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Duluth is the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 86,918, making it the third largest city in Minnesota. Taking account of the growth of the city and its boundaries, there are around an extra 92,000 people on the outer-boundaries, making the population (including outer-suburbs and villages) 184,000. It is a seaport at the westernmost point on the north shore of Lake Superior. It is linked to the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles (3,700km) away via the Great Lakes and then either the Erie Canal/New York State Barge Canal or the Saint Lawrence Seaway; it is farther from the ocean than any other deep water port. The current mayor of Duluth is Herb Bergson *, who is serving his first term. He has announced in June 2006, that he will not be running for re-election to better focus on city issues at hand without the hassle of election campaigning.

Duluth forms a single metropolitan area with Superior, Wisconsin, together called the Twin Ports. The two cities share a harbor and are one of the most important ports on the Great Lakes. Among the items shipped out are iron ore (taconite) and grain. Both cities have museums devoted to the local nautical heritage, and Duluth has America's only all freshwater aquarium, the Great Lakes Aquarium. A major destination for tourists is the Aerial Lift Bridge spanning the short canal into Duluth's harbor. It is a vertical lift bridge, and notable in that it was originally built as an exceedingly rare aerial transfer bridge.

The city is named for Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Luth, the first known European explorer of the area.

The northern terminus of Interstate 35 is in Duluth. The highway extends south through the state to the Twin Cities, and continues its southerly course to the city of Laredo, Texas.

History

Pre-founding

Native American tribes had occupied the Duluth area for thousands of years. The original inhabitants are believed to be members of Paleo-Indian cultures, followed by the "Old Copper" peoples, who hunted with spear points and knives and fished with metal hooks. Around two thousand years ago, the Woodlands people, known for their burial mounds and pottery, occupied the area. They also cultivated wild rice, a crop that continues to be harvested today by tribes in the region and is often seen being sold in the area, especially in Wisconsin.

In 1679, the first white man known to visit the location of present-day Duluth and the city's namesake, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, arrived to settle rivalries between two Indian nations, the Dakota and the Ojibwa, to advance fur trading missions in the area. His work allowed for this to occur, with the Ojibwa becoming middlemen between the French and the Dakota. As a result, the area prospered, and as early as 1692, the Hudson Bay Company set up a small post at Fond du Lac.

It was not until 1792 that the next trading post, on the Wisconsin side of the St. Louis River, was opened by Jean Baptiste Cadotte of the North West Company. A fire destroyed the post in 1800, but a German emigre, John Jacob Astor, constructed a post on the river's Minnesota side. The store initially floundered as a result of the Indians' insistence in trading with established English and French partners. However, Astor managed to convince the United States Congress to ban foreigners from trading in American territory. His American Fur Company was re-formed in 1816-17. Hard times hit the post once again by 1839 due to fashionable Europeans choosing silk hats over those made from beaver pelts.

Permanent settlement

Interest in the area was piqued in the 1850s as rumours of copper mining began to circulate. A government land survey in 1852, followed by a treaty with local tribes in 1854, secured wilderness for gold-seeking explorers, a "land rush", and the development of iron ore mining in the area.

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 found to be scarce, and the area's economic focus shifted to timber harvesting. A nation-wide financial crisis led to nearly three quarters of the city's early pioneers leaving.

In the late 1860s, a financier Jay Cooke (after whom the Jay Cooke State Park is named), 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, 1869 consisted of fourteen families; by the Fourth of July, 3,500 people were present to celebrate.

Twentieth century

The city thrived, and the area's hillside and downtown areas were populated by early residents. In the 1900s, the city's port passed New York City in gross tonnage handled, elevating it to being the leading port in the United States. Meanwhile, there were ten newspapers, six banks, and an eleven-story skyscraper, the Torrey Building, already present in the town. In 1907, U.S. Steel announced that a $5 - $6 million plant would be constructed in the area. Although it took eight years for steel to actually be produced, predictions held that Duluth's population would rise to 200,000 to 300,000. With the plant came Morgan Park, a once-independent company town that now stands as a city neighborhood.

During much of the twentieth century, the city was an industrial port town, with a cement plant, nail mill, wire mills, and the U.S. Steel plant. In 1916, during World War I, a shipbuilding plant on St. Louis River produced eight vessels simultaneously. A neighborhood was formed around this operation, today known as Riverside. Similar industrial operations were heightened during the Second World War. Population growth continued after the war, with a peak of 106,884 reached in 1960. The city experienced strong immigrant influx, and the Finnish IWW community published a widely read labor newspaper Industrialisti.

Due to foreign competition, the steel plant closed in 1971, presenting a major blow to the city. Other industrial activity followed suit with more closures, including the Air Force base. Within a decade, unemployment rates surged to 15 percent, emptying local stores and creating long job application lines.

With the decline of the city's industrial core, the local economic focus shifted to tourism. The downtown was renewed with red brick streets and skywalks, and distasteful warehouses along the waterfront were converted into cafés, shops, and restaurants, forming Canal Park as a largely tourism-oriented district.

Today

The city is a now a fairly popular Midwestern tourist attraction, and is a convenient base for trips to the North Shore via Highway 61, or to fishing and wilderness expeditions in Minnesota's far north, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It continues to function as a regional hub for a large stretch of area encompassing northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The population continues to decline, according to the U.S. Census and projections.

The Untold Delights of Duluth

Early doubts about the potential of the Duluth area were voiced in the speech The Untold Delights of Duluth, made by Representative J. Proctor Knott of Kentucky on January 27, 1871 in the House; the speech against 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 something of a classic.

Geography & Climate

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 226.2 km² (87.3 mi²). It is Minnesota's second largest city in terms of land area, surpassed only by Hibbing. 176.1 km² (68.0 mi²) of it is land and 50.0 km² (19.3 mi²) of it (22.11%) is water.

Duluth's geography is dominated by a rather steep, San Francisco-like hill which represents a transition from the elevation of Lake Superior's beach to that of the inland. For example, the Sky Harbor airport's weather station, near the lake on the Park Point sandbar has an elevation of 607 ft (185 m) while Duluth International Airport atop the hill is at 1,427 ft (435 m) [http://www.wunderground.com/US/MN/Duluth/KDLH.html. As a result, Duluth is primarily a southwest-northeast city. A considerable amount of development on the hill's upslope gives Duluth a reputation for deathly steep streets. Some neighborhoods, such as Piedmont Heights and Bayview Heights, are atop the hill, at times giving scenic views of the city. Perhaps the most rapidly developing part of the city is a commercial mall and big-box retailer shopping strip "over the hill", the Miller Trunk Corridor.

The city's climate is known for long, cold winters and cool summers, hence the nickname "the air-conditioned city". During the winter months, temperatures often remain below freezing for periods of weeks. A normal winter brings consistent snow cover from December through March. Winter storms that pass south or east of Duluth can often set up easterly or northeasterly flow. Upslope lake-effect snow events can bring a foot (30 cm) or more of snow to the city while areas 50 miles (80 kilometers) inland receive considerably less.

Summers are cool and comfortable, with daytime temperatures averaging in the 70-80°F range (21-26°C) due to the cooling easterly winds of the lake (as opposed to occasional temperatures over 90°F (32°C) inland), although temperatures may remain below 50°F (10°C) even during June afternoons along the Lake Superior shore, even when the inland temperature is in the 70s°F (mid-20s°C). Black flies and mosquitos are a major problem during the summer months. 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. Due to the specific heat of the huge lake, seasons are substantially delayed, with November often much warmer than April. Great local variations are also common, due to the rapid change in elevation between the hill and shore-side.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 86,918 people, 35,500 households, and 19,915 families residing in the city. The population density was 493.4/km² (1,278.1/mi²). There were 36,994 housing units at an average density of 210.0/km² (544.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.65% White, 1.63% Black or African American, 2.44% Native American, 1.14% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from other races, and 1.82% from two or more races. 1.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 35,500 households out of which 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.

Neighborhoods

Central

Eastern Duluth

  • Chester Park / UMD
    • The Chester Park neighborhood is located just east of the East Hillside neighborhood. It straddles both sides of a wooded ravine that contains Chester Creek one of 28 streams that flow through the city. It is a popular hiking spot. The ravine opens at the top into a wide wooded "bowl" shapped valley known as Chester Bowl and contains a small lift served ski area, ski jumps, pond, soccer field and cross country ski trails.
  • Congdon Park
  • East End / Endion
  • Hunter's Park
  • Lakeside - Lester Park
  • Morley Heights / Parkview
  • North Shore

Neighborhoods above the hill

West Duluth

West of West Duluth

"West End" / Lincoln Park

Colleges and universities

K-12 Education

Catholic Schools

Catholic elementary schools in Duluth are under the administration of the Diocese of Duluth.

  • Holy Rosary School (K-8)
  • St. James School (PreK-8)
  • St. John's School (PreK-6)
  • St. Michael's Lakeside School (PreK-6)

Public Elementary Schools

  • Congdon Park (K-5)
  • Grant Magnet (K-5)
  • Homecroft (K-5)
  • Lakewood (K-5)
  • Laura MacArthur (K-5)
  • Lester Park (2-5)
  • Lincoln Park (K-8)
  • Lowell Music Magnet (K-5)
  • Nettleton Magnet (K-5)
  • Piedmont (K-5)
  • Rockridge (K-1)
  • Stowe (K-5)

Public Middle Schools

  • Morgan Park (6-8)
  • Ordean (6-8) *
  • Woodland (6-8)

Public High Schools

Alternative Public Schools

  • Adult Learning Center
  • Chester Creek Academy
  • Merritt Creek Academy
  • Secondary Technical Center
  • Unity
  • Woodland Hills Academy

Private and Charter Schools (non-Catholic)

Professional Sports History

Duluth once fielded a National Football League team called the Kelleys (officially the Kelley Duluths after the Kelley-Duluth Hardware Store) from 1923-1925 and the Eskimos (officially Ernie Nevers' Eskimos after the early NFL great, their star player) from 1926-1927. The Eskimos were then sold and became the (Orange, New Jersey) Orange Tornadoes.

Year W L T Finish
Kelleys
1923 4 3 0 7th
1924 5 1 0 4th
1925 0 3 0 16th
Eskimos
1926 6 5 3 8th
1927 1 8 0 11th

The Duluth-Superior Dukes of the Northern League Independent Professional Baseball played in West Duluth's Wade Stadium from the League's inception in 1993 until 2002 when the team moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City T-Bones. The Dukes were Northern League Champions in 2000.

Amateur sports

Since 1977, Duluth has played host to Grandma's Marathon (named after its original sponsor, Grandma's Restaurant), drawing runners from all over the world. Held annually in June, the course of the marathon starts just outside Two Harbors, Minnesota, runs down Old Highway 61, the old route for Minnesota State Highway 61, along the North Shore of Lake Superior and finishes in one of Duluth's tourism neighborhoods, Canal Park. The same route is also taken during the North Shore Inline Marathon, held in September, drawing racers from all over the world.

The Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is Duluth's annual sled dog race organized in February and named after John Beargrease, the son of the Anishinaabe Chief Makwabimidem and one of the first mail carriers between Two Harbors, Minnesota and Grand Marais, Minnesota. He and his brothers carried mail by sled dog, boat, and horse for almost twenty years between the two towns, where there was no road. Competitors can choose between two distances; the longer 400-mile course takes a round trip from Duluth to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and the 150-mile course departs from Duluth and ends in Tofte, Minnesota. The marathon was first held in 1980 and is acknowledged as a training ground for the larger and more elite Iditarod sled dog race.

The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog hockey games are a major event in town during the cold Duluth winter. Games are televised locally, and thousands watch the games in person at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC). Several Bulldogs have gone on to success in the National Hockey League, including hockey great Brett Hull.

The Duluth Huskies are a college summer wood bat league baseball team which is based in Duluth and plays in the Northwoods League. The team plays its home games at Wade Stadium. They are made up from some of the top college baseball players in the country, playing 34 home games each summer between June and August.

The Duluth-Superior Shoremen are a semi-pro football team based in Duluth's Public Schools Stadium. They play for the Mid-American Football League, and placed second in that league's championship game in 2005.

The Duluth Xpress is an amateur baseball team that plays its games at the Ordean Middle School baseball field. The team is made up of current college baseball players, ex-college baseball players, and ex-professional baseball players. The Xpress compete in the Arrowhead league which is a class B league of Minnesota amateur baseball.

Famous people

Politics

In 2004, Duluth was center to a controversial legal battle between the City Council, local residents, and the ACLU. The debate and eventual lawsuit revolved around a marble fixture inscribed with the ten commandments which resided on the lawn of City Hall. The city eventually agreed to remove the fixture, and it now resides on private property near the Comfort Suites Hotel on Canal Park Drive.

The city was also featured in the New York Times article "The Next Retirement Time Bomb"*, because Duluth recently conducted a financial study of the health care benefits it has promised its retired city workers. It turned out that its future health care obligations would bankrupt the city government. Duluth is held in the article to be considered representative of many local governments that have not kept tabs on its future health-care obligations promised to retired workers. Duluth's own newspaper, the News-Tribune, portrays prior mayor John Fedo, who was acquitted in a 1988 corruption trial while mayor, in an unflattering respect with regard to responsibility in this.

During the 2000 presidential election Nader received over 6.9% of votes from Duluth residents, one of the highest in the country for a city with a population of at least 85,000.

Comedian and political commentator Al Franken broadcast his Air America Radio radio show live from the Marshall Performing Arts Center on the UMD campus on December 7, 2005. His guests included Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson (shown here) as well as UMD students Jamison Tessneer and Chad McKenna of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group. Franken praised the city of Duluth for having the highest voter turnout of any U.S. city in the 2004 presidential election, and he also congratulated UMD's Precinct 10 for having an 85 percent turnout. *

Media

Radio

AM Radio Stations

FM Radio Stations

Television

Duluth has experienced firsthand the consequences of media consolidation. On March 8, 2005 the sale of Duluth's CBS affiliate was announced to Malara Broadcast Group of Sarasota, Florida. The group agreed to pay Granite Broadcasting Group, which already runs the NBC affiliate KBJR, to take over the operations for KDLH. The majority of the newstaff of KDLH was dismissed.

Print

Local newspapers:

Transportation

The area marks the northern endpoint of Interstate 35, which stretches south to Laredo, Texas. U.S. highways that serve the area are U.S. Highway 53 which streches from La Crosse, Wisconsin to International Falls, Minnesota,U.S. Highway 2 from Everett, Washington to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There are 2 freeway connection from Duluth to Superior. US 2 provides a connection into Superior via the Richard I. Bong Bridge, and the other one is Interstate 535 and US 53 duplexing over the John A. Blatnik Bridge.

There are many state highways that serve the area as well. Minnesota State Highway 23 runs diagonally across Minnesota, indirectly connecting Duluth to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. MN-33 provides a bypass of Duluth connecting Interstate 35 to U.S. Highway 53 providing access from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to the Iron Range while bypassing Duluth. Minnesota State Highway 61 provides access to Thunder Bay, Ontario via the breathtaking North Shore of Lake Superior. State Highway MN-194 provides Duluth's "Central Entrance" and 6th Avenue East. WI-13 reach along Lake Superior's South Shore. Wisconsin State Highway 35 runs along Wisconsin's western border to La Crosse.

Duluth International Airport serves the city and nearby Superior, Wisconsin.

Duluth is a major shipping port for taconite. The former Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway, now Canadian National Railway operates tacconite-hauling trains in the area.

The local bus system is run by the Duluth Transit Authority, which services not only the Duluth area, but Superior, WI, as well. The DTA runs a system of buses manufactured by Gillig.

Duluth is also serviced by Greyhound Lines, with daily service to the Twin Cities, as well as Thunder Bay, ON, Wisconsin, Michigan, and the Iron Range.

Power Supply

Duluth, Minnesota gets electric power from Duluth-based Minnesota Power, a subsidiary of ALLETE Corporation. Minnesota Power produces energy at generation facilities located throughout northern Minnesota, as well as at 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 hydro-electric facilities, the largest of which is the Thomson Hydroelectric Dam just south of Duluth.

Surrounding and Nearby Communities

  • Superior, Wisconsin sits across the bay from the city and is a long-time rival. Although Superior has little over one-third the population of Duluth, it remains a self-contained city rather than a suburb.

  • Hermantown is probably the most suburban of adjacent communities. Once the rural town of Herman, the city was incorporated in 1975 and has experienced a great amount of both residential and commercial growth since, largely in the form of suburban housing developments and auto-oriented businesses along the Miller Trunk (Hwy 53) corridor.

  • Proctor borders the city's West Duluth neighborhood district, and has traditionally been a railroad town. It is built on more of an urban scale (by Duluth standards), but today largely functions as a suburb.

  • Cloquet, a city of 11,201 (2000), is located roughly twenty-five miles from Duluth. The city has its own downtown and industrial job sector, though many residents commute to Duluth. Carlton, Esko, and Scanlon are its own satellite towns.

External links

References

  • 2005-2006 Qwest Dex Phone Directory (Twin Ports Edition)
  • Frederick, Chuck. Duluth: the city and the people. American Geographical & World Publishing, 1994.
  • Duluth Lynchings Online Resource - http://collections.mnhs.org/duluthlynchings/
  • The Lynchings in Duluth - http://www.mnhs.org/market/mhspress/products/087351386X.html

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