Epidemic History Repeats Itself in Duluth

By Gina Temple-Rhodes

In the spring of 2020, we are hearing often that these are “unprecedented times” with working from home and layoffs due to COVID19 closures. While we have not experienced this in living memory, just over 100 years ago Duluth experienced a 7-week closure of schools, libraries and other public places due to the Spanish Influenza outbreak in the fall of 1918. What did “working from home,” schooling, essential workers or alternative work look like during that time, when not even all homes would have had a telephone? Radio broadcasts and television didn’t exist yet, and the main way for residents to get news was through the printed newspaper. And this printed newspaper gives us a record and a way to glimpse what life was like during the last major shutdown and subsequent reopening in Duluth.

Reading these old newspapers can give today’s reader a sense of déjà vu, and it seems that history is repeating itself once again. On October 12, 1918, the Duluth Herald reported that 40 cases of the Spanish Influenza had been discovered. The related article covered some of the ways that the City was trying to prevent the spread:

Shopping Changes

Is this following quote from 1918 or 2020? It is somewhat hard to tell, if the 10-cent stores were replaced with “$1 stores” or something similar. The Duluth Herald wrote this in October, 1918.

“In the crowded stores, steps will be taken to keep the people moving and to prevent loitering as far as possible. Floor managers will be stationed through the 10-cent stores to keep the crowds on the move, according to the manager of one of these stores. Said he: “One of the hardest things which we have to contend with is people making the store a place to meet friends. This will have to stop during the epidemic. We will have a number of floor managers stationed through the store to keep the people on the move and prevent loitering. The doors will be kept open at all times to give as great ventilation as possible.”

Wearing masks was also becoming common: “Cashiers and others who hold conversation with hundreds of persons daily are playing the roles of bandits to the extent of covering their noses and mouths with the masks such as are being made in the Red Cross workrooms for doctors, nurses and influenza patients.”

There was also concern that the crowded streetcars would cause the influenza to spread, so all windows were to be kept open or perhaps ridership would be down. “Because of the advice to keep out of doors as much as possible, the company expects that many will walk instead of riding short distances.”

School Closures

Schools were closed on October 12, 1918. This news was rapidly overshadowed by the news of the large fires that swept Cloquet and the areas around Duluth that very day. That added extra chaos and challenges for residents, but teachers were ready to help. On October 30^th, 1918 the Duluth Herald ran a story about how the teachers were keeping busy (distance learning was more challenging in 1918):

“The closing of Duluth’s public schools, instead of throwing 525 teachers out of work, released that number of trained workers for duty in Red Cross and relief work.

It had been previously planned to use the teachers in board of education work, but this plan was abandoned following the fire. It was not necessary to urge the teachers to report at the Armory and help. They realized that their trained services would be doubly useful and wasted no time in putting these services at the disposal of the authorities. “

The newspapers do not mention how the teacher’s pay was handled, but even after the fire crisis faded a bit, teachers kept busy in useful ways:

“When relief work became more organized, many of the teachers returned to their own work. In the offices of the board of education there are nearly forty teachers engaged in various kinds of special work… At the high school building a larger corps of teachers is working out a perpetual filing and reference system for the school library.”

The work followed traditional gender roles, and even the men were kept busy:

“In the manual training department, the male personnel of the city’s teaching force is engaged in manufacturing furniture for the schools. It is not improbable that before school reopens, the men will have completed a full set of desks and tables to replace those burned in the Cobb school fire.”

Duluth Schools did “open auspiciously” after the “vacation due to flu ban” on November 26, 1918.

Library books

Libraries were also affected by the closures in the Fall of 1918, but their staff and locations were used in various ways. In Duluth, mask and bandage sewing gatherings were held in library meeting rooms, even if the libraries were closed. In Virginia, MN some of the library staff began work organizing nurses to help with home care for the sick. The Duluth libraries reopened in November of 1918, and this was likely a bright spot for many residents.

“The lifting of the influenza ban means the return of many books that have been held out during the six weeks the main public library and the branches were closed. Naturally there will be no fee for the delay in returning the books for which the card holders were not responsible.

Since the buildings were closed October 11, the library staffs have prepared 2,000 volumes for circulation. As the average work required to prepare one book for the shelf is half an hour, it means that the staffs have not been enjoying a complete vacation.

In addition to working on books, the library employees prepared the registration system of fire sufferers, made duplicate copies and did clerical work for the United War Work campaign.”

Residents were likely excited to get their hands on new books, and on November 28, 1918 the Duluth Herald helpfully listed many of the new books that would be available at the library, ready for an “attack” on the stacks that was sure to come by eager cardholders.

We have not yet seen the end of the 2020 pandemic-related closures, or know how our story will turn out this time. In Duluth in 1918, the strict closing measures and quarantine of sick people seemed to help, and only a total of 347 people were reported to have died of influenza in Duluth that fall, a much lower number than some other cities even in Minnesota. Perhaps history can help us understand that earlier crisis and respond well to our current crisis and help form decisions about reopening schools and libraries this time around.

 

 

Unmasking History

There is a saying that history repeats itself, and in some cases this does seem to be true. Today, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many people are dusting off their sewing machines to sew face masks to help prevent the spread of this virus. Others are looking for workable no-sew options or wondering where masks can be purchased. Face masks have not been a regular part of our culture recently, but just over 100 years ago, masks were common topics of discussion in the newspaper and in every-day life.

In Duluth in 1918, the Red Cross was already quite active in organizing volunteers to make surgical dressings or bandages for the war effort. By the fall of 1918, it became apparent that masks would be needed for nurses and people near the new outbreak of “Spanish Influenza” in far-away places and then indeed in Duluth itself.

In 1918, scientists and others did know that influenza was contagious, even if they didn’t fully understand that it was caused by a virus. Schools and libraries were closed in the fall of 1918 to help prevent the spread, but gathering together for sewing masks and bandages seemed exempt from these restrictions. On October 12, 1918, women in West Duluth were urged to join work sessions that could hold as many as 40-50 people.

Duluth Herald 10/12/1918, p. 12

This tendency for women to gather together to solve problems was well-intentioned, even if it did get a bit of fun poked at it in this 1918 comic strip, which ran in the Duluth Herald on October 17, 1918.

The same issue with a shortage of masks to purchase or otherwise find them led to the publication of some directions, as well. The Duluth Herald wrote on October 16th: “The Red Cross announces that on account of the shortage of materials and the great demand for masks, it will be necessary for people desiring the influenza masks in large quantities to furnish their own” and offered to demonstrate how to make a mask to anyone who wanted to stop down at the Armory Red Cross office to learn.

 

 

 

 

Thankfully we now have other ways to share mask-making techniques, and have a larger understanding of social distancing. By October 26^th, there were still calls for gathering together to make materials for the war effort, but at least everyone was requested to wear a mask:

While we experience some unprecedented times with our current virus in 2020, may we take comfort that some of Duluth’s earlier residents also went through this, and the days of wearing masks eventually ended. We can also be grateful that our own mask-making efforts can be done at home and shared more widely via the internet and social media, and that our own knowledge of social distancing is also helping to keep us safe.

Written by Gina Temple-Rhodes

 

 

Early History of Duluth’s Emerson School

Duluth’s Emerson School, named for poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, served the Central Hillside, or Observation Hill, neighborhood as an elementary school at 1030 West Third Street for over 90 years, from 1892 to 1982. In the early years, the neighborhood around Emerson was largely made up of immigrant families, predominantly Italian-Americans—hence the nickname “Little Italy” for the area around Eleventh Avenue West and Third Street.

The construction process began at the December 6, 1890 meeting of the Duluth School Board, when the board ordered staff to advertise for bids for excavation and construction of the foundation for Emerson School. The school system was also in the midst of building Central High School, so it was a busy time. The need for more school buildings was evident in a statistic that was discussed at the same meeting: the number of children enrolled in Duluth public schools at the end of that November was 3,349, an increase of about 600 over the previous November.

At a board meeting on January 20, 1891, proposed designs for Emerson were submitted by three architects. The board took them under consideration, and at their meeting the next week they announced their acceptance of the plan proposed by architect Adolph F. Rudolph. Rudolph was well known by the board. He had been commissioned to design Endion School in 1889. Later, he would produce drawings for Lowell School in Duluth Heights and in 1901 the Duluth Public Library at 101 West Second Street.

From the Annual Report of the Duluth Public Schools 1890-91

Rudolph’s plan for Emerson was modeled on the Endion plan, with some changes that would make it “architecturally unpretentious, so far as ornamentation goes.” According to the January 28, 1891 Duluth Evening Herald:

The school will cover an area of 8,200 square feet, the four faces of the building being 100 feet long. The slope of the site is such that four extra rooms are planned for the basement, making sixteen rooms in all. The materials to be used are Cleveland gray stone and brick. The cost is estimated at $35,000.

Emerson, according to the school board, would be ready to open to students in January of 1892 and would relieve the crowded situations in both Jackson School (5^th Avenue West and Third Street) and Adams School (17^th Avenue West and Superior Street).

Halloween in 1920 & 1921

The municipal Halloween party got newspaper coverage in the Duluth Herald in 1920 and 1921. J. R. Batchelor, city recreational director, promised the children of Duluth a huge bonfire at Lake Shore Park. (Lake Shore Park was renamed Leif Erikson Park in 1929.) Captain Henry Cleveland, who coordinated the bonfire, told the children that “it will be the biggest Duluth youngsters have ever seen.”

From the Duluth Herald article of October 22, 1920:

That there will be a municipal Halloween at Lake Shore park and the Armory for all children of the city, with a huge bonfire, was the promise of J. R. Batchelor, today. He has not only promised this but assured the children that there will be a great many new stunts added this year that have never before been tried out here. In addition to this there will be the usual number of old-fashioned features that have always been associated with Halloween.

According to the program tentatively arranged this morning the American Legion Band, donated by the Kiwanis club, will open the program with several numbers at Lake Shore park while the bonfire is being started. . .

After the bonfire dies down the crowd will march to the Armory where games and sports will be played. The platform will be used for ghost dances and other features being rehearsed by children. Bobbing for apples, diving in a tub of flour for pennies and a big peanut scramble are only a few of the stunts arranged.

The peanut scramble will be for boys and girls. The big floor will be strewn with peanuts and one-half marked off for boys and the other half for girls. There will be enough for everyone, even if they are slow at the start, Mr. Batchelor promises.

The Plaisted Expedition

In April of 1968, after more than six weeks of travel across increasingly fragile and broken ice, a group of snowmobilers reached the North Pole. Despite claims by Peary and Cook to the contrary, it is believed that this group was the first surface expedition to reach the North Pole, traveling over land and sea. This was the Plaisted expedition, named for their leader, Ralph Plaisted (1927-2008), an insurance salesman and amateur explorer from White Bear Lake.

Ralph Plaisted

This may be the only polar expedition to start from challenge thrown down in a bar, and that’s one Duluth connection to this tale: the bar was the Pickwick, in Duluth. In 1965, snowmobiles were a new consumer product and Plaisted loved his. He drove nonstop from his cabin in Ely to his home in White Bear Lake and raved about the trip to his friend Dr. Art Aufderheide, a Duluthian. Tired of hearing about it, Aufderheide jokingly suggested that if Plaisted thought snowmobiles were so great, he should take one to the North Pole—thus was the Plaisted Expedition born.

 

Portorama

The Duluth Portorama, an event-packed summer festival, ran in late July and early August every year from 1959 to 1969. The Duluth Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) sponsored the event.

Portorama schedule and map, 1967

In 1966, near the peak of the Portorama’s popularity, the Duluth News Tribune wrote about the Portorama Parade, “to count all the men, women, and children and even dogs on Superior Street would be like counting stars in the Milky Way.”

Further, they wrote, “local festivals have a way of coming and going. It may take years of experience before a community can be sure that the series will go on indefinitely.” There seemed little doubt Portorama would go on.

Duluth’s July 4th 100 Years Ago

Duluthians seemingly didn’t have much to celebrate in July of 1919. World War I had just ended, but it had taken the lives of hundreds of Duluth soldiers, either in battle or from the Spanish influenza. And the flu pandemic of 1918 had killed many Duluth citizens, although incidents of the illness were waning in July of 1919—Lakeview Hospital, the city’s influenza hospital at 522 Lake Avenue South, would close July 30 due to a lack of patients. Finally, 453 people in Northeastern Minnesota died in the massive forest fire on October 12, 1918 that burned thousands of acres in Minnesota and virtually destroyed Cloquet and other towns.

But Duluthians must have felt those horrible events were behind them and perhaps that the future looked brighter. The Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, ending fighting on the western front. According to the Duluth newspapers, thousands of people thronged into downtown Duluth all day, and a parade was organized at 8:00 p.m. that marched from downtown to the National Guard Armory on London Road, where a program with speeches and music was held. Months later, on June 28, 1919, when the war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Duluth’s celebration was quieter, with most churches holding services to give thanks for the signing of the treaty.

Duluth Public Library Cornerstone

Construction of the new Duluth Public Library building at 101 West Second Street began in April of 1901. At the time, the library was housed on the second floor of the Temple Opera Block, 201-205 East Superior Street.

The building went up pretty quickly and by the summer of 1901 the city was ready to lay the cornerstone on top of the first level wall on the northeast corner of the building (that’s the east side fronting on Second Street). The laying of the cornerstone was delayed so it could be held during that year’s Fourth of July celebration.

Duluth’s celebration began with a huge parade. The Duluth Evening Herald of June 29, 1901, predicted the size of the parade:

This will be the greatest ever seen in Duluth and thousands of people will be in line. There will be five bands, the greatest aggregation of music ever seen in Duluth at one time. The labor unions, fraternal societies, school children and in fact all of the people of the city have entered into the plans for the parade with good spirit and its success is certain.

Unfortunately, the Fourth in Duluth that year was rainy and cold.

The laying of the cornerstone, July 4, 1901. From Minnesota Reflections.

Because of the weather, many of the planned events–horse races, some games, and fireworks–had to be cancelled or postponed. But the parade went on, starting at 10:00 a.m. at First Street and Third Avenue East and led by a group of forty police officers who were followed by numerous military bands and drum and bugle corps. Made up of six sections, the parade was some twenty blocks long, and according to the next day’s Duluth News Tribune, thousands of spectators lined the parade route.

SS William A. Irvin

Sailing with the Irvin

Walnut-paneled staterooms. An oak dining room. Gleaming polished brass. A sun deck and a lounge. What was all this doing on an ore boat?

William A. Irvin in the Minnesota Slip. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota State Historical Society. Photographer Michael Koop.

If you know Duluth, you know the answer to the question: these were accommodations for guests on the SS William A. Irvin, the Flagship of the United States Steel Great Lakes Fleet, the Queen of the Lakes, “the Pride of the Silver Stackers.” She is named after William A. Irvin, who was president of U. S. Steel when she was built . The Irvin operates as a museum in the Minnesota Slip near Canal Park. She is currently laid up in Fraser Shipyards for painting and other work while environmental work is done at the Slip.

SS William A. Irvin. Photo courtesy of the DECC.

The Irvin was built for U. S. Steel in 1938. At 610’ long– longer than the length of two football fields– and 60’ wide, she and her sister ships were the largest ships on the lakes at the time they were built. The famous “silver stack,” the smokestack emblem of U. S. Steel, was three stories tall. The inside of the engine room, where the temperature could exceed 100 degrees in the summer, was five stories tall. The propeller was 16’ in diameter and made of solid bronze.

The Irvin could carry 14,000 tons of bulk cargo per trip, enough to fill 200 rail cars. She primarily carried iron ore and taconite pellets, but also carried sand, gravel, and some coal. During WWII, she regularly carried ore from the Twin Ports and Two Harbors down to U. S. Steel’s plants in the lower lakes.

William A. Irvin. View of ship from the pilothouse. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota State Historical Society. Photographer Michael Koop.

The Irvin had an extra deck added to the forward superstructure, containing a passenger lounge and four luxurious staterooms for guests of U. S. Steel. There was also a private dining room and galley for the guests. The operative word here is guests, not passengers, for the staterooms were for “visiting industrialists” such as the Vanderbilts and the Fords, “and high-ranking company officials.”

William A. Irvin. Guest stateroom. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota State Historical Society. Photographer Michael Koop.

The bedrooms had carpet and were large enough for twin beds, several chairs, and a faux fireplace; and each stateroom had a private bathroom and shower. Two of the bathroom mirrors were tinted pink to improve the pale complexions of guests who might suffer from seasickness. Because of the guests, the captains wore full uniforms, including vests, and company flag always flew at the masthead.

A 1995 article in the Nor’Easter tells the following stories:

Synthetic Scots

Order of Synthetic Scotsmen

In Hunter’s Park and Woodland around the turn of the last century, many of the original settlers were Scottish, with last names like Hunter, McDonald, Magie, Ferguson, Tulloch, and Thomsen. This area of town was nicknamed “Oatmeal Hill.” When families of other nationalities began to move in, the Scots felt something had to be done about this “intolerable situation.”

Their solution? They decided to “naturalize” their new neighbors as Scots! What began as a fraternal organization for true Scotsmen became “The Order of Synthetic Scotsmen,” around 1904. The group’s new slogan was, “We’ll make ‘em all Scotch!”

Rollo G. Lacy and John F. Thompson. Photo courtesy of Duluth Herald.

In a News Tribune article from May 5, 1954, we learn that

“A large number of petitioners, recognizing the sterling qualities of the Scots, have signified a desire to acquire, even in a synthetic manner, the ability to speak with a highlander accent and a lowlander brogue. They would also like to walk as a true Scot, play the pipes, sing true Scottish songs and do the Highland fling.

Diary of Duluth

April 5, 2019

Long-time readers of local history will recognize the name Gilbert Fawcett (1893-1973) from David Ouse’s post in Zenith City, and from his book “Forgotten Duluthians.” Mr. Fawcett was known as the KDAL historian and the “Old Timer,” based on hundreds of broadcasts about Duluth history.

Fawcett was a pioneer broadcaster on KDAL, and was one of the founding partners of the radio station. KDAL’s first broadcast was in 1936. In 1937, they became affiliated with CBS.

Gilbert Fawcett

 

The Duluth Public Library has a number of radio scripts from his “Diary of Duluth” broadcasts. They are lively and detailed. He knew how to tell a story!

Here is a sample of one of the radio scripts:

October 1, 1947
Script 3

ANNOUNCER: Presenting . . . DIARY OF DULUTH! . . . featuring the OLD TIMER, with News and Views of Our Town . . . Today and Yesterday . . . brought to you each week-day at this time by STEELE_LOUNSBERRY company . . . Stationers and Printers. . . Upon First Street. . . Just across from the City Hall in Duluth.

OLD TIMER: . . . Let’s take a peek into that old diary of mine, and see what it has to say. . . Listen to this entry for October 1, 1914 . . .

“GERMANS ADVANCING STEADILY ON PARIS.

MILLER’S CAFETERIA ON SUPERIOR STREET OPENED FOR BUSINESS ON THIS DATE,”
. . . “But listen to the rest of this entry . . .”
. . . “WEST END MERCHANTS RIVAL MARDI GRAS WITH PARADE AND CELEBRATION FOR GREAT FALL OPENING!” . . . I remember going out to the West End that night. . . I was just a young fellow then, but I had lots of fun. Every store in the West End was decorated, and West Superior Street blazed with lights. . . strings of red, white and blue incandescents were stretched across it. . . the Third Regiment Band played on the corners. . . and there was dancing in the streets. . . The Band played ragtime, of course . . . Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Oh, You Beautiful Doll. . . and things like that. . . and they danced the Turkey Trot and the Bunny Hug and the Grizzly Bear. . . then, of course, there was confetti. . . and ticklers . . . little bamboo sticks with colored feathers on them, to make the girls giggle and scream. . . and all the stores had special window displays. . . I remember one especially. . . the center of attraction was a huge and very elegant parlor coal stove. . . gleaming with nickel. . . and an isinglass front. . . Must have been awful, trying to make a room look attractive with an atrocity like that standing smack in the middle of it . . . But, I don’t know, when I was a kid I thought they looked might fine. . . and I want to tell you one of those elegant coal stoves was mighty popular in anybody’s parlor on sub-zero nights . . . even if you were hot on one side and cold on the other!”

The commercial for Steele_Lounsberry was fun, too:

ANNOUNCER: Speaking of making rooms look attractive and lived-in, are you the type that likes a “personal touch” added to the many little things used in your home daily? If so, you’ll be interested to know that the STEELE_LOUNSBERRY COMPANY is now equipped to “personalize” such articles as Book Matches, Coasters, Paper Napkins, Playing Cards, and many similar items, with an imprinted name or monogram. Such personalized articles add just the right touch, whenever you entertain. . . and as gifts, they’re simply ideal. Any of your friends would be delighted to be remembered in such a thoughtful fashion. Why not stop in today and see for yourself just how attractive these “individualized” articles can be . . . at STEELE_LOUNSBERRY COMPANY . . . Stationers and Printers . . . Up on First Street . . . Just across from the City Hall in Duluth.

Be with us tomorrow at this same time . . . when the OLD TIMER again opens his . . . DIARY OF DULUTH!

 

 

 

 

Image: Duluth Public Library Biography File

 

 

Duluth’s Madam Butterfly

Rena Vivian Smith was a Duluthian with an incredible singing talent. She sang regularly while attending school in Duluth, and after high school traveled to Europe where she

Rena Vivian Smith as Madam Butterfly, Cosmopolitan Magazine, February 1907

studied voice and began singing professionally. While in Italy she auditioned for opera composer Giacomo Puccini and he hired her to sing in the American premiere of Madam Butterfly.

Rena Smith was born in Oklahoma Territory around 1880. At that time, the Oklahoma Territory was controlled by five Native American tribes, but during the 1880s “boomers” were forcing the opening of the region to white settlement. Smith later said she spoke the Choctaw language fluently.

Smith and her mother Elizabeth apparently moved to Duluth around 1896, after Henry B. Smith, the father, had died. Elizabeth was a sister of John Sutphin. Born in New Jersey, Sutphin came to Duluth around 1868 and founded a meat-packing plant. He became the mayor of the village of Duluth in 1886 and then mayor of the city of Duluth in 1887, when Duluth regained its city charter. He remained in the job until 1890. In the 1900 U.S. Census, Elizabeth is listed as the widow of Henry B. Smith. It’s presumed that he died before they moved to Duluth, and that his death may have been the reason for his wife and daughter to move in temporarily with the Stuphins.

Actress Barbara Hale in Duluth

Movie actress Barbara Hale visited Duluth in October of 1946 for the world premiere of her newest film, Lady Luck. Hale, who was 24 years old at the time, had begun her movie career in 1943 and by the time of her Duluth visit had appeared in 14 films, six in major roles, and all but one produced by RKO Pictures.

Barbara Hale

Accompanying her on the trip was her husband, Bill Williams. They had just been married on June 22 of that year and said the trip to Duluth was something of a honeymoon. Williams was also under contract with RKO and had started his movie career in 1944.

The couple arrived in town at the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Depot at 200 South 5^th Avenue West on the morning of October 23, 1946. Their afternoon was busy with a press conference in Hotel Duluth, interviews by representatives of local high school newspapers, and a theater party.

Lady Luck premiered on Thursday night, Oct. 24, at the Granada Theater at 107 East Superior Street. The film tells the story of Mary Audrey, played by Hale, who strongly opposes gambling because of her father’s addiction to it. She meets a gambler named Larry Scott, played by Robert Young, and they fall in love and decide to marry. Larry promises to Mary that he’s giving up the betting life. Unfortunately, they choose Las Vegas for their wedding, and Larry soon gets involved in gambling again. Also in the cast are Frank Morgan (best known for playing the title character in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and James Gleason.

From Duluth Herald October 23, 1946

Hale and Williams appeared at the Granada premiere that night, and then made appearances at the theater before every showing of the film through that Sunday, October 27. Over that period, the Granada was showing the movie five times a day—at 1:21 p.m., 3:21 p.m., 5:21 p.m., 7:21 p.m., and 9:21 p.m. The charge for admission was 50 cents up to 5:00 p.m. and 60 cents after 5:00, including tax. At one of the Friday night showings, the two actors were given certificates of ambassadorship from the Duchy of Duluth, presented by the 1946 Duchess of Duluth, Shirley Elden. The Duchess of Duluth was an annual title awarded in the late 1940s and 1950s. The winner was selected from nominees by a panel of judges and announced at the Fall Festival in the Armory on London Road. Elden was the first Duchess of Duluth.

In the following decade, Hale would appear in more than twenty films, most notably in: The Boy with the Green Hair (1948), with Pat O’Brien and Robert Ryan; Jolson Sings Again (1949), which had a script written by Duluth native Sidney Buchman; The Jackpot (1950), with co-star James Stewart; Lorna Doone (1951), in which she plays the title character; and A Lion in the Streets (1953), with co-star James Cagney.

Hale is best remembered, however, for her portrayal of Della Street in the CBS television series Perry Mason, which ran from 1957 to 1966. Street was the confidential secretary and invaluable assistant to attorney Mason, played by Raymond Burr. Hale appeared in most of the 271 episodes of the show. Hale would win an Emmy in 1959 for best supporting actress in a dramatic series.

Hale and Williams would have three children and remain married until his death in 1992. One son, William Katt, would also become an actor. She died in California on January 26, 2017, at the age of 94.

 

Duluth War Casualties Database

The Duluth War Casualties Database was recently completed by the Reference staff and volunteers at the Duluth Public Library. The database indexes military personnel from Duluth and the area immediately around Duluth who were killed or captured in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Duluth Herald, July 13, 1945

The database began as a card file kept by Reference staff during World War II and the Korean War. In the 1990s, staff entered the cards into a database, and in 2015-2018, library volunteers searched the newspapers on microfilm for more information on those wars and on World War I and the Vietnam War, and added that information to the database. Each entry includes information such as name, branch of the service, rank, local address, description of incidents, and, most importantly, citations to articles about the person in the Duluth News Tribune and Duluth Herald. The article citations are important because, especially in World War I and World War II, an article may not have appeared in the local papers until weeks or even months after the incident.

The database can be searched by first name and last name. A typical entry looks like this:

Johnson, Alvin L     Flight Officer     U.S. Air Corps         Incident: Died of injuries received in action over France (DNT 09-08-44 p.5); posthumously awarded Purple Heart (DNT 12-29-44 p.1)       Notes: Body returned for reburial in Park Hill Cem (DNT 11-09-48 p.12) (DNT 12-05-48 p.10) (DH 12-04-48 p.2); name on plaque at East High School (DNT 09-26-45 p.7)         Address: 4619 Gladstone St           Town: Duluth

Copies of articles can be located on the newspaper microfilm on the top floor of the Duluth Public Library.

The War Casualties Database can be found on the Duluth Public Library web site under “Research” and “Genealogy,” or you can follow this link:

http://www.duluthlibrary.org/genealogy/war-casualties-pows/

Duluth’s Only Female Military Casualty of World War I

Over 115,000 Americans died in World War I. Slightly more than half of those were deaths from disease. Hundreds of Duluth men were casualties of the war, but only one Duluth military woman gave her life—U.S. Army nurse Lydia Whiteside.*

LydiaWhiteside, findagrave.comon

Lydia V. Whiteside was born on November 3, 1884, in Severn Bridge, a small community in the Muskoka District of Ontario. She was the seventh child of Richard and Ellen Whiteside. Richard was born in Ireland in 1843 and the family moved to Ontario when he was a child. On October 11, 1871, he married Ellen Dyer, a native of Innisfil, Ontario.

Richard was involved in the lumber business in Ontario, and around 1887 he moved to Minnesota, first establishing a homestead on Fall Lake, just a few miles south of Ely. His brother, Robert, who was involved in lumbering and later in iron ore mining, was one of the founders of the town of Ely and was probably there at the time. Later, Richard would move the family into the town of Ely to a house on Harvey Street. In about 1901, they would move to Duluth.

Upon moving to Duluth, Lydia was a student, presumably at the Villa Sancta Scholastica Academy or the Duluth Normal School, which opened in September of 1902. By 1908 she had moved to Minneapolis and was a student nurse at the Asbury Methodist Hospital, which had a nursing training program. On May 24, 1911, she and 13 other women received their nursing certificates from the hospital. She then returned to Duluth and worked as a nurse, living with her family who were now residing at 4409 London Road.

Digging into the Duluth Herald and the Duluth News Tribune

 

Sometimes you want more than an obituary from the local paper. Perhaps you want to confirm a story about an ancestor that may have made the paper (Did Grandpa really rob that bank?) Or you might
want to find the article that reported an ancestor’s achievement (like Grandma’s award for her prize-winning pie at the State Fair).  Here’s your guide to digging into the past.

Obituaries: No sweat

If you want an obituary from the local papers, the task is fairly straightforward. Volunteers at the Duluth Public Library have indexed obituaries in the Duluth News Tribune back to 1956, and are pushing farther back every week. If the death was earlier than that, you find the death date and browse the papers for a while after that date.

However, how do you find that non-obituary article? That’s what I plan to discuss in this post.

Everything else:  Time is of the essence

The key element is the time of the event you’re looking for. The Duluth daily newspapers have been in existence since 1887 (Duluth Evening Herald/Duluth Herald) and 1892 (Duluth News Tribune). There are different article-finding tools for different times in these papers’ existence.

Here’s a rundown. Starting from the present and moving backward in time:

1995 – present: Full text online

The News Tribune has been online since October 1995. The full text since that time is available on the Duluth News Tribune/NewsBank database, to which the Library subscribes.

This database does not include pictures or other graphic elements such as graphs, but with a citation from the database you can find the article on our newspaper microfilm and get the parts the database version does not provide. A major advantage of this database over the News Tribune website (besides no charge for printing articles from home, 10₵ per page in the library, and no ads!) is the much more robust search capabilities.

The database is available to anyone inside the Library, and from home to anyone who has a Duluth Public Library library card. (By the way, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune are also available for varying time periods through the NewsBank site – but I digress…)

Access the Duluth News Tribune/Newsbank database at www.duluthlibrary.org —> research —> databases —> Duluth News Tribune/Newsbank

1978-1995: Print and online indexes, produced by DPL librarians

Librarians indexed the NewsTribune and Herald for stories of regional interest, starting in 1978, ending when the paper went online in 1995.

• • • 1988-1995: Online Duluth Newspaper index
      The index for this time range is searchable online at the Duluth Public Library website, available to anyone with or without a library card, at: www.duluthlibrary.org —> research —> databases —> Duluth Newspaper index 1988-1995. (Note: Print volumes covering 1988-1995 are also available in the Reference Department.)
    • 1978-1987: Printed index only
      The index for this time range is available only in print format, available in the Reference Department at the Main Library.  These bound volumes are affectionately referred to as the Purple Books.

1929-1978: NO indexing available – Clipping files

There is no indexing for either paper during this period, except for the Obituary Index (1956-present). You may have to browse the microfilmed version of the newspaper for your article – hopefully you have some idea of the time the article might have been published (e.g., a for a high school football-related event, you would “only” have to look for at most 4 years during the fall).

However, Librarians were very active clipping articles from the newspapers for much of this period. The Library has vast numbers of files full of clippings of local interest, many going back to the 1940s and even earlier. I just the other day came across a file beginning at 1920.

There are three separate filing systems:

• • Subject clipping files – organized by subjects of local and regional interest. Hundreds of linear feet of these files, mostly Duluth subjects, but also Minnesota regional subjects as well. Subjects clipped cover Duluth’s economy, government, education, culture, and much more, but here are some of the specifically people-related headings: Duluth Artists; Duluth Authors; Duluth Musicians; Duluth Crime and Criminals; Duluth. Schools. Teachers.
  • Industry clipping files – organized in notebooks by company name, ranging from just a page or two for a company to notebooks full for major companies such as Allete, Essentia, Grandma’s. Industry clipping files include regional companies as well.
  • Biography clipping files – contain information on Duluthians or others who have had an impact on the Northland, ranging again from a short obituary to several inches of clippings for notables (such as Elizabeth Congdon).

1893-1929: Online Duluth Newspaper index

Librarians at the Duluth Public Library indexed both the Herald and the News Tribune in a card file for this period as part of the WPA in the 1930s. Despite the time range indicated in the title of this index, index cards were added to this file – and therefore digitized – sporadically through the 1930’s and even as late as 1941. Several years ago, through the efforts of volunteer Joyce Peterson, the file was digitized and put online. Like the later index, the focus was stories of regional interest only. Very short articles and most sports stories are excluded.

The index for this time range is searchable online at the Duluth Public Library website, available to anyone with or without a library card, at: www.duluthlibrary.org —> research —> databases —> Duluth Newspaper index 1893-1929.

    

Other resources

In addition to the resources above, which are available only through the Duluth Public Library, there are a couple of other resources to know about for finding information in early papers:

1887-1922, Duluth Evening Herald and Duluth Herald

Full text online at the Minnesota Historical Society Digital Newspaper Hub (http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub). Before 1923 the newspapers are in the public domain; afterwards, copyright inhibits inclusion in digitization efforts.

1892-1922 Duluth News Tribune: Genealogy Bank

The Genealogy Bank database includes the News Tribune pre-1923. Unfortunately, their pricing for the Library is out of our reach; however, individual subscriptions are quite reasonable.

If all else fails – or as a quick & dirty first effort – try your favorite internet search engine.

JFK’s Three Visits to Duluth

President John F. Kennedy visited Duluth three times, both before and while he was President. All three visits were in the autumn.

September 26, 1959

Kennedy first came to Duluth on September 26, 1959, for a visit of just one day. He was then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, serving in his second term. On this trip he was accompanied by Mrs. Kennedy. The main purpose of the Duluth trip was to visit Superior prior to the Wisconsin presidential primary. Kennedy hadn’t yet

Sen. John F. Kennedy, from JFL Museum and Library

declared himself a candidate for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, and he was traveling the country trying to gauge the support he might have should he decide to run.

The Duluth/Superior visit was the last stop on a three-day tour of Wisconsin. He arrived at the Duluth International Airport at 3:45 p.m. on September 26, where he was greeted by about 100 supporters. He took part in a press conference and a television interview in Duluth, and then toured the harbor on his way to Superior. That evening in Superior he spoke at Superior Central High School, focusing on the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which he said he had supported when he was in the House of Representatives.

Billy Sunday’s Duluth Tabernacle

Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player who became an evangelist in the early part of the twentieth century. He toured around the U.S., drawing big crowds wherever he preached. His style of preaching was very physical, befitting a former athlete—he would jump up on tables, chairs, or the podium; run back and forth across the stage; and even sometimes smash furniture to emphasize his point.

Billy Sunday, from thegospelcoalition.org

It was big news for a community when Sunday brought his evangelical team to town. Early in 1918, he announced a six-week visit to Duluth starting that May. Sunday expected any community he visited, especially the churches in that community, to form a planning committee and take responsibility for some duties. One local responsibility was to raise money to cover expenses. It was determined that Duluth needed to raise $45,000. The largest portion of that money went to the building of a tabernacle.

Ever since Sunday’s large tent had collapsed under the weight of a snowstorm in 1906 in Colorado, he required the communities he visited to build a large, one-story building where he could hold his worship services. He called the building his tabernacle.

The city agreed to have Duluth’s tabernacle built on a site on the west side of Fourth Avenue West, between First and Second Streets, on a green space called Courthouse Square. That’s the present-day site of the Duluth City Hall, which was built eleven years later in 1929.

From the Duluth Herald May 2, 1918

The Duluth Herald at the time published a floor plan of the building, which would measure 224 feet by 183 feet and would be equipped with electric lighting, plumbing, and heating. It would have 4,500 seats for the public, 1,000 seats for the choir, and standing room for 1,500 to 2,000 more people. To make the tabernacle level, since it was being constructed on a slope, the First Street end, at 42 feet high, would be taller than the Second Street end, at 21 feet.

Ground for the tabernacle was broken on April 20, 1918, and workers immediately began laying timbers for the foundation. The building was completed in three weeks, on May 11. Billy Sunday arrived in Duluth on May 25, and the next day he preached three sermons in the tabernacle. A total of 18,000 people attended those first three sermons.

After Sunday left town in July, the tabernacle was purchased by a local contractor to be taken down. The contractor planned to use the lumber to build houses in West Duluth.

A 1926 Description of a Ride on Duluth’s Seventh Avenue West Incline Railway

In Volume I of his two-volume 1926 novel The Duke of Duluth, author Thomas Shastid, a Duluth physician, depicts a scene in which the main character, John Gridley Smith, who is visiting Duluth, is walking on West Superior Street and comes upon the entrance to the Incline Railway on Seventh Avenue West. On pages 74 to 80, Shastid describes the Incline and John’s ride up to the top:

Following his lonesome way, he came, after an interminable time, to a place on West Superior Street where a high fence was, composed of tall, slender pickets of red-painted iron. In the middle of the fence squatted

From Duluth Public Library Slide Collection

a little red house, with a closed door. Of a sudden, there came rushing down from upper space—it must have been an airship. A moment later John saw that it was really a funny little car coming down a steep track of wide-set iron rails.The car came to a stand almost against the fence at the left of the little red house, or station, and, a few moments later, the door of the station opened, and people began passing into the street. When they had all got out, John went into the station, and thence, by a sliding side-door, into the car.

Why dig into the past?

Library staff member, Gina Temple-Rhodes, digs into the history of the new Duluth Folk School building at 1917 W Superior Street and explores our fascination with local history in this blog post she wrote for Perfect Duluth Day. The Duluth Public Library thanks Gina for her permission to re-post the article here.