ Today, people of Scandinavian descent constitute a strong plurality of Duluth's population, accounting for more than a third of the residents identifying European ancestry.

Duluth lynchings

In September 1918, a group calling itself the Knights of Liberty dragged Finnish immigrant Olli Kinkkonen from his boarding house, tarred and feathered him, and lynched him. Kinkkonen had not wanted to fight in World War I and instead planned to return to Finland. His body was found two weeks later hanging in a tree in Duluth's Lester Park.²⁴

Another lynching in Duluth occurred on June 15, 1920, when three innocent black male circus workers—Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie—were attacked by a white mob and hanged after purportedly raping a teenage white girl. The Duluth lynchings took place on First Street and Second Avenue East. In 1970, journalist Michael Fedo wrote The Lynchings in Duluth, which began to raise awareness of the event. Members of many different communities then began to come together for reflection and education.

The men's unmarked graves were soon found. In 1991, gravestones were erected with funding from a local church. Vigils were held at the intersection where the men were lynched. In 2000, a grassroots committee was formed and began to offer speakers to groups and schools. It decided to commemorate the event with a memorial; the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, which includes a corner wall and plaza, was dedicated in 2003. It includes three 7-foot (2.1 m)-tall bronze statues of the three men. The CJMM Committee continues to work for racial justice through educational outreach, community forums, and scholarships for youth.²⁵²⁶

1918 Cloquet Fire

In 1918, the Cloquet Fire (named for the nearby city of Cloquet) burned across Carlton and St. Louis Counties, destroying dozens of communities in the Duluth area. The fire was the worst natural disaster in Minnesota history in terms of the number of lives lost in a single day. Many people died on the rural roads surrounding the Duluth area, and historical accounts tell of victims dying while trying to outrun the fire. The News Tribune reported: "It is estimated that 100 families were rendered homeless by Saturday's fire in the territory known as the Woodland District... In most cases, families which lost their homes also lost most or all of their furniture and personal belongings, the limited time and transportation facilities affording little opportunity for saving anything but human life."²⁷ The National Guard unit based in Duluth was mobilized in a heroic effort to battle the fire and assist victims, but its troops were overwhelmed by the enormity of the fire.

Retired Duluth News Tribune columnist and journalist Jim Heffernan²⁸ wrote that his mother "recalled an overnight vigil watching out the window of their small home on lower Piedmont Avenue with her father, her younger sisters having gone to sleep, ready to be evacuated to the waterfront should the need arise. The fire never made it that far down the hill, but devastated what is now Piedmont Heights, and, of course, a widespread area of Northeastern Minnesota."²⁹ In the fire's aftermath, tens of thousands of people were left injured or homeless; many of the refugees fled into the city for aid and shelter.³⁰

Continued growth

For the first half of the 20th century, Duluth was an industrial port boom town dominated by its several grain elevators, a cement plant, a nail mill, wire mills, and the Duluth Works plant. Handling and export of iron ore, brought in from the Mesabi Range, was integral to the city's economy, as well as to the steel industry in the Midwest, including in manufacturing cities in Ohio.

The Aerial Lift Bridge (earlier known as the "Aerial Bridge" or "Aerial Ferry Bridge") was built in 1905 and was known at that time as the United States' first transporter bridge. Only one other like it was ever constructed in the country.³¹ In 1929–30, the span was converted to a vertical-lift bridge, which was also rather uncommon. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

In 1916, after Europe entered World War I, a shipyard was constructed on the St. Louis River. A new workers' neighborhood, today known as Riverside, developed around the large operation. Similar industrial expansions took place during World War II as Duluth's large harbor and the area's vast natural resources were put to work for the war effort. Tankers and submarine chasers (usually called "sub-chasers") were built at the Riverside shipyard. Duluth's population continued to grow in the postwar decade and a half, peaking at 107,884 in 1960.

Economic decline

Economic decline began in the 1950s when high-grade iron ore ran out on the Iron Range north of Duluth; ore shipments from the Duluth harbor had been critical to the city's economy. Low-grade ore (taconite) shipments continued, boosted by new taconite pellet technology, but ore shipments were lower overall.

In the 1970s, the United States experienced a steel crisis and a recession in the global steel market. Like many American cities, Duluth entered a period of industrial restructuring. In 1981, U.S. Steel closed its Duluth Works plant—a blow to the city's economy with effects including the closure of the cement company, which had depended on the steel plant for raw materials (slag). More closures followed in other industries, including shipbuilding and heavy machinery. By the decade's end, unemployment rates hit 15%. The economic downturn was particularly hard on Duluth's West Side, where ethnic Eastern and Southern European workers had lived for decades.

During the 1980s, plans were underway to extend Interstate 35 through Duluth and up the North Shore, bringing new access to the city. The original plan called for the interstate to run along the shore on an elevated concrete structure, blocking the city's access to Lake Superior. Kent Worley, a local landscape architect, wrote an impassioned letter to then mayor Ben Boo asking that the route be reconsidered. The Minnesota Department of Transportation then agreed to take another look, with Worley consulting. The new plan called for parts of the highway to run through tunnels, which allowed preservation of Fitger's Brewery, Sir Ben's Tavern, Leif Erikson Park, and Duluth's Rose Garden. Rock used from the interstate project was used to create an extensive new beach along Lake Superior, along which the city's Lakewalk was built.³²

21st-century development

With the decline of the city's industrial core, the local economic focus gradually shifted to tourism. The downtown area was renovated to emphasize its pedestrian character: streets were paved with red brick, and skywalks and retail shops were added. The city and developers worked with the area's unique architectural character, converting old warehouses along the waterfront into cafés, shops, restaurants, and hotels. Combined with the new rock beach and Lakewalk, these changes developed the new Canal Park as a tourism-oriented district. Duluth's population, which had declined since 1960, stabilized at around 85,000.

In the 21st century, Duluth has become a regional center for banking, retail shopping, and medical care for northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and northwestern Michigan. It is estimated that more than 8,000 jobs in Duluth are directly related to its two hospitals. Arts and entertainment offerings, as well as year-round recreation and the natural environment, have contributed to the tourist industry's expansion. Some 3.5 million visitors each year contribute more than $400 million to the local economy.

A group of like-minded businesses in Lincoln Park, an old rundown blue-collar neighborhood with high unemployment and poverty rates, was cultivated by a group of entrepreneurs who have been rebuilding and revitalizing the area. Since 2014, at least 25 commercial real estate transactions have occurred, and 17 businesses have opened, including restaurants, breweries, coffee shops and artist studios.³³³⁴ Due to the neighborhood's revitalization, many developers are also investing in housing projects in anticipation of further growth.³⁵

Waterfront reclamation efforts

Duluth's prominence as a port city gave it an economic advantage in its early years, but as various industries began to wane, new efforts to reclaim areas of the waterfront for public use emerged. Notable among them is the reclamation of the St. Louis River corridor, which runs along the edge of the city's western neighborhoods. Many of these sites, filled with legacy pollutants due to previous industrial use, have been or are in the process of being restored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with several developments, such as Pier B Resort and Hotel, demonstrating the revitalization opportunity of these former industrial spaces.³⁶

Other efforts to reclaim waterfront space in Duluth have been led by the Duluth Waterfront Collective.³⁷ One notable example includes the Highway 61 Revisited concept, which seeks to reimagine the I-35 corridor as it runs through the city's downtown. The group's efforts have been met with interest, with the city council voting to explore options for the corridor in 2021.³⁸

While the acreage of land utilizing the waterway for port-related purposes has shifted in recent years, the goods being shipped through the Duluth–Superior port have shifted to reflect a changing economy. In recent decades, declines in the shipment of coal and iron ore have been met by increases in the shipment of wind turbine components³⁹ and multimodal shipping containers.⁴⁰

Geography

See also: Neighborhoods of Duluth, Minnesota

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 80.168 square miles (207.63 km2), of which 71.658 square miles (185.59 km2) is land and 8.510 square miles (22.04 km2) is water.⁴¹ It is Minnesota's second-largest city by land area, surpassed only by Hibbing. Duluth's canal connects Lake Superior to the Duluth–Superior harbor and the Saint Louis River. It is spanned by the Aerial Lift Bridge, which connects Canal Park with Minnesota Point (or "Park Point").⁴² Minnesota Point is about 7 miles (11 km) long and, when included with adjacent Wisconsin Point, which extends 3 miles (4.8 km) from the city of Superior, Wisconsin, is the largest freshwater baymouth bar in the world at a total of 10 miles (16 km).⁴³

Duluth's topography is dominated by a steep hillside that climbs from Lake Superior to high inland elevations. Duluth has been called "the San Francisco of the Midwest", alluding to San Francisco's similar water-to-hilltop topography. This similarity was most evident before World War II, when Duluth had a network of streetcars and an inclined railroad, the 7th Avenue West Incline Railway, that, like San Francisco's cable cars, climbed a steep hill. The change in elevation is illustrated by Duluth's two airports. The weather station at the lakeside Sky Harbor Airport on Minnesota Point has an elevation of 607 feet (185 m), while Duluth International Airport, atop the hill, is 820 feet (250 m) higher at 1,427 feet (435 m).⁴⁴

Even as the city has grown, its populace has tended to hug Lake Superior's shoreline, making Duluth a primarily southwest–northeast city. The considerable development on the hill has given Duluth many steep streets. Some neighborhoods, such as Piedmont Heights and Bayview Heights, are atop the hill with scenic views of the city. Skyline Parkway is a scenic roadway that extends from Becks Road above the Gary–New Duluth neighborhood near the western end of the city to the Lester Park neighborhood on the east side. It crosses nearly Duluth's entire length and affords views of Lake Superior, the Aerial Lift Bridge, Canal Park, and the many industries that inhabit the largest inland port.

A developing part of the city is the Miller Hill Mall area, as well as the adjacent big-box retailer shopping strips "over the hill" along the Miller Trunk Highway corridor. The 2009–10 road reconstruction project in Duluth's Miller Hill area improved movement through the U.S. Highway 53 corridor from Trinity Road to Maple Grove Road. The highway project reconstructed connector roads, intersections, and adjacent roadways. A new international airport terminal was completed in 2013 as part of the federal government's Stimulus Reconstruction Program.

Geological history

The geology of Duluth demonstrates the Midcontinent Rift, formed as the North American continent began to split apart about 1.1 billion years ago. As the Earth's crust thinned, magma rose toward the surface. These intrusions formed a 16 km (9.9 mi)-thick sill, primarily of gabbro, which is known as the Duluth Complex.⁴⁵

The creation of the Lake Superior basin reflects the erosive power of continental glaciers that advanced and retreated over Minnesota several times in the past 2 million years. The mile-thick ice sheets easily eroded the sandstone that filled the axis of the rift valley but encountered more resistance from the igneous rocks forming the flanks of the rift, now the margins of the lake basin. As the last glacier retreated, meltwaters filled the lake as high as 500 feet (150 m) above the current level; the Skyline Parkway roughly follows one of the highest levels of the ancient Lake Superior, Glacial Lake Duluth.⁴⁶ The sandstone that buried the igneous rocks of the rift is exposed near Fond du Lac. At one time, a large number of quarries produced the stone, after which it was sold as Fond du Lac or Lake Superior brownstone; such stone was widely used in Duluth buildings and also shipped to Minneapolis, Chicago, and Milwaukee. The weathered sandstone forms the sandy lake bottom and shores of Park Point.⁴⁷

Climate

Duluth has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), slightly moderated by its proximity to Lake Superior. Winters are long, snowy, and very cold, normally seeing maximum temperatures remaining at or below 32 °F (0 °C) for 100 days (the second-most of any city in the contiguous US behind International Falls), falling to or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 38 nights, and bringing consistent snow cover from late November to early April.⁴⁸ Winter storms that pass south or east of Duluth can often set up easterly or northeasterly flow, leading to occasional upslope lake-effect snow events that bring 1 foot (30 cm) or more of snow to the city while areas 50 miles (80 km) inland receive considerably less. The average annual snowfall is 90.2 inches (2,290 mm). The lake steams in the winter when moist lake-warmed air at the surface rises and cools, losing some of its moisture-carrying capacity.⁴⁹

Using data on the minimum monthly temperature between 1981 and 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a Comparative Climatic Data report. With a minimum average monthly low temperature of 1.5 °F (−16.9 °C) and a maximum average monthly low temperature of 55.4 °F (13.0 °C), Duluth was found to be the fifth-coldest city in the United States.⁵⁰

Summers are warm, although nights are generally cool, with daytime temperatures averaging 78 °F (26 °C) in July, with that figure being a few degrees warmer inland. Temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average, only two days per year, while the city has officially seen 100 °F (38 °C) temperatures on only three days, all during the July 1936 heat wave from the Dust Bowl years.⁵¹ The phrase "cooler by the lake" can be heard often in weather forecasts during the summer, especially on days when an easterly wind is expected. Great local variations are also common because of the rapid change in elevation between the nearly 900-foot (270 m) hilltop and shoreside. Often, this variation manifests itself as snow in higher elevations, whereas rain falls near Lake Superior.⁵²

The record low temperature in Duluth is −41 °F (−41 °C), set on January 2, 1885. The record high temperature is 106 °F (41 °C), set on July 13, 1936. On average, the first freezing temperature occurs on September 30 and the last on May 14, although a freezing temperature has occurred in August. The average window for measurable (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) snowfall is October 22 through April 26.⁵³

2012 flooding

From June 19–20, 2012, Duluth suffered the worst flood in its history, caused by nine inches (230 mm) of rain throughout the course of 30 hours.⁶¹ Combined with its rocky sediments, hard soil, and 43 streams and creeks, the city could not handle the massive rainfall.⁶² Mayor Don Ness declared a state of emergency, asking for national assistance.⁶³ Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton declared a state of emergency, sending the National Guard and the Red Cross to assist in the relief efforts.⁶⁴ Several sinkholes opened throughout the city, causing massive property damage.⁶⁵ Several feet of standing water accumulated in many city alleys and parking lots.⁶⁶ Streets were turned into rapids, and many roads split apart due to the heavy flow of water.⁶⁷⁶⁸ A portion of West Skyline Parkway tumbled down the hill, isolating a neighborhood.⁶⁹ The Saint Louis River, in Duluth's Fond du Lac neighborhood, flooded Highway 23, isolating that neighborhood as well and damaging roadways and bridges.⁷⁰

The Lake Superior Zoo flooded in the early hours of June 20; 11 barnyard animals drowned, as did a turkey vulture, a raven, and a snowy owl.⁷¹ The rising waters enabled a polar bear to escape her exhibit, though she was quickly found on zoo grounds, tranquilized, and moved to safety. Two harbor seals escaped the zoo grounds but were later found on Grand Avenue. All three animals were moved to Como Park Zoo in Saint Paul for a temporary but indeterminate amount of time.⁷²⁷³⁷⁴ The polar bear was transferred to the Kansas City Zoo in 2012 as part of the American Zoological Association's (AZA) Species Survival Program breeding recommendation.

2012 tornado

Tornadoes are uncommon in Duluth, considering its latitude and location next to the climate-moderating Lake Superior. However, on August 9, 2012, at around 11:00 am, a tornado touched down on Minnesota Point. It had originally started as a waterspout in Superior Bay, two miles (3.2 km) from Sky Harbor Airport, but briefly found its way onto the sandbar's shoreline, making it a true tornado. It quickly dissipated but soon touched down again on Superior's Barker's Island, where it again quickly dissipated. It caused no serious damage; the tornado was categorized as an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. At the time, the National Weather Service reported that it was Duluth's first tornado. Further investigation showed that more than 60 years ago, on May 26, 1958, Duluth had a "miniature tornado" that collapsed a garage and damaged two area lake cabins. It lasted only five minutes. The News Tribune reported a possible twister on July 11, 1935:

Swirling into the city on the wings of a torrential rain, a miniature tornado struck in the heart of the Gary-New Duluth district shortly before 8 a.m. yesterday, flattening a row of coal sheds [and] a frame garage and causing general damage to trees in the vicinity. The United States weather bureau had no means of officially recording the twister, the high wind having limited itself to the Gary-New Duluth district.⁷⁵⁷⁶

Demographics

According to the 2023 American Community Survey, there were 38,843 estimated households in Duluth with an average of 2.15 persons per household. The city had a median household income of $61,163. Approximately 17.7% of the city's population lived at or below the poverty line. Duluth had an estimated 68.0% employment rate, with 44.4% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 95.8% holding a high school diploma.⁸⁰

The ACS 2023 one-year estimate reported that Duluth's residents were 74,622 (85.09%) White, 2,063 (2.35%) African American, 777 (0.89%) Native American, 2,093 (2.39%) Asian, 122 (0.14%) Pacific Islander, 1,355 (1.55%) from some other race, and 6,654 (7.59%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2,424 (2.76%) of the population.⁸¹

The median age in the city was 37.0 years.

Race and ethnicity

Historically, Duluth has been overwhelmingly populated by non-Hispanic whites. Since 1990, it has been home to a small but growing Black, Asian, and Hispanic population.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 86,697 people, 37,104 households, and 18,700 families residing in the city.⁸⁶ The population density was 1,209.3 inhabitants per square mile (466.9/km2). There were 39,762 housing units at an average density of 554.6 inhabitants per square mile (214.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 84.98% White, 3.56% African American, 2.55% Native American, 1.60% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.78% from some other races and 6.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.37% of the population.⁸⁷ 17.2% of residents were under the age of 18, 5.4% were under 5 years of age, and 16.6% were 65 and older.

The most common ancestries in Duluth were German (24.0%), Norwegian (14.2%), Swedish (10.3%), Irish (9.8%), and Polish (6.7%). 95.2% of residents were born in the United States, and 72.7% were born in Minnesota. 95.2% spoke only English at home, and 1.7% spoke Spanish. 94.5% had at least a high school degree, and 39.0% had at least a bachelor's degree.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 86,265 people, 35,705 households, and 18,680 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,272.5 inhabitants per square mile (491.3/km2). There were 38,208 housing units at an average density of 563.6 inhabitants per square mile (217.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 90.38% White, 2.30% African American, 2.47% Native American, 1.50% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.26% from some other races and 3.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.51% of the population.

There were 35,705 households, of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.2% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 47.7% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23, and the average family size was 2.84.

The median age in the city was 33.6 years. 18.5% of residents were under the age of 18, 19.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24, 23.4% were from 25 to 44, 24.8% were from 45 to 64, and 13.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.0% male and 51.0% female.

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 86,918 people, 35,500 households, and 19,918 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,278.1 inhabitants per square mile (493.5/km2). There were 36,994 housing units at an average density of 544.0 inhabitants per square mile (210.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 92.65% White, 1.63% African American, 2.44% Native American, 1.14% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from some other races and 1.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.06% of the population.

There were 35,500 households: 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.9% were non-families. 34.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26, and the average family size was 2.90.

In the city, the population was spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 16.2% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,766, and the median income for a family was $46,394. Males had a median income of $35,182 versus $24,965 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,969. About 8.6% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.4% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Duluth is the major regional center for health care, higher education, retail, and business services not only of its own immediate area but also of a larger area encompassing northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is also a major transportation center for the transshipment of coal, taconite, agricultural products, steel, limestone, and cement. In recent years, it has seen strong growth in the transshipment of wind turbine components coming and going from manufacturers in both Europe and North Dakota, as well as of oversized industrial machinery manufactured all around the world and destined for the tar sands oil extraction projects in northern Alberta. The Port of Duluth handles an average of 35 million short tons of cargo and nearly 900 vessel visits each year.⁸⁸ 90 percent of the port's vessels are "Lakers", ships that ship goods exclusively among the upper four Great Lakes and are too large to transit the Welland Canal. The rest are "Salties", ships that can traverse the seaway all the way from the Atlantic Ocean.⁸⁹

The Twin Ports has attracted several new engineering firms, including TKDA, Barr Engineering, LHB, Enbridge, and Lake Superior Consulting, as well as new start-ups in various fields including Loll Designs and Epicurean, two sister companies that make eco-friendly furniture and kitchen utensils respectively, and microbrewery Bent Paddle.⁹⁰ Women's clothing retail chain Maurices is also headquartered in Duluth, as are luggage manufacturers and suppliers Duluth Pack and Frost River. In 1989, the workwear and accessories brand Duluth Trading Company was founded on a barge in the city's shipping district. The company moved its headquarters to southern Wisconsin in 2000. Supermarket chain Super One Foods is also based in the Twin Ports, with its headquarters in neighboring Hermantown.

Duluth is a center for aquatic biology and aquatic science. The city is home to the EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Division Laboratory and the University of Minnesota Duluth. These institutions have spawned many economically and scientifically important businesses that support Duluth's economy. A short list of these businesses includes ERA Laboratories, LimnoLogic, the ASci Corporation, Environmental Consulting and Testing, and Ecolab.

The city is popular for tourism. Duluth is a convenient base for trips to the scenic North Shore via Highway 61 and to fishing and wilderness destinations in Minnesota's far north, including the Superior National Forest, Voyageurs National Park, Lake Vermilion, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Tourists also may drive on the North Shore Scenic Drive to Gooseberry Falls State Park, Baptism Falls (Minnesota's largest waterfall), the vertical cliff of Palisade Head, Isle Royale National Park (reached via ferry), Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, and High Falls of the Pigeon River (on the Canada–US border). Thunder Bay, Ontario, can be reached by following the highway into Canada along Lake Superior.

In 2006, a volunteer task force was formed to manage the spiraling retiree health care benefit obligations that were threatening to bankrupt the city. Mayor Don Ness called it "the single most important volunteer effort in our city's history". After reforming and restructuring the benefits and a court case that went all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, in 2013 the liability stood at an estimated $191 million.⁹¹ In 2014, Ness announced "a full solution for the retiree health care issue that once threatened to bankrupt our city".⁹²

Top employers

According to the city's 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,⁹³ Duluth's 10 largest employers are:

Aviation

Several multinational aviation corporations operate near Duluth. Since 1994, the city has been home to the headquarters and main manufacturing facilities of Cirrus Aircraft, a company with nearly 1,600 Duluth employees (as of 2023⁹⁴) building the world's best-selling general aviation aircraft, the SR22, and the world's first single-engine personal jet, the Vision SF50.⁹⁵⁹⁶ James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, said that Cirrus' rapid growth in Duluth over the years "was a major, major factor in the town's modern emergence".⁹⁷ Former mayor Gary Doty called the arrival of Cirrus in the mid-1990s a "crucial turning point" for Duluth and said it was "the catalyst for more positive attitudes about the city... If that hadn't happened, then we might really have been in a tailspin."⁹⁸ As of 2024, the company is Duluth's largest manufacturer and third-largest employer.⁹⁹¹⁰⁰ In January 2012, another aircraft manufacturer, Kestrel Aircraft, maker of the K-350 turboprop plane and later known as ONE Aviation, moved to the Twin Ports.¹⁰¹ In October of that year, AAR Corp opened an aircraft repair and maintenance facility at the Duluth airport.¹⁰² Both companies ceased operations in the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.¹⁰³¹⁰⁴

In January 2013, the Duluth International Airport opened a new terminal, now named the U.S. Representative James L. Oberstar Terminal after the late Jim Oberstar.¹⁰⁵

The Air National Guard's 148th Fighter Wing is at the Duluth Air National Guard Base and is the city's sixth-largest employer as of 2022. It is one of a handful of National Guard units with an active association which, in the 148th's case, means having the capability to provide training for Air Force pilots.¹⁰⁶ The 179th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the 148th.

Minnesota's largest airshow, the Duluth Air & Aviation Expo, takes place each year on the grounds of Duluth International Airport.¹⁰⁷

Arts and culture

Duluth hosts a variety of museums and cultural institutions. Duluth is the starting point for the North Shore of Lake Superior scenic route that runs from Duluth, at the southwestern end of the lake, to Thunder Bay and Nipigon in the north and Sault Ste. Marie in the east. The route was already a popular tourist destination after 1855 when the Great Lakes lock system first allowed steamboats onto the lake and eastern tourists began to travel onto Lake Superior for recreational purposes. By the mid-1870s, many excursion boats, coastal steamers, and ferries ran along the North Shore, primarily out of Duluth and Thunder Bay. After docking in Duluth, tourists often canoed or were ferried up the North Shore, staying in hunting and fishing camps and later hotels and small cabins.¹⁰⁸

The Duluth Children's Museum, founded in 1930 and located in Lincoln Park, is the fifth-oldest of its kind in the U.S. It offers interactive exhibits and educational programming, with a collection of over 25,000 artifacts focusing on regional history, including Indigenous and immigrant cultures. Other museums include the Tweed Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota Duluth and the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum. The Historic Old Central High School, built in 1892 and notable for its 230-foot clock tower modeled after Big Ben, was once home to a local museum. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is an example of Romanesque architecture and was sold to developers in 2022.¹⁰⁹

The Duluth Art Institute, housed in the Duluth Depot downtown, features galleries, studios, and educational programming. The city is also home to the Minnesota Ballet and Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, free concerts are held in Chester Park. The Bayfront Blues Festival is held in early August. Several local theater companies operate in Duluth, including the Duluth Playhouse, founded in 1914 and one of the oldest continuously operating community theaters in the U.S. It stages performances across multiple venues, including the restored Nor Shor Theatre, a historic 600-seat movie palace reopened in 2018.¹¹⁰¹¹¹ The Playhouse also hosts a respected theater education program.¹¹²

Since 2004, Duluth has celebrated Gay Pride with a parade on Labor Day weekend. Since 1998, the city has held the Homegrown Music Festival in the first week of May; it features over 170 local musical acts performing across the city. The Junior Achievement High School ROCKS–Battle of the Bands showcases middle-school and high-school bands from central Minnesota to the Canada–U.S. border and northern Wisconsin at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) in mid-April. Duluth also hosts the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards, honoring books about the region.

Attractions

Canal Park, once a warehouse district, has been transformed into a hub of restaurants, shops, and recreation. A 2.6-mile (4.2 km) walking path offers views of Lake Superior, Park Point's sand dunes, and the Aerial Lift Bridge, which spans the Duluth Ship Canal. The Lakewalk, extending seven miles, passes landmarks like Leif Erikson Park and the Duluth Rose Garden, ending at Bayfront Festival Park, which hosts concerts and events.

Among Duluth's most visited attractions is the Great Lakes Aquarium, a freshwater-focused facility showcasing ecosystems such as the Amazon River and Great Lakes Basin. Nearby, the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center features shipwreck artifacts and interactive exhibits, including a replica ship's pilot house.¹¹³ The wreck of the Thomas Wilson, a classic early-20th-century whaleback ore boat, lies underwater less than 1 mile (1.6 km) outside the Duluth Ship Canal. The SS William A. Irvin, a retired U.S. Steel flagship, now serves as a floating museum.¹¹⁴

The Lake Superior Railroad Museum, located in the Duluth Union Depot, houses a collection of locomotives and rolling stock, including the William Crooks and a rare Yellowstone locomotive.¹¹⁵ From here, the North Shore Scenic Railroad operates heritage excursions to Two Harbors, Minnesota, during the summer and fall. Other notable historic and cultural sites include the Fitger's Brewery Complex, established in the 19th century and now home to shops, restaurants, and a brewery museum;¹¹⁶ the Glensheen Historic Estate, a 38-room Jacobean mansion on Lake Superior's shore; and the Lake Superior Zoo, which spans 16 acres and features species from around the world.¹¹⁷

Duluth's natural attractions are numerous. Enger Tower, atop Enger Hill, provides panoramic views of the region. Hawk Ridge, on Skyline Parkway, is a renowned birdwatching site during the autumn raptor migration.¹¹⁸¹¹⁹ Gichi-Ode' Akiing Park, named in Ojibwe for "a grand heart place," includes a memorial to Kechewaishke, whose 1849 petition helped preserve Anishinaabe land in the area.^120121122123

Events

The city hosts several annual events. The Duluth Airshow, Minnesota's largest, brings military and civilian flight teams to Duluth International Airport.¹²⁴¹²⁵ The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, held each January, is one of the longest races in the lower 48 states and serves as a preparatory event for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.^{126127128129130} In May, the Magic Smelt Parade celebrates the smelt run with music and costume, modeled after New Orleans-style Second Line Parade.^131132133

Grandma's Marathon, founded in 1977, attracts runners from around the world to a lakeside course between Two Harbors and Canal Park; the same route is used for the North Shore Inline Marathon. In November, the Christmas City of the North Parade kicks off the holiday season with marching bands and floats.¹³⁴¹³⁵ During November and December, the Bentleyville Tour of Lights transforms Bayfront Festival Park into a walk-through holiday display featuring over five million lights.¹³⁶¹³⁷

Sports

See also: Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men's ice hockey and Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs women's ice hockey

Duluth has a varied sports history, including hosting two early National Football League teams: the Duluth Kelleys/Eskimos (1923–1925; 1926–1927), the latter inspiring the 2008 film Leatherheads.¹³⁸ In baseball, the Duluth–Superior Dukes played at Wade Stadium from 1993 to 2002 in the independent Northern League, winning the 1997 championship; an earlier Northern League was also in operation off and on from 1902 to 1971 in the city. In boxing, Horton's Gym (later Jungle Boy Boxing Gym) trained notable Minnesota fighters including Zach "Jungle Boy" Walters and Andy Kolle. Duluth also briefly hosted the Duluth-Superior Lumberjacks in the IFL (1999–2000), and in 2023, the city was announced as home to the Duluth Harbor Monsters, a team in the newly formed Arena League, beginning play at the DECC Arena in 2024.

In hockey, the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men's and women's teams earn national acclaim. The men's team, with notable alumni such as Brett Hull and Matt Niskanen, won NCAA national championships in 2011, 2018, and 2019, playing before large crowds at Amsoil Arena, opened in 2010.¹³⁹¹⁴⁰ The women's team has claimed five NCAA titles (2001–03, 2008, 2010), with memorable wins including a triple-overtime victory in 2010 and a dramatic double-overtime goal in 2003.¹⁴¹ The city has also hosted multiple Frozen Four tournaments.¹⁴² In baseball, Duluth supports several amateur teams including the Duluth Xpress, Twin Ports North Stars, and the collegiate summer team Duluth Huskies, who play at Wade Stadium and feature college talent. Local high schools also field competitive teams.

Other amateur sports are well-represented. The Duluth Boat Club, established in 1886, boasts a storied rowing history with 20 national championships and remains active in regattas.¹⁴³ Duluth FC plays in the National Premier Soccer League at Denfeld High School's stadium. Dynamo Duluth has been a leading bandy team, claiming the 2013 American Bandy League championship and the 2009 North American Cup in rink bandy.^144145146 Harbor City Roller Derby, founded in 2007, is the region's first women's flat-track roller derby league.¹⁴⁷ Curling is also prominent; the Duluth Curling Club, founded in 1891 and housed in the DECC since 1976, produced the 2018 men's Olympic curling gold medal team.¹⁴⁸

Parks and recreation

Duluth has numerous parks,¹⁴⁹ including six parks on Lake Superior: Leif Erikson Park, which includes a lakeside rose garden; Brighton Beach Park; Canal Park on Park Point; the Lakewalk (connecting Canal Park and Leif Erikson Park via the lakeshore); and Lafayette Park on Park Point. The Park Point Recreation Area near the end of Park Point has a community center, numerous pavilions, a swimming beach, sand volleyball court, picnic tables and grills, and a boat launch. Park Point Pine Forest, at the tip of Park Point, is popular for bird-watching in the spring and fall when shorebirds use the area as a resting point during their migration.¹⁵⁰ A shipping schedule of ships entering the harbor is available, as well as five live cams including a cam of the canal, the lift bridge, and the beach.¹⁵¹

Other parks include historic Lester Park, one of Duluth's most popular parks. Just upstream from where Amity Creek joins the Lester River, a large, deep pool has formed that attracts cliff diving.¹⁵² Amity Creek is the site of The Seven Bridges Road, a four-mile section of Skyline Parkway where it follows Amity Creek from the top of the bluffs down to Lake Superior. The 400-foot drop has resulted in a long cascade of waterfalls.¹⁵³

Duluth's other parks include Congdon Park, Hartley Park, Chester Park, Bayfront Festival Park, Cascade Park, Enger Park, Lincoln Park, Brewer Park, Fairmount Park, Indian Point Park, Magney–Snively Park, and Fond du Lac Park, as well as some small neighborhood parks and athletic fields. Lester Park, Congdon Park, Hartley Park, and Chester Park have trail systems, and three of these parks—all but Hartley—also have waterfalls, as does Lincoln Park. Hartley Park also has a nature center. Lester Park and Enger Park have public golf courses. Fairmount Park has the Lake Superior Zoo. Jay Cooke State Park is a Minnesota state park about ten miles (16 km) southwest of Duluth. The park is along the Saint Louis River and is one of Minnesota's 10 most visited state parks.

Leif Erikson Park

For many years, the Leif Erikson, a Viking ship that was built in Norway by local boat builders to replicate the type of ship sailed by Leif Erikson who arrived in North America around 997 A.D. was on display in the Leif Erikson park.¹⁵⁴ The vessel is 42 feet (13 m) long, has a 12-foot-9-inch (4 m) beam and draws 4 feet (1.2 m) of water. The Dragon's Head and Tail are considered by architects to be masterpieces. The ship was invited to Duluth by Norwegian-American immigrant and businessman H.H. Borgen. When the crew landed in Duluth on June 23, 1927, they had traveled a distance of 6,700 miles (10,800 km), the greatest distance for a ship of its size in modern history. Hundreds of people lined the dock to greet the ship as it sailed into the Duluth harbor.

Duluthian Emil Olson purchased the ship soon after the voyage and donated the Leif Erikson to the City of Duluth. The ship was placed on display in Duluth's Lake Park, which was later named Leif Erikson Park.¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁶

The Leif Erikson steadily deteriorated after years of neglect and vandalism. By 1980, it was in such poor condition that it was even considered that the ship be burned in the traditional Viking manner of putting a ship to rest. This suggestion inspired Emil Olson's grandson, Will Borg, to bring volunteers together and begin fundraising efforts to restore the ship. Through donations, festivals, and other endeavors, the group raised $100,000. Boatbuilders began the restoration in 1991.¹⁵⁷ Restoration went slowly with starts and stops due to lack of funding. In 2015, it was announced that restoration had been completed and plans were in place to build a glass structure to house the ship, but as of 2022, the ship remains in storage.¹⁵⁸

Located within Leif Erikson Park and overlooking Lake Superior, the Duluth Rose Garden is a formal English style garden with more than 3,000 rose bushes and 12,000 non-rose plantings, including day lilies, evergreen shrubs, mixed perennials, and an herb garden. The rose varieties are labeled, and there are signs that give information on the rose's history and culture. The six-acre garden grows in soil resting over a highway tunnel that encloses the termination point of the freeway entering Duluth. Brick walkways connect all of the beds, and there are many benches in the garden that resemble stone sofas. There is an antique horse fountain and a marble gazebo. The garden is a popular place for summer outdoor weddings.¹⁵⁹

In August 1956, a bronze statue of Leif Erikson by John Karl Daniels was added to the park. The statue was donated by the Norwegian American League and members of the community.¹⁶⁰

Recreation

Duluth offers numerous outdoor activities including fishing, hiking, skiing, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, surfing,¹⁶¹ trail running, and mountain biking. In addition to the two public golf courses at Lester and Enger Park, golfers can play at the Northland Country Club and the Ridgeview Country Club. Duluth has five public tennis courts and 63 private tennis club courts. The city has many indoor and outdoor ice rinks, including curling facilities.¹⁶²

The University of Minnesota Duluth Recreational Sport Outdoor Program offers classes in kayak, stand-up paddleboarding, and canoe whitewater river running, and holds the Annual St. Louis River Whitewater Rendezvous Slalom & Sprint Races in July. The program also provides sea kayaking and rock climbing lessons for individuals and families.¹⁶³

Superior Hiking and Piedmont Mountain Biking trails

Duluth hosts a 39-mile (63 km) segment of the Superior Hiking Trail, which is also part of the North Country National Scenic Trail—the nation's longest hiking trail. This trail segment passes through Jay Cooke State Park, Ely Peak, Bardon Peak, the Magney–Snively old growth forest, Spirit Mountain, Enger Park, Point of Rocks, the Lakewalk, Chester Park, UMD's Bagley nature trails, and Hartley Park. It features views of the Saint Louis River, the Twin Ports, the Aerial Bridge, and Lake Superior.

The hilly, 10-mile (16 km) Piedmont mountain biking trail crosses numerous bridges and offers scenic views of Duluth and the bay. The trail is recommended for both beginner and intermediate riders.¹⁶⁴

Skiing

With a vertical elevation of approximately 700 feet (210 m), Spirit Mountain is Minnesota's second-highest ski hill. The park includes jumps ranging from 15 feet (4.6 m) to over 60 feet (18 m), as well as numerous rails, boxes, and other jibs. Spirit Mountain opened an alpine coaster in 2010. In 2011, it announced plans to add a zip line, miniature golf, and snow tubing. In 1995, the mountain completed its first NORBA application; in 2012, work began on downhill mountain bike trails.

The Duluth area also has a large and active Nordic skiing community, with many parks providing excellent Nordic skate skiing and classic cross-country skiing opportunities.

Chester Bowl, off Skyline Parkway in Chester Park, is a city-owned park with a chairlift; it has the lowest daily lift ticket prices in the nation, at $6. For decades, Chester Bowl was also known for its ski jumps; they were removed due to safety concerns in 2015.¹⁶⁵

Sailing and rowing

Duluth has both a yacht and rowing club.¹⁶⁶ Since 1969, the Trans Superior Race has run every other year from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to Duluth. At a distance of almost 390 mi (630 km), it is said to be "the world's longest known freshwater sailboat race".¹⁶⁷¹⁶⁸

Duluth has been holding the Tall Ships festivals since 2008. The events are held every three years, and estimates of 250,000 have crowded the shoreline during each event to watch the vintage ships enter the harbor.^169170171

Surfing

Surfing is a popular Duluth recreation on Lake Superior shores when conditions are right for producing high waves.¹⁷² UMD offers a surfing course as part of its Recreational Sports Outdoor Program. The instructors say that when the wind blows from the northeast, "Duluth becomes a legitimate surf town." They list Park Point, Lester River, and Stoney Point as "local hot spots".¹⁷³

A documentary film about Duluth's surfing community was scheduled to premiere in 2022.¹⁷⁴

Hunting for agates

The Minnesota state gem, the Lake Superior agate, can be found on the shores of Lake Superior, in the streams that run into it, and in gravel pits and road cuts. Duluth's Park Point is an excellent area for hunting, as shorelines and beaches are replenished each year because winter ice and storms push new material up on the shores. Books are available in Duluth to help amateur rock hounds learn more about agates and how to locate them.^175176177

Government

See also: List of mayors of Duluth, Minnesota and Duluth, Minnesota City Council

Duluth is in Minnesota's 8th congressional district, represented by Republican Pete Stauber. It has a mayor–council form of government. The mayor is Roger Reinert, who took office in 2024 after defeating incumbent Emily Larson, the city's first female mayor. The Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party has controlled the mayor's office continuously since 1975. Duluth's longest-serving mayor was Samuel F. Snively, serving from 1921 to 1937. He is remembered for his initiatives creating parks and boulevards, such as the Seven Bridges Road and Skyline Parkway.

The City Administration makes policy proposals to a nine-member City Council. Duluth's five representational districts are divided into 36 precincts. Each district elects its own councilor. There are also four at-large councilors, representing the entire city. The City Council elects a president who presides over meetings.

Duluth is the heart of the state's 8th legislative district, represented in the Minnesota Senate by Jen McEwen and in the Minnesota House of Representatives by Alicia Kozlowski (District 8B) and Peter Johnson (District 8A)—all members of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, which has long dominated the city's (as well as the state's) politics.

Education

See also: List of schools in Duluth, Minnesota

Local colleges and universities include the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD); the UMD campus includes a medical school. The UMD Bulldogs won the Division I National Hockey Championship in 2011, 2018 and 2019. Other schools include The College of St. Scholastica, Lake Superior College, and Duluth Business University. The University of Wisconsin–Superior and Northwood Technical College are in nearby Superior, Wisconsin.

Most public schools are administered by Duluth Public Schools. The schools have open enrollment. ISD 709 (Independent School District number 709) is now undertaking a reconstruction of all area schools under a program called the "Red Plan." The Red Plan's goals are the reconstruction of some older schools (to meet new educational guidelines) and the construction of four new school buildings. The new schools will result in the redistricting of many students. As of 2009, the Red Plan was and is being contested in court by some citizens because of the cost of implementing the plan and because of the choice of construction management contractor.¹⁷⁸

Several independent and public charter schools also serve Duluth students. The largest is Duluth Edison Charter Schools, a public charter school covering grades K-8. Marshall School, a private college preparatory school founded as Duluth Cathedral in 1904, covers grades 4–12. Duluth's Catholic school system, Stella Maris Academy, has four campuses providing Catholic education from early childhood to high school. There are also two Protestant schools, two Montessori schools, and six other charter and private schools.

Due to its proximity to the Great Lakes, Duluth is the location for the Large Lakes Observatory.¹⁷⁹ The Large Lakes Observatory operates the largest university-owned research vessel in the Great Lakes, the R/V Blue Heron. Built in 1985 for fishing on the Grand Banks, the Blue Heron was purchased by the University of Minnesota in 1997; sailed from Portland, Maine, up the St. Lawrence Seaway, to Duluth; and converted into a limnological research vessel during the winter of 1997–98. The Blue Heron is part of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System and is available for charter by research scientists on any of the Great Lakes.

Media

Main article: Media in Duluth, Minnesota

Local newspapers include the monthly BusinessNorth and the twice-weekly Duluth News Tribune. Free newspapers include the Transistor,¹⁸⁰ The Zenith,¹⁸¹ and The Reader Weekly.

Locally based, nationally distributed magazines include Lake Superior Magazine and New Moon Magazine.

Major television affiliates serving the area include KBJR-TV and KDLH, WDIO-DT, and KQDS-TV.

Infrastructure

Public transportation

The local bus system is run by the Duluth Transit Authority (DTA), which serves Duluth, Hermantown, Proctor, Rice Lake, and Superior, Wisconsin. The DTA runs a system of buses manufactured by Gillig and Proterra, including new hybrids and battery electric busses. Duluth is also served by Skyline Shuttle, with daily service to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport; Jefferson Lines, with daily service to the Twin Cities; and Indian Trails, with service to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Railways

Duluth was connected to Minneapolis by the North Star passenger train from 1978 to 1985. The North Shore Scenic Railroad operated seasonal excursion trains on its line to Two Harbors. The former Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway, now part of the Canadian National Railway, operates taconite-hauling trains in the area. Duluth is also served by the BNSF Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Union Pacific Railroad.

A proposal to restore service between the Twin Cities and the Twin Ports via the Northern Lights Express was first made in 2000. Detailed plans and environmental assessments have since been completed, but the project has yet to be fully funded.

Air Transport

Duluth International Airport (KDLH) serves the city and surrounding region with daily flights to Minneapolis and Chicago. Nearby municipal airports are Duluth Sky Harbor on Minnesota Point and the Richard I. Bong Airport in Superior. Both the Bong Airport and Bong Bridge are named for famed World War II pilot and highest-scoring American World War II air ace Major Richard Ira "Dick" Bong, a native of nearby Poplar, Wisconsin.

Highways

The Duluth area marks the northern endpoint of Interstate Highway 35, which stretches south to Laredo, Texas. U.S. Highways that serve the area are U.S. Highway 53, which stretches from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to International Falls, and U.S. Highway 2, which stretches from Everett, Washington, to St. Ignace, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The southwestern part of the city has Thompson Hill, where travelers entering Duluth on I-35 can see most of Duluth, including the Aerial Lift Bridge and the waterfront. There are two freeway connections from Duluth to Superior. U.S. 2 provides a connection into Superior via the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge; Interstate 535 runs concurrently with U.S. 53 over the John Blatnik Bridge.

Many state highways serve the area. Highway 23 runs diagonally across Minnesota, indirectly connecting Duluth to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Highway 33 provides a western bypass of Duluth connecting Interstate 35, which comes up from the Twin Cities to U.S. 53, which leads to Iron Range cities and International Falls. Highway 61 provides access to Thunder Bay, Ontario, via the North Shore of Lake Superior. Highway 194 provides a spur route into the city of Duluth known as "Central Entrance" and Mesaba Avenue. Wisconsin Highway 13 reaches along Lake Superior's South Shore. Wisconsin Highway 35 runs along Wisconsin's western border for 412 miles (663 km) to its southern terminus at the Wisconsin–Illinois border (three miles or 4.8 kilometres north of East Dubuque). Highway 61 and parts of Highways 2 and 53 are segments of the Lake Superior Circle Tour route that follows Lake Superior through Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Major highways

• Interstate 35
• Interstate 535
• U.S. Highway 2
• U.S. Highway 53
• Minnesota State Highway 23
• Minnesota State Highway 61 – North Shore
• Minnesota State Highway 194 – Central Entrance – Mesaba Avenue
• Minnesota State Highway 210
• Saint Louis County Road 4 – Rice Lake Road

Port of Duluth–Superior

At the western end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Duluth–Superior port is North America's largest and farthest-inland freshwater port.¹⁸² The port handles an average of 46 million short tons (42,000,000 t) of cargo and over 1,100 visits each year from domestic and international vessels. With 49 miles (79 km) of waterfront, it is one of North America's leading bulk cargo ports and ranks among the top 20 ports in the U.S.¹⁸³ Duluth is a major shipping port for taconite pellets, made from concentrated low-grade iron ore and destined for midwestern and eastern steel mills. The arrival schedule of the ships that pass under the bridge is available, and locals and visitors gather to watch them enter the harbor. Despite their size, large sections of the Great Lakes freeze over in winter, interrupting most shipping from January to March.¹⁸⁴

Two types of ships regularly enter the port: the lakers and the salties. The lakers, which comprise over 90% of the port traffic, are the larger cargo ships built specially to sail the Great Lakes, with the largest ones over 1,000 feet long. They are mostly self-unloaders, with a long boom mounted on the upper deck. Their traffic is limited to the Great Lakes because they are too large to fit through the St. Lawrence Seaway.¹⁸⁵ The salties are smaller ships with a maximum size of 740 feet. They typically have sharply cutaway bows as compared to the lakers' vertical ones, as well as a series of cranes rising above their decks. They are small enough to navigate the St. Lawrence Seaway. Other than their size, they can also be identified by their color, often blue, red, or green. The lakers are generally black or rust.

Utilities

Duluth gets electric power from Duluth-based Minnesota Power, a subsidiary of ALLETE Corporation.¹⁸⁶ Minnesota Power produces energy at generation facilities located throughout northern Minnesota and a generation plant in North Dakota. The latter supplies electricity into the MP system by the Square Butte HVDC line, which ends near the town.

Minnesota Power primarily uses western coal to generate electricity but also has a number of small hydroelectric facilities, the largest of which is the Thomson Dam southwest of Duluth on the Saint Louis River.

In December 2006, Minnesota Power began purchasing all the energy generated from the new 50-MW Oliver Wind I Energy Center built by NextEra Resources near Center, North Dakota. In 2007, Minnesota Power entered into a second 25-year wind power purchase agreement with NextEra. A 48-MW facility was built adjacent to the initial Oliver County wind farm, and new generators began commercial operation in November 2007.

Construction began in 2010 on the 76-MW Bison Wind I Energy Center near New Salem, North Dakota. Bison I represents the first wave of Minnesota Power-constructed wind farms that will be built in south central North Dakota and linked to Minnesota by way of a 465-mile (748 km) direct current (DC) transmission line. In 2010, ALLETE finalized an agreement to purchase a 250-kilovolt DC line between Center, North Dakota, and Hermantown, Minnesota (near ALLETE headquarters in Duluth), and phase out a long-term contract to buy coal-generated electricity transmitted over the line.

Because of wind energy demand, Duluth has recently become a port for wind energy parts shipments from overseas and the Midwestern hub for shipments out to various wind energy sites.¹⁸⁷

Duluth's water supply is sourced from Lake Superior and treated at the Lakewood Water Treatment Plant. The plant's oldest structure, the Lakewood Pumphouse, was built in 1896 in Romanesque Revival style, replacing older facilities that had been unable to prevent a typhoid epidemic. It was designed by William Patton. A 42-inch original main from 1896, one of two leaving the facility with clean, treated water, is still in use today. The system supplies approximately 100,000 people in Duluth and nearby towns.¹⁸⁸¹⁸⁹

Throughout its history, Duluth's sewers have overflowed when it rains, causing untreated sewage to flow into Lake Superior and the Saint Louis River. In 2001 alone, the overflow amounted to over 6.9 million US gallons (26,000,000 L; 5,700,000 imp gal). The City of Duluth has recently taken measures to eliminate sewage overflows; in 2013, the improvements were three years ahead of schedule.

Fire department

According to a 2013 report, the city of Duluth was protected by 132 paid, professional firefighters of the city of Duluth Fire Department that year.¹⁹⁰¹⁹¹ The Duluth Fire Department responded to 12,231 fire and emergency medical calls in 2015.

The Duluth Fire Department operates out of eight fire stations throughout the city, under the command of an Assistant Chief, Squad 251. The department also operates a fire apparatus fleet of six engines, one tower ladder, two quints, one heavy-duty rescue, two light medical response vehicles, and numerous other special, support, and reserve units.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth innovations

Notable innovations established in Duluth include:

• Duluth pack, patented in 1882, a portage pack used for canoe travel.
• Pie à la Mode, invented in 1885, a slice of pie topped with a scoop of ice cream.
• Alexander Miles's electric elevator, invented in 1887 as a method of opening and closing elevator doors.
• Lark of Duluth, launched as the first airline service in the United States and first heavier-than-air airline in the world, carrying joyriders over the Duluth–Superior harbor from 1913 to 1914.
• Lake View Store, the first indoor shopping mall in the United States, opened in Duluth's Morgan Park in 1916.
• Pizza rolls, created by Duluth food industry magnate Jeno Paulucci and trademarked in 1967.
• Aerostich Roadcrafter suit, the first synthetic textile armored riding suit for motorcyclists, created by Andy Goldfine in 1982.
• Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, developed by the Klapmeier brothers and tested by Scott Anderson in 1998 as the first whole-plane parachute recovery system on a line of aircraft.

In popular culture

• F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragedy novel The Great Gatsby (1925) has scenes in Duluth and on the shores of Lake Superior.¹⁹²¹⁹³
• You'll Like My Mother (1972) is a horror-thriller film shot in and around Duluth, principally at Glensheen Historic Estate.¹⁹⁴
• Far North (1988) is a comedy-drama film directed by Sam Shepard and starring Jessica Lange shot in and around Duluth.¹⁹⁵
• Iron Will (1994) is a Walt Disney Pictures adventure film with Duluth substituting for 1917 Winnipeg.¹⁹⁶
• The Louie Show (1996), a short-lived CBS television sitcom starring comedian Louie Anderson, is set in Duluth and features downtown Duluth buildings in its opening title sequence.¹⁹⁷¹⁹⁸
• Leatherheads (2008), a sports comedy film co-starring George Clooney and Renée Zellweger, is set in Duluth and features a fictitious 1920s pro football team partially based on the Duluth Eskimos.¹⁹⁹
• The first season of Fargo (2014), an FX black comedy-crime drama television series inspired by the 1996 film of the same name, is mainly set in and around Duluth and Bemidji.²⁰⁰
• Girl from the North Country (2017–2025) is a Broadway jukebox musical set in Duluth during the winter of 1934.²⁰¹

Sister cities

Duluth has five sister cities:²⁰²

• Isumi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
• Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia
• Ranya, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
• Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
• Växjö, Kronoberg, Sweden

See also

• United States portal
• Minnesota portal

• Darling's Observatory
• Duluth model
• Federal Prison Camp, Duluth
• Oliver G. Traphagen House
• USS Duluth, 2 ships

Notes

Further reading

• Bartlett, Elizabeth Ann. Making Waves: Grassroots Feminism in Duluth and Superior (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016). xvi, 325 pp.
• Frederick, Chuck (1994). Duluth: The City and the People. American & World Geographic Publishing. ISBN 1-56037-068-8.
• Macdonald, Dora Mary (1950). This is Duluth. Central High School Printing Department. Reprinted by Paradigm Press (1999). ISBN 1-889924-03-2
• "Duluth Lynchings Online Resource". Minnesota Historical Society. 2003. Archived from the original on February 21, 2006. Retrieved August 18, 2007.
• "Flying High, Our Aviation Industry Takes Off". Lake Superior Magazine. 2015. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2024.

External links

• City of Duluth – official website
• Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce
• Visit Duluth
• Destination Duluth
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Duluth" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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