Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a seaport city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. The city had a total population of 86,918 in the 2000 census and the metropolitan census including outer suburbs and villages was estimated to be roughly 184,000.^[3] At the westernmost point on the north shore of Lake Superior, Duluth is linked to the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles (3,700 km) away via the Great Lakes and Erie Canal/New York State Barge Canal or Saint Lawrence Seaway passages and is the Atlantic Ocean's westernmost deep-water port.^[4]

Duluth forms a metropolitan area with Superior, Wisconsin. Called the Twin Ports, these two cities share the Duluth-Superior Harbor and together are one of the most important ports on the Great Lakes, shipping coal, iron ore (taconite), and grain. As a tourist destination for the Midwest, Duluth features America's only all-freshwater aquarium, the Great Lakes Aquarium, the Aerial Lift Bridge which spans the short canal into Duluth's harbor, "Park Point", the world's second longest freshwater sandbar, spanning 6 miles, and is a launching point for the North Shore.^[5]

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

[edit] History

[edit] Pre-founding

Minnesota Point from the hill above Duluth in 1875

Native American tribes had occupied the Duluth area for thousands of years. The original inhabitants are believed to have been members of Paleo-Indian cultures, followed by the "Old Copper" people, 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 Ojibwa tribes in the region and is often seen being sold in the area, especially in Wisconsin. Duluth's name in the Ojibwe is Onigamiinsing ("at the little portage") due to the small and easy portage across Minnesota Point between Lake Superior and western Superior Bay forming Duluth's harbor. According to Ojibwa Oral history, Spirit Island located near the Spirit Valley neighborhood was the "Sixth Stopping Place" where the northern and southern branches of the Ojibwa Nation came together and then proceeded to their "Seventh Stopping Place" near the present city of La Pointe, Wisconsin.

In 1659, Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers went searching for furs in the Lake Superior region, and visited the area that became today’s Duluth. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, the city's namesake, arrived in 1679 to settle rivalries between two Indian nations, the Dakota and the Ojibwa, and 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's 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 émigré, 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.

Two Treaties of Fond du Lac were signed in the present neighborhood of Fond du Lac in 1826 and 1847. As part of the Treaty of Washington (1854) with the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa, the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation was established upstream from Duluth near Cloquet, Minnesota, and the Ojibwa population was relocated there.

[edit] Permanent settlement

Chester Terrace

Interest in the area was piqued in the 1850s as rumors 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, sparked a "land rush," and led to 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 became 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.

[edit] Twentieth century

The J.B. Ford storing and the J.A.W. Iglehart offloading cement.

Duluth and area, from Enger Tower.

Subsequently the city throve, and the hillside and downtown areas developed and expanded. 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 steel production only began eight years later, predictions held that Duluth's population would rise to 200,000 to 300,000. With the Duluth Works steel plant came Morgan Park, a once-independent company town that now stands as a city neighborhood.

In the early twentieth century, Duluth was home to one of the largest Finnish communities in the world outside of Finland. For decades, a Finnish-language daily newspaper taking the namesake of the old Grand Duchy of Finland's pro-independence leftist paper, Päivälehti, was published in the city. The area was also settled by Immigrants from Ireland, Poland, Serbia, Italy, Ukraine, Romania, Norway, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Bulgaria, Austria, Croatia, England, and Russia.

On June 14, 1920 The Duluth lynchings took place on 1st Street and 2nd Avenue East.

During much of the twentieth century, the city was an industrial port town, with a cement plant, nail mill, wire mills, and the Duluth Works 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. 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 perspective.

Coffee shop and skyway in downtown Duluth

Due to foreign competition, the U.S. Steel plant of the Duluth Works closed in 1981, presenting a major blow to the city. Duluth is often cited as "where the Rust Belt begins," and other industrial activity followed suit with more closures, including shipbuilding, heavy machinery, and the Air Force base. Within a decade, unemployment rates surged to 15 percent, emptying local stores and creating long job application lines. This was particularly hard on Duluth's West Side, where the Eastern and Southern European immigrants had traditionally occupied for decades.

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 old warehouses along the waterfront were converted into cafés, shops, and restaurants, forming Canal Park as a largely tourism-oriented district.

[edit] 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 former U.S. Representative J. Proctor Knott of Kentucky on January 27, 1871 in the U.S. House; the speech against the St. Croix and Superior Land Grant lampooned Western boosterism, portraying Duluth as an Eden in fantastically florid terms.^[6] The speech has been reprinted in collections of folklore and humorous speeches and is regarded as something of a classic. The nearby city of Proctor, Minnesota is named for Congressman Knott.

Duluth, Minnesota's unofficial sister city, Duluth, Georgia, was named by Evan P. Howell in humorous reference to Representative Knott's speech. Originally called Howell's Crossroads in honor of his grandfather Evan Howell, the town had in 1871 just finished getting a railroad to the town, and the 'Delights of Duluth' speech was still popular.

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, speaking at a Fourth of July picnic in 1868.^[7]

[edit] Geography

Minnesota Point or Park Point

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 87.3 square miles (226.2 km²). It is Minnesota's second largest city in terms of land area, surpassed only by Hibbing. Of its 87.3 square miles, 68.0 square miles (176.1 km²) or 77.89% is land and 19.3 square miles (50.0 km²) or 22.11% is water. Duluth's canal connects Lake Superior to the Duluth-Superior harbor and the St. Louis River. The Aerial Lift Bridge connects Canal Park with Minnesota Point ("Park Point").

Steep 1st Avenue East viewed from the Lakewalk in Canal Park

Duluth's geography is dominated by a rather steep hill which represents a transition from the elevation of Lake Superior's beach to that of the inland. It is also known as the San Francisco of Minnesota.^{[citation needed]} For example, the Sky Harbor airport's weather station, near the lake on the Park Point sandbar (at 6 miles (9.65 km) is the second longest freshwater sand bar in the world) has an elevation of 607 feet (185 m),^[8] while Duluth International Airport atop the hill is at 1,427 feet (435 m).^[8]

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 steep streets. Some neighborhoods, such as Piedmont Heights and Bayview Heights, are atop the hill, at times giving scenic views of the city. The Goat Hill neighborhood overlooking the 'can of worms' freeway interchange around 18th Avenue West is an example of this; another is the skyline neighborhood above downtown from 5th to 10th Avenues West. 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. Re-construction of U.S. 53 is scheduled within the next 5 years to alleviate congestion in this part of Duluth.

[edit] Climate

Shoreline in April

The city's climate is known for long, cold winters and cool summers. The nickname "The Air-Conditioned City" is given to Duluth due to the cooling effect that Lake Superior has on it during the summer months. 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 km) inland receive considerably less.

Lakewalk carriage ride in May

Summers are cool and comfortable, with daytime temperatures averaging in the 70s°F (20–30 °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) during afternoons as late in the year as June along the Lake Superior shore, even when the inland temperature is in the 70s °F (mid-20s °C). 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. It can be snowing at the Miller Hill Mall and pouring rain in Canal Park at the same time.

Weather averages for Duluth, Minnesota
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °F (°C)	16 (-9)	22 (-6)	32 (0)	48 (9)	62 (17)	71 (22)	76 (24)	74 (23)	64 (18)	53 (12)	35 (2)	22 (-6)	48 (9)
Average low °F (°C)	-1 (-18)	3 (-16)	15 (-9)	29 (-2)	40 (4)	48 (9)	54 (12)	53 (12)	45 (7)	35 (2)	21 (-6)	6 (-14)	29 (-2)
Precipitation inches (mm)	1.2 (30.5)	0.8 (20.3)	1.8 (45.7)	2.4 (61)	3.2 (81.3)	4.1 (104.1)	4.0 (101.6)	3.9 (99.1)	3.6 (91.4)	2.4 (61)	1.9 (48.3)	1.3 (33)	30.6 (777.2)
Source: weatherbase.com^[9] 2007-08-11

[edit] Demographics

Herb Bergson, former Mayor of Duluth, walking to an anti-poverty rally in November 2005

Population Estimate^[3]
2000	86,918
2001	86,961
2002	86,384
2003	86,108
2004	85,308
2005	84,781
2006	84,167

Duluth and its environs are experiencing moderate population growth.^[10] As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 86,918 people, 35,500 households, and 19,915 families residing in the city.^[3] 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/sq mi (210/km²). 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. 18.5% were of German, 16.0% Polish, 14.5% Norwegian, 10.9% Swedish, 7.2% Italian, 7.1% Irish, 6.9% Finnish, 6.9% Serbian, and 6.8% Croatian ancestry according to Census 2000.

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.

[edit] Economy

The Str. American Victory (then, the Middletown) on Lake Superior

Duluth is the regional hub not only for its own immediate area, but also for a large area encompassing northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It remains 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, and in oversized industrial machinery manufactured all around the world and destined for the tar sands oil extraction projects in northern Alberta.

The city is a popular center for tourism. Duluth is a convenient base for trips to the scenic North Shore via Highway 61, or to fishing and wilderness expeditions in Minnesota's far north, including the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Tourists also may drive on the North Shore Scenic Drive to visit Gooseberry Falls State Park, Isle Royale National Park via ferry or visit Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, Minnesota. Thunder Bay, Canada can be reached by following the highway into Canada along Lake Superior.

[edit] Arts

Duluth's Graffiti Graveyard

Local attractions include a variety of arts opportunities. Museums include the Duluth Art Institute at the Duluth Depot, the Tweed Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and smaller local art galleries scattered around the city. See the List of Museums in Duluth. Duluth is also home to a professional ballet company, the Minnesota Ballet. Duluth shares a symphony orchestra with Superior, Wisconsin, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra[1]. In summer there are often free concerts held in Chester Park where local musicians play for crowds, and the Bayfront Blues Festival is held in early August. Beginning in 2004, Duluth has celebrated Gay Pride with a parade on Labor Day weekend. The city celebrates the Homegrown Music Festival the first week in May each year. Started in 1998, the festival features over 130 local musical acts performing across the city. Another "music festival" is the "Junior Achievement High School ROCKS - Battle of the Bands", Which showcases middle school and high school bands from central Minn to the Canadian boarder and Northern Wis. This event takes place at the DECC mid-April.

There also exists under a section of I-35 a stretch of graffiti know as the Graffiti Graveyard.^[11]

[edit] Sports

Duluth in the NFL
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

[edit] 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 Tornadoes (Orange, New Jersey). This bit of history became the basis for the 2008 George Clooney/Renee Zellweger movie, "Leatherheads."

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 1997. The Northern League, based out of the midwest, was also in operation off and on from 1902 to 1971, with the longest stint from 1932-1971. The Dukes were a farm team for the Detroit Tigers from 1960-1964, and several other teams in later years, before the Northern League folded in 1971. The Dukes produced notable players such as Denny McClain, Al Kaline, Bill Freehan, Gates Brown, Ray Oyler, Jim Northrup, Mickey Stanley, John Hiller, and Willie Horton, all who were members of the 1968 world champion Detroit Tigers.

[edit] Amateur sports

The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog hockey games are a major event in town during the cold Duluth winter. Games used to be 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. In addition, the UMD Women's ice hockey team has won three consecutive NCAA National Championships (2001-2003), and won again in 2008. The 2003 Women's Frozen Four was played at the DECC, where the Bulldogs defeated Harvard on a dramatic double-overtime goal by Nora Tallus in front of a sellout home crowd.

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.

[edit] Parks and recreation

Lester River. Lester Park Trail is one of the city's popular hiking and picnic areas.^[12]

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 former route for U.S. Highway 61, along the North Shore of Lake Superior and finishes in one of Duluth's tourism neighborhoods, Canal Park (Duluth). 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 (644 km) course takes a round trip from Duluth to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and the 150-mile (241 km) 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 Trail Sled Dog Race.

The city is home to the Duluth Curling Club and the Duluth Yacht Club.

[edit] Government

Main articles: Duluth City Council and Neighborhoods of Duluth, Minnesota

See also: List of mayors of Duluth, Minnesota

St. Louis County Courthouse

The current mayor of Duluth is Don Ness.

Duluth is located in Minnesota's 8th congressional district, represented by Jim Oberstar, a moderate DFLer, scoring 87% progressive on a range of issues.^[13]

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.

Historic Central High School

The city was featured in the New York Times article "The Next Retirement Time Bomb",^[14] 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. Decades of local politicians have a hand in the matter, including former mayor Gary Doty, as unions are powerful in the area and winning their favor is a major factor in being elected.

During the 2000 presidential election, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received over 7.0% of votes from Duluth residents, one of the highest in the country for a city with a population of at least 85,000.

[edit] Education

Main article: List of schools in Duluth, Minnesota

Colleges and universities include the University of Minnesota Duluth, The College of St. Scholastica, Lake Superior College, Duluth Business University and Cosmetology Careers Unlimited. The University of Wisconsin - Superior and Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College are in nearby Superior, Wisconsin.

Most public schools are administered by Duluth Public Schools. There are several independent public charter schools in the Duluth area not administered by District 709 with open enrollment.

[edit] Transportation

John Blatnik Bridge looking towards Superior, Wisconsin

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, Minnesota and U.S. Highway 2 which stretches from Everett, Washington to St.Ignace in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Just south of the city is Thompson Hill, from which most of the city can be seen on I-35, including the Aerial Lift Bridge and the waterfront. There are two freeway connections from Duluth to Superior. U.S. Highway 2 provides a connection into Superior via the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge, and the other connection is I-535 and U.S. 53 co-signed over the John Blatnik Bridge.

John Blatnik Bridge looking towards Duluth at night

There are many state highways that serve the area as well. Highway 23 runs diagonally across Minnesota, indirectly connecting Duluth to Sioux Falls. Highway 33 provides a bypass of Duluth connecting I-35 to U.S. 53. Highway 61 provides access to Thunder Bay, Ontario via the breathtaking North Shore of Lake Superior. Highway 194 provides a spur route into the city of Duluth known as "Central Entrance" and Mesaba Avenue. Wisc. Hwy. 13 reaches along Lake Superior's South Shore. Finally, Wisc. Hwy. 35 runs along Wisconsin's western border for 412 miles (663 km) to its southern terminus at the Wisconsin - Illinois border (three miles north of East Dubuque).

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 taconite-hauling trains in the area. Duluth port facilities also handle substantial amounts of grain, limestone, dry bulk cement powder, rock salt, bentonite clay, wind turbine components, and a wide variety of oversized industrial machinery which require especially high and wide road and rail clearances to reach their destinations in the interior of North America. Duluth is also served by the BNSF Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Union Pacific Railroad.

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.

[edit] Media

Main article: List of radio stations and television channels in Duluth, Minnesota

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 news staff of KDLH was dismissed.

Local newspapers include the BusinessNorth monthly, the Duluth News Tribune, the Duluth Budgeteer News, and the free The Reader Weekly, the Transistor and the High Plain's Drifter. The Diatribe Monthly - was created in May 2007 to draw attention to local shows promoted in the Twin Ports area, as well as other points of interest in the Metal community here

[edit] Religion

[edit] Utilities

Duluth 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.

[edit] Sites of interest

The noted Glensheen Historic Estate, built by wealthy businessman Chester Adgate Congdon, can be found on the shore of Lake Superior and is open to tours year-round. The Aerial Lift Bridge, spanning the short canal into Duluth's harbor, is a vertical lift bridge. It was originally built as an exceedingly rare aerial transfer bridge. Historic Central High School towers over the harbor and features an 1890s classroom museum. The wreck of the Thomas Wilson, a classic early 20th century whaleback ore boat, lies underwater less than a mile outside the Duluth Harbor, the result of a collision. The USCGC Sundew (WLB-404) a former USCG Seagoing Buoy Tender is a museum ship along the Duluth waterbong, as is the 610' long William A Irvin


Great Lakes Aquarium	Glensheen Historic Estate	The Thomas Wilson	Aerial Lift Bridge	William A Irvin

[edit] Trivia

The Edge of the rock band U2 once joked on a U2 special on the Conan O'Brien Show that U2 were not in fact from Ireland but were from Duluth.

The cabin owner in the movie 'The Great Outdoors' wears a t-shirt that says "I've Been to Duluth".

Birth city of Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941 aka [Bob Dylan ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zimmerman

[edit] Movies Filmed in Duluth and/or area

Great Lakes Release Date: 5 May 2002

Iron Will (dogsled movie)Release Date: 14 January 1994 (USA): filmed in and around Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Directed by Charles Haid. Starring: Mackenzie Astin, Kevin Spacey, David Ogden Stiers

The Good Son Release Date: 14 January 1994(suspense, starring Macaulay Culkin): the movie is actually supposed to take place in Maine, but the big "cliffhanger" scene at the end is actually Pallisade Head, on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Highway 61 Release Date: 24 April 1992

Far North Release Date: 11 November 1988: Director/Written by Sam Shepard. Starring Jessica Lange, Charles Durning, Tess Harper, Patricia Arquette

You'll Like My Mother Release Date: 13 October 1972: Directed by Lamont Johnson. Starring Patty Duke (who is Mackenzie Austin's mother), Rosemary Murphy, Richard Thomas parts were filmed in the Glensheen mansion in Duluth.

An American Romance (1944) Sweden Release Date: 16 April 1945

[edit] Other Entertainment -Filmed/recorded

The Crash Test Dummies recreated the performances of SONGS OF THE UNFORGIVEN (2004 release) at the Sacred Heart Church in Duluth in a live concert on Oct 12. Along with Suzie Roach (Roach Sisters) and the band, Low, Crash Test Dummies recorded some of their greatest hits in this unique setting and taped the performance

TV Episode "Power, Privilege & Justice" Mystery in the Mansion (2005)- Filmed (once again) at Glensheen Mansion

TV Series: "Mystery Diagnosis" (2005) Original Air Date: 23 April 2007

Battleground Minnesota Release Date: 1 September 2005 - A hip hop documentary musical about the 2004 presidential elections in Minnesota.

Sydämeni laulu Finland Release Date: 2 July 1948 - Documentary

Minnesota: 'Land of Plenty'- Release Date: 31 January 1942 - Documentary - This Traveltalk visit to Minnesota starts in Winona, Minnesota and follows the course of the Mississippi River north to its source in Itasca. In between we visit several cities along the way. Some of the stops are: Rochester, home of the Mayo Clinic; St. Paul, the capital, where narrator FitzPatrick shakes hands with Governor Harold E. Stassen; Hibbing, site of the world's largest open pit iron mine; Duluth, then the world's largest inland water port; and Bemidji, with larger-than-life statues of folk hero Paul Bunyan and his ox, Babe

[edit] Sister cities

Duluth has four sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International (SCI):^[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ ^a ^b American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ US Board on Geographic Names. United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ ^a ^b ^c American FactFinder Population Estimates: Duluth city, St. Louis County. U.S. Census Bureau (2006-07-01). Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
^ Port of Duluth-Superior Propeller's Club annual Maritime Day celebration. Duluth Seaway Port Authority (1999-05-19). Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
^ Larry Copeland (2003-07-10). Little Chattanooga prepares to take on Atlanta in Fish War. USA TODAY. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
^ Knott, J. Proctor & McCullogh, ed.), (David G. (June, 1971), “The Untold Delights of Duluth”, American Heritage Magazine 22 (4), <http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1971/4/1971_4_76.shtml>
^ Macdonald, This is Duluth, p. 65.
^ ^a ^b Duluth, Minnesota. The Weather Underground, Inc. (wunderground.com). Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
^ Hisorical weather for Duluth, Minnesota USA. Retrieved on Aug 11, 2007.
^ Hibbs, James (December 2001). Unprecedented Population Growth Revealed by Census (PDF) 4, 9. Minnesota Planning, State Demographic Center. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
^ Graffiti Graveyard
^ Lester Park Trail. City of Duluth Parks and Recreation Department. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
^ Grossman, Joshua. ProgressivePunch Leading with the Left. All Issues. ProgressivePunch. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
^ Freudenheim, Milt and Mary Williams Walsh. "The Next Retirement Time Bomb", The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 2005-12-11. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
^ Online Directory: Minnesota, USA. Sister Cities International. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.

[edit] References

Frederick, Chuck (1994). Duluth: The City and the People. American & World Geographic Publishing. ISBN 1560370688.
Macdonald, Dora Mary (1950). This is Duluth. Central High School Printing Department.
Duluth Lynchings Online Resource. Minnesota Historical Society (2003). Retrieved on 2007-08-18.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Duluth, Minnesota

Minnesota Portal

Duluth (Minnesota) travel guide from Wikitravel

City of Duluth - Official Website
VisitDuluth.com - Tourist Information
Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce website
Duluth Public Library website
Greater Downtown Council website
Duluth-Superior Dukes Tribute Page
Vintage Pictures of Duluth
PerfectDuluthDay.com website - A Community Blog
Northern Images Photography - Link - Contains scenic pictures of Duluth and surrounding areas.

Duluth, Minnesota is at coordinates 46°47′13″N 92°05′54″W / 46.786938, -92.098195 (Duluth, Minnesota)Coordinates: 46°47′13″N 92°05′54″W / 46.786938, -92.098195 (Duluth, Minnesota)

v • d • e

Twin Ports, Minnesota-Wisconsin

Core cities

Duluth° (MN) · Superior° (WI)

Surrounding
communities

(over 10,000)	Cloquet° (MN) 11,463

(under 10,000)	Carlton° (MN) · Hermantown° (MN) · Oliver^‡ (WI) · Parkland* (WI) · Proctor° (MN) · Scanlon° (MN) · Superior^‡ (WI) · Superior* (WI)

Counties

Carlton (MN) · Douglas (WI) · St. Louis (MN)

*town ^‡village °city ^§CDP

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of St. Louis County, Minnesota

County seat: Duluth

Cities	Aurora \| Babbit \| Biwabik \| Brookston \| Buhl \| Chisholm \| Cook \| Duluth \| Ely \| Eveleth \| Floodwood \| Gilbert \| Hermantown \| Hibbing \| Hoyt Lakes \| Iron Junction \| Kinney \| Leonidas \| McKinley \| Meadowlands \| Mountain Iron \| Orr \| Proctor \| Tower \| Virginia \| Winton

Townships	Alango \| Alborn \| Alden \| Angora \| Arrowhead \| Ault \| Balkan \| Bassett \| Beatty \| Biwabik \| Breitung \| Brevator \| Camp 5 \| Canosia \| Cedar Valley \| Cherry \| Clinton \| Colvin \| Cotton \| Culver \| Crane Lake \| Duluth \| Eagles Nest \| Ellsburg \| Elmer \| Embarrass \| Fairbanks \| Fayal \| Field \| Fine Lakes \| Floodwood \| Fredenberg \| French \| Gnesen \| Grand Lake \| Great Scott \| Greenwood \| Halden \| Industrial \| Kelsey \| Kulger \| Lakewood \| Lavell \| Leiding \| Linden Grove \| McDavitt \| Meadowlands \| Midway \| Morcom \| Morse \| Ness \| New Independence \| Normanna \| North Star \| Northland \| Owens \| Pequaywan \| Pike \| Portage \| Prairie Lake \| Rice Lake \| Sandy \| Solway \| Stoney Brook \| Sturgeon \| Toivola \| Van Buren \| Vermilion \| Waasa \| White \| Willow Valley \| Wuori

CDP	Arnold

Unorganized territories	Angleworm \| Birch Lake \| Camp A Lake \| Crab Lake \| Dark River \| Gheen \| Hay Lake \| Heikkala Lake \| Janette Lake \| Kabetogema \| Leander Lake \| Linwood Lake \| Marion Lake \| McCormack \| Mud Hen Lake \| Nett Lake \| Northeast St. Louis \| Northwest St. Louis \| Pricket Lake \| Potshot Lake \| Sand Lake \| Slim Lake \| Sturgeon River \| Sunday Lake \| Tikander Lake \| Whiteface Reservoir

Unincorporated communities	Angora \| Ash Lake \| Bassett \| Bear River \| Bengal \| Brimson \| Britt \| Burnett \| Burntside \| Buyck \| Canyon \| Celina \| Central Lakes \| Cherry \| Cotton \| Crane Lake \| Culver \| Cusson \| Eldes Corner \| Elmer \| Fairbanks \| Fermoy \| Florenton \| Forbes \| Four Corners \| French River \| Gheen Corner \| Glendale \| Gowan \| Greaney \| Idington \| Independence \| Island Lake \| Kabetogama \| Keenan \| Kelsey \| Linden Grove \| Makinen \| Markham \| McComber \| Meadow Brook \| Melrude \| Munger \| Palmers \| Palo \| Payne \| Peary \| Petrel \| Peyla \| Prosit \| Ramshaw \| Redore \| Robinson \| Rollins \| Saginaw \| Sax \| Shaw \| Sherman Corner \| Side Lake \| Silica \| Skibo \| Soudan \| Spina \| Sturgeon \| Taft \| Toivola \| Twig \| Vermilion Dam \| Wakemup \| Whiteface \| Wolf \| Zim