St. Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first Black congregation in Duluth. The congregation has a long history of supporting civil rights and the needs of the community.

St. Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church website

Website

This historic church was constructed in 1900 for a congregation that dates back to 1890, and the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 owing to its connection to Duluth's African American community and national leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, who spoke here in 1921. DuBois's visit to Duluth came in the wake of racial violence as a white mob lynched three African Americans the year prior. Under the leadership of pastor Reverand William M. Majors, the congregation organized in support of a national anti-lynching law.

St. Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church

Admin

This short drive (or extended walk) through the heart of Duluth starts at the city's historic train depot and includes a variety of landmark buildings. The tour is a work in progress, and more entries will be added soon. 

The depot was built on the same location as a&nbsp;much smaller, wood-framed depot that was constructed in 1870. This depot remained in place and operated&nbsp;during the construction of the new one which was finished in 1892. The new depot was designed by the Boston architecture firm Peabody and Sterns in the French-Norman style. It is constructed with local materials including granite, sandstone, and yellow brick. Notable architectural features include towers and steep roofs. It took almost two years to build and cost around $615,000. The purpose of the architecture was to give a good impression to&nbsp;people passing through the station and to&nbsp;reflect the vibrant&nbsp;energy of Duluth's growing population. For decades, the depot served seven rail lines: the&nbsp;Duluth &amp; Iron Range, the Duluth Missabe &amp; Northern, the Duluth Superior &amp; Western, the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the St. Paul &amp; Duluth, and the Duluth South Shore &amp; Atlantic. It also housed the depot's offices, a newsstand, a barber shop, a parcel room, and a lunch room.&nbsp;Due to decreased demand for passenger rail service throughout the country, ridership declined at the depot and the last train left in 1969 with ten people on it, all of whom wanted to be among the last few to ride a train from the station. Fearing that the depot would be demolished, Duluth citizens came to its rescue.&nbsp;As a result of their efforts, the depot was saved and named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. It is after this point that passenger service returned to the depot. Amtrak offered rail service to and from St. Paul beginning in 1974. This was popular but after ten years it ended—the last train departed on Easter Sunday 1985—due to lack of funding. Along with the Amtrak service, the depot saw a rebirth in other ways&nbsp;during the&nbsp;1970s. A&nbsp;group of four prominent Duluth citizens came together and started a campaign to renovate the station and transform it into a&nbsp;center for arts, culture, and history. The Duluth Junior League raised $250,000 and the rest of the money, which amounted to $4.5 million dollars, came in the form of grants. The construction of a&nbsp;new train museum was included in the plans. The entire project, which began in 1973, went over budget but it was completed by the late 1970s. The depot continues to be a place to for arts, culture, and history. However, a new rail line, the Northern Lights High Speed Rail, may return passenger service—and high speed rail—to the depot&nbsp;in the coming years. Minnesota received a federal grant to undertake a preliminary&nbsp;environment and engineering review of the project.

The Duluth Depot is a historic train station built in 1892 in Duluth, Minnesota near the shores of Lake Superior. At its height, it served seven rail lines and saw 5,000 passengers a day coming and going on fifty trains. It no longer serves as an intercity passenger train station (this may change in the near future; people can ride trains along the North Shore Scenic Rail Road line) but is now the home of four museums: The Lake Superior Railroad Museum, the Duluth Art Institute, The St. Louis County Historical Society, and the Veterans Memorial Hall, which is housed in the historical society. Several organizations operate in the depot: the North Shore Scenic Railroad, the Duluth Playhouse, the Matinee Musicale, the Minnesota Ballet, and the Arrowhead Chorale. Over 250,000 people visit the depot each year. It was listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Duluth Depot (St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center)

The Wirth Building in Duluth exemplifies the Richardsonian Romanesque style, which made its presence felt in the Midwest during the 1880s. Oliver G. Traphagen and George Wirth, two of Duluth's most notable architects during the late nineteenth century, designed the structure; completion of construction occurred in 1885. For the first fifty years, George's brother Max owned the home where he and his family operated their pharmacy business and rented out office space. The home also supported Duluth's first female physician and was Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign headquarters in 1988. Acclaimed architect Oliver G. Traphagen designed the Wirth Building as one of his earliest projects. O.G.Traphagen moved to Duluth in 1880 via St. Paul, Wisconsin, and New York (where he was born in 1854). Traphagen did not receive a formal education in architecture; he worked his way up from a carpenter to an architect. He worked as a carpenter for three years in Duluth before working as an independent architect from 1883 to 1885. In 1885, he joined forces with the Bavarian-born George Wirth, who, unlike Traphagen, had a formal education in architecture. Wirth came to the partnership after having already designed several buildings in Minnesota. The two worked on the Wirth Building, named after Geroge's brother Max Wirth, who commissioned them to construct a building that would serve as a residence for him and his family and house his pharmacy business. Max Wirth and his sons operated his pharmacy business for nearly fifty-five years on the first floor while the family lived on the third floor. Max's wife, Louisa, died of cancer in 1915 at the age of 60. Max continued running the business until 1932, and his sons kept the pharmacy open until 1940. Over the years, the family rented the second floor as office space to various professionals, including Duluth's first female physician, Dr. Mary Knauf McCoy (1902 - 1910). The Wirth family sold the home in 1950. The two top floors functioned as a boarding house while the first floor supported a dress shop, coffee shop, and then a restaurant until 1986. Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis used the lower floor as his local headquarters in 1988. The architects' choice in 1885 to feature the Richardsonian Romanesque style did not beget a trend in Duluth. Instead, it took another five years before another Richardsonian Romanesque building arose in Duluth despite an extended building boom during the 1880s that coincided with a substantial population and economic expansion. Wirth and Traphagen separated in 1886 when Wirth returned to Bavaria. Oliver Traphagen remained in Duluth and subsequently received several notable commissions. In 1890, Traphagen again formed a partnership when he joined with the lauded architect Francis W. Fitzpatrick. The two worked together for five years and constructed several buildings in Duluth that routinely drew inspiration from the Romanesque Revival architectural style; numerous buildings exist on the National Register of Historic Places. Traphagen moved to Honolulu in the late 1890s where he again designed buildings that are now national landmarks, followed by a move to San Francisco in 1906 where he spent his retirement.

The Wirth Building mainly functioned as a pharmacy business and residence from its completion in 1885 to 1940. Also, Duluth's first female physician occupied the second floor from 1902 - 1910 and Michael Dukakis used the first floor as his campaign headquarters during the 1988 presidential election. The building, designed by two lauded architects -- Oliver G. Traphagen and George Wirth -- personifies the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the first of its kind in Duluth. 

Wirth Building

Constructed in 1892, Central High occupies an entire city block and stands today as one of the finest examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque style in Northern Minnesota. One of the building's most striking features is the 210-foot tower adorned by a 10-foot-diameter clock. The renowned architectural firm of Palmer, Hall, &amp; Hunt, who collectively started their careers in Indiana, Ohio, and New York City, moved to Duluth during the late 1880s and early 1890s. They designed the vast majority of Duluth Public Schools, including their Central High masterpiece, during the 1890s as Duluth experienced rapid economic and population growth. The team modeled Central High after the Allegheny Court House in Pittsburgh. Nearly 7,000 people attended a ceremony in 1891 when builders laid the cornerstone. From 1898 to 1942, a 17-foot cannon stood on the high school's main steps; the U.S. captured it from the Spanish warship Oquendo during the Spanish–American War. But, the school donated the cannon as part of a scrap metal drive during World War II. The historic structure continued to function as a high school until 1971 when the town built a new high school.  The school nearly succumb to demolition, but the Central Preservation Committee and a grassroots effort saved the school. In 2004, the name changed to Historic Old Central High School and now houses the 1890s Classroom Museum and the Duluth School District administrative offices. However, in 2019, an assessment provided news that the building's necessary renovations could cost nearly $50 million, pushing the school board to place the building on the market (although no decision to sell has been made official as of 2020).

This Richardsonian Romanesque high school building was constructed in 1892 and served the city of Duluth until 1971. The building, which occupies an entire city block and includes a 210-foot clock tower, now serves as the administrative headquarters of the city school district. The renowned architectural firm of Palmer, Hall, & Hunt designed the imposing building along with the vast majority of Duluth Public Schools at a time when Duluth experienced expansive economic and population growth. 

Historic Old Central High School

The historic Masonic Temple building opened in 1905, but the Masons, who continue to use the building, organized on January 29, 1870, three months before the incorporation of Duluth in March of that year. The original Duluth Masons selected Colonel J. B. Culver to served as the organization's first Grand Master. One month later, the town elected Culver as Duluth's first mayor. Culver served as one example of the numerous members elected to political positions or served as leading business leaders. The Duluth Masons wielded significant power and impact in the city. Masonic organizations (or Freemasons) have existed as an exceptionally prominent secret society in the U.S. since colonial days. (Masons first organized in England.) George Washington achieved the top grade of the Masons in 1753, and upwards of 21 signers of the Declaration of Independence are believed to have been Freemasons. So influential, in fact, one can find its imagery on U.S. currency; the seeing eye on the pyramid is a Masonic symbol representing the eye of God watching over humanity. During the late nineteenth century, men throughout the U.S. with aspirations of achieving prominent roles within their respective communities routinely became Masons. From 1870-71 the lodge met on the upper floor of a two-story wood-frame building before moving in 1871 to the third floor of a brick building. Finally, in 1889, the Masons planned and built (completed in 1890) a permanent structure known as Temple Opera Block, which housed the Masonic Temple, an office building, and eventually the Duluth Public Library -- the institution's first home. The Masons also built the Temple Opera House behind the Opera Block, which served as the home to the Mason's Scottish Rite. The Opera House functioned as a theater where Masons performed short, one-act plays that instructed Masons how to work their way through the thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite. (For more on Scottish Rite, see the external links found below this backstory.)A devastating fire in 1895 left the Opera House in ruins. The Temple survived thanks to a firewall between the structures, but the Temple's demise came soon thereafter when financial issues led to its foreclosure in 1896. The Masons spent the next several years regrouping and searching for a facility they no longer had to share. As they waited, several Masons took part in designing and constructing several of Duluth's iconic features. In 1902, the organization placed Duluth Mason John J. Wangenstein (a Norwegian immigrant) in charge of designing what is now the historic Masonic Temple. All of the subcontractors hired to do work on the building were Masons. When completed in 1905, the Beaux-Arts-style Masonic Temple stood three stories high on its Second Street face and four stories high in the rear. The once prominent domes that adorned the rooftop were removed in the 1960s. The French-pressed brick and red sandstone highlights have mostly disappeared, too. However, the stained-glass windows remain. Additionally, the decorative entrances and columns that allude to the Biblical depiction of King Solomon's Temple have survived. The Masons enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) a Temple full of ornamentation, extravagant detailing, and motifs inspired by ancient Egyptian and Grecian civilizations. The interior contained a 600-capacity banquet hall, a private a ceremonial room with an altar, and a new, three-story-tall Scottish-Rite auditorium filled with the largest collection of hand-painted drops in Minnesota consisting of such scenes as landscapes, ancient palaces, cathedrals, and religious imagery. The theater installed a pipe organ from Chicago's W. W. Kimball Company in 1908, which allowed the Temple to host public concerts that enjoyed substantial popularity.

The Duluth Masonic Center opened in 1905 and continues to serve as the home to the Duluth Freemasons. However, its history dates back to the 1870s, having first organized a few months before Duluth officially became a city. The history of the U.S. Freemasons, meanwhile, dates back to the 1730s, having been brought over to North America from England. The group has had a profound influence on American culture, with George Washington,  signers of the Declaration of Independence, and countless men of influence having existed as members. The eye on the pyramid, found on the back of the U.S. dollar bill, is a Freemason symbol, too. In Duluth, the first Mason Grand Master became the city's first mayor, and the second mayor of Duluth was also a member. 

Duluth Masonic Center

The historic Duluth Public Library (formerly known as the Carnegie library building) opened in 1902 as the first stand-alone library in Duluth. However, the genesis of Duluth's library system occurred in 1869 when a small group of pioneer businessmen in Duluth organized a reading room in an upstairs room of a store building. After several moves and hiring the first librarian in 1890, the library quickly expanded. By 1902, with the help of a large donation from Andrew Carnegie, the library finally opened its first exclusive library building.After opening the 1869 reading room, the board moved the library twice during the 1870s and '80s. Finally, in 1890, the library signed a five-year lease to occupy the second floor of the old Masonic Temple Building. A month after moving into the new facility, the library held 3,200 books managed by the newly hired librarian Olin S. Davis of Topeka, Kansas. Davis spent several months selecting and cataloging books, as well as maintaining a reading room equipped only with a few newspapers and books. Under Davis' management, the first free public library books became available to Duluth residents in October of 1890. Increasing demands for space and items pushed the library board to seek a larger building, preferably a permanent structure they no longer had to share. In 1899, Andrew Carnegie, as part of his many philanthropic endeavors, provided two payments amounting to $75,000 (equal to roughly $2 million in 2020) that made it possible to construct a new facility in 1902. After five years, the library amassed more than 40,000 volumes. The Duluth Public Library served as the first of three Carnegie libraries to open in Duluth; two branches opened in 1912 and 1917. The historic library expanded in 1927 to accommodate more books and facilities.The Neo-Classic design of the building itself is among the most exquisite of Duluth's public buildings. Marble floors, lavish decor, and an eye-catching staircase exist as many of the building's striking interior features. It's most prominent exterior item involves the large dome in the center of the library. Still, the dome's beauty did not match its functionality. Throughout its history, the dome has routinely leaked and needed significant repairs. The Carnegie library served as Duluth's main library until 1980 when it relocated to a new downtown. Renovations to the library allowed it to transition into an office building, though the property has changed hands and undergone numerous renovations well into the twenty-first century.

The historic Duluth Public Library building, or Carnegie Building, opened in 1902 after Andrew Carnegie donated $75,000 (nearly $2 million in terms of 2020 dollars) to the cause. The library in Duluth started as nothing more than a small reading room in 1869 before moving several times before moving into its own building in '02. The library remained in the historic structure until 1980 and since then has undergone several renovations and changed ownership; it mainly functions as a home to offices.  

Duluth Public Library (Carnegie Building)

The four-story headquarters of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Duluth opened in 1908. However, the group originated during the nineteenth century as part of America's broader progressive movement (and subsequent development of reform and settlement houses). The Duluth YWCA's goal involved improving living conditions for the poor in the community, as well as offering programs and activities for young, independent single women (especially foreign-born). The early YWCA philosophies enjoyed strong ties to Christian and Victorian-era principals. However, as the nation's cultural values changed, so did the YWCA's mission and goals. In looking at the YWCA history, one gets to peer into the broader cultural history of Duluth and the nation.During the late nineteenth century, the number of immigrants flowing into the U.S. swelled, and many of them endured harsh working conditions and lived in crowded, often unsanitary portions of American cities. The most notorious settlement house was Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago (founded in 1889). Although reformers created settlement houses to aid immigrants, the growing number of native-born working-class poor also benefited from the programs. Simultaneously, there existed a growing population of educated, middle-class women whose Victorian upbringing molded their understanding of how society should function -- family, home, jobs, and more. While organizations provided food and clothes, assisted in job searches, taught English, and pushed local governments to improve sanitation and living standards, many historians have noted that it came with an attempt to push Victorian Middle-Class values onto women. For instance, immigrants and single women were taught "proper homemaking skills" like sewing and lace-making despite their inability to gain the financial means to stay at home. Indeed, the nation's wage-earning women grew from two million to nine million from 1870 to 1920. Though the YWCA did not formally exist until the 1870s in England and 1906 in the United States, the organization's story goes back to 1844 with the inception of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) founded in England as a response to the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the lives of the poor and working-class. Also in England, Emma Roberts and Elizabeth Kinnaird slowly developed the YWCA during the 1850s. Social and housing conditions in American cities for the poor, working-class (often immigrants) differed little from that of London. In 1858, Mrs. Marshall Roberts formed the Ladies Christian Association in New York City with thirty-five members followed by similar clubs in cities like Chicago and Boston; their mission was to assist young women (mainly poor and immigrant women) in procuring employment, providing housing, and instilling Christian values. The founding of the Young Women's Christian Association of Duluth in 1893 as the city experienced a substantial population, economic, and construction boom tied to mining, milling, and transportation. Duluth’s population expanded from 2,200 in 1878 to 30,000 in 1887 (60% listed as foreign-born). That population boom and immigration trend continued into the first decade of the twentieth century. Services established by the YWCA included Bible study, citizenship classes, English lessons, employment assistance, meals, and physical fitness. Rather than employ resident social workers like genuine settlement houses, YWCA leaders usually consisted of wives of local businessmen who also served roles at their local church; religious education at the YWCA was paramount. The YWCA felt it necessary to have sufficient properties to carry out its mission, and the Duluth building demonstrates that philosophy. By the early 1900s, the YWCA success included more significant economic support, which allowed them to build the now-historic building in 1908. Typical of most settlement and reform houses, people could easily access the Duluth YWCA from a nearby train station, churches, and the central business district. "Noon Rest" rooms provided hot lunches for workers on their midday breaks, which often came with religious instructions. The YWCA in Duluth served an average of 370 meals per day in 1909. As noted in the National Registration Inventory Form, "The basement houses a gymnasium and swimming pool. The spacious ground floor lobby and reception area provided a homelike welcome complete with a fireplace and decorative millwork and plaster. The ground floor also offered meeting rooms, a cafeteria, and a tearoom. Upper floors provided seventy-five residential quarters." One would also have found a clinic, theater, and classrooms. In theory, the more a building offered, the more likely it would be for its members to spend their time at the YWCA; some argue that included an attempt to prevent single women from engaging in "sinful" activities. (Saloons outnumbered churches in Duluth by 2:1 in during the 1890s, and outnumbered schools by a 3:1 margin). The changing nature of the YWCA during the twentieth century provides a window into the broader cultural changes. Women increasingly gained skills and attended Universities during the middle of the century, which afforded them vaster career opportunities (although those opportunities for immigrant women took longer to manifest). As a result, the YWCA shifted its mission to training and leadership for women from the 1920s to the 1950s. By the 1960s, the YWCA embraced feminism and anti-racism movements as they sought to empower women and fight for racial justice. Additionally, the YWCA gradually eliminated Christian edicts but instead focused on building character and developing confident women. In 2008, the organization had far outgrown its original purpose of offering an all-encompassing social center. So, they sold the building to the American Indian Community Housing Organization, who renovated it to increase its apartment and creative spaces, as well as plenty of social services. The YWCA leases space in the building to use for child care services.In conclusion, the YWCA history offers a glimpse into the broader U.S. cultural history. The religious and Victorian-Era principals of the YWCA around the turn of the century resembled many Progressive-Era movements; the spacial building design survives as a reminder of those early days. By the 1920s and 1930s -- the era of Prohibition -- Women's Christian Temperance Union held its meetings at the YWCA. By the 1940s, the Duluth YWCA actively assisted in the war effort, both in sending goods overseas and also helping women finding new roles in the workplace. After the war, women proved reluctant to give up their wartime jobs resulting in a debate among the Industrial Women's Club of the YWCA and the American Federation of Labor and Federated Trades Assembly. In 1965, the YWCA participated in several racial justice programs and supported women's rights; the group also formed the Human Rights Commission of Duluth. By 1970, the YWCA offered daycare for working women. And its current mission differs significantly from its 1890s ideas. It says: "YWCA Duluth is dedicated to the elimination of racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all." And that includes: "We believe all women and girls have the right to define themselves and their own lives as they see fit."

The Duluth YWCA organized in 1893 and then into the now-historic building in 1908, which they occupied until 2008. The massive size of the building speaks to the original purpose of the group which involved providing a space where poor (often immigrant), single woman could easily be swayed to avoid sinful activities (such as going to taverns) by getting a meal and place to say, as well as enjoying bowling, swimming, art, and theater. More significantly, the large spaces provided plenty of room to teach young girls to sew, engage in Bible Study, learn English, and gain help in finding a job. Though it began as a place where women were ostensibly "Americanized" and "Christianized," the YWCA changed as culture changed, eventually supporting anti-racism movements and advocating women's rights. 

YWCA of Duluth (Modern: American Indian Community Housing Organization)

Construction of the cathedral&nbsp;began in 1894 and was completed in 1896. The Felgemaker organ was installed in 1898. It was built on the same site as a&nbsp;small, wooden church, built in 1870, which was&nbsp;the first Roman Catholic parish church&nbsp;in Duluth. This building burned down in 1892. The new cathedral served as the diocese's seat of authority until 1957, when a new cathedral was built. The cathedral is located in the Central Hillside Neighborhood, which, by the mid-1900s&nbsp;had become increasingly poor. The sisters who resided there and the church's staff&nbsp;began serving food to&nbsp;the inner city residents. These efforts eventually became the only food bank in Duluth. Neighborhood residents also sought medical help. As a result, nurses from nearby St. Mary's Hospital came to the church to treat those who were sick. Eventually, these efforts became the city's only free clinic, now called the Lake Superior Community Health Center. The church also became a place for music and education for the&nbsp;community. Professional musicians and started to inquire about playing the organ after hours. By the 1970s, a quarter choir group began attracting visitors to the cathedral. The church's organist, Joan Conelly, bought the cathedral for $1 and thereby&nbsp;saved the cathedral from demolition. Today, the it continues to be an important gathering place for the community. &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Sacred Heart Cathedral, now Sacred Heard Music Center, was built in 1896 and served as a Roman Catholic church until 1985. It is one the remaining Neo-gothic revival style churches in Minnesota. It is famous for its Felgemaker organ which was installed in 1898. The cathedral and the Cathedral School, which is across the street, were named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The Christian Brothers Home, built in 1907 and located directly adjacent to the school, was added to the same registry listing in 2005 which is now titled: Sacred Heart Cathedral, Sacred Heart School and Christian Brothers Home. 

The Sacred Heart Music Center hosts 12-15 concerts per year and seats 400 people. Regional and international artists perform in the venue, which also has a state-of-the-art recording studio. The center is also hosts weddings, receptions, business meetings, private parties, and is also a teaching space for members of the community, schools, and organizations. 

Sacred Heart Cathedral (Sacred Heart Music Center)

Duluth's economic and population boom experienced in earnest during the 1880s came with the opening of Fitger Brewing Company, the first commercial brewery on the western edge of Lake Superior. Operating from 1881 to 1972, the brewery served as Minnesota's oldest continuously operating brewery. The brewery's revival transpired in 1995 when Fitger's Brewhouse Brewery and Grille opened in the Fitger's facility in 1995, although it is much smaller in size than the original commercial brewery. The remaining portion of the historic brewing facility now hosts an indoor mall complete with shops, restaurants, nightclubs, a hotel, and a Fitger Brewing museum.Duluth Township struggled mightily after the Panic of 1857, but a few visionaries remained like Sidney Luce, who decided to invest in a brewery. Luce leased property near a stream that flowed into Lake Superior (now referred to as Brewery Creek) near the location of the historic Fitger plant and hired four men, including amateur brewer J. Gottlieb Busch. Together, they produced the small town's first beers under the name, "Luce-Busch Brewery." Success for Luce-Busch, though, proved fleeting. The Civil War complicated Duluth's attempts to recover from the '57 Panic. When the war ended in 1865, Luce sold the struggling brewery to Nicholas Decker, who gradually turned the brewery into a profitable business. Decker died in 1875, which led the remaining owners to sell the operation to Michael Fink in 1877. Fink renamed the brewery Lake Superior Brewing Company and developed sales agreements all of Duluth's eighteen saloons, which provided a significant boost to the brewery's success. The increased production pushed Fink to build a new facility in 1881. One year later, Fink hired August Fitger, a graduate of Germany's Weihenstephan Brewing School, who at 28-years-old served as Duluth's first journeyman brewmaster. Fitger became half-owner of the brewery by 1883. With help from Percy Shelly Anneke, Schlitz Brewing Company auditor, Fitger attained full ownership of the brewery in 1885 and subsequently renamed it A. Fitger and Co. Lake Superior Brewery. The brewery grew substantially by the time of World War I, eventually producing more than tens of thousands of barrels per year, expanding from the one building constructed in 1881 to ten, and hiring an impressive number of employees.  However, like all liquor stories of the early twentieth century, Prohibition, World War II, and consolidation during the mid-twentieth century plays large in the Fitger story. Duluth residents voted for Prohibition earlier than the nation, approving it by 1917 (two years before U.S. Prohibition began in 1919). Fitger pivoted by producing everything from candy bars and soda pop, and did so with some success. Fitger's was one of the first breweries to bottle carbonated soft drinks and offer an array of flavors. Additionally, Fitger's bottling house profited so well from its sales of Lovit soda and a non-alcoholic mixer called "Pickwick" that Fitger renamed one of his saloons to Pickwick. Fitger also produced Silver Spray mixer that proved to be a favorite among those who looked to enhance the taste of bootleg liquors; the company distributed Silver Spray to thirty-one states. Thus, despite losing money each year throughout the 1920s, the company managed to survive Prohibition. When the era came to an end, Fitger beer flowed again. In fact, 19,000 cases of Fitger beer departed the Duluth brewery for bars just after midnight of April 6, 1933. By 1940 they were producing 100,000 barrels a year and enjoyed sustained success for much of the 1950s and 1960s. However, substantial consolidation forced most regional U.S. breweries out of business by the 1980s (the nearly 4,500 breweries in 1890 sunk to less than 100 by 1983). Already struggling mightily, the grassroots environmental activism of the 1960s led to agencies requiring Fitger's to install equipment that would limit air and water pollution levels (notably into Lake Superior). This expense proved too much for the old factory. Thus, Fitger's closed its doors in 1972 after 115 years of brewing on Duluth's Lake Superior shore.The brewery building survived a plan to demolish it in the 1980s when investors converted it into a hotel and retail complex that supported stores, restaurants, and a Fitger's brewery museum. And then, in 1995, coinciding with the dawn of the American craft-beer movement (that eventually saw brewery numbers pass the 8,000 mark by 2015), a group of owners leased part of Fitger's facility and opened Fitger's Brewhouse Brewery &amp; Grille. Just as the original brewing story intertwined with economic downturns, the Civil War, corporate trends and Prohibition, the modern Fitger's -- at the time of this writing -- is enduring the financial hardships created by the COVID19 global pandemic.

The structure and brewing operation that came to be known as Fitger's Brewing Company emerged during the 1880s during Duluth's initial economic and population boom that lasted into first decades of the twentieth century. However, Fitger's served as the fourth iteration of a brewing company that started humbly with four people after the Panic of 1857. Fitger's survived Prohibition by selling a range of bottled soda and mixers so that by the 1940s the company again flourished, producing upwards of 100,000 barrels annually.  However, the brewery consolidation that decimated the U.S. brewing scene during the twentieth century coupled with costs associated with modernized pollution control forced Fitger's to close in 1972. Some of the ten buildings that made up the Fitger's brewing plant have mainly survived as a complex consisting of a hotel, museum, restaurants, retail centers, and eventually the home to a new Fitger's brewpub (1995). 

Fitger's Brewing Company

Construction of the simple, wood-framed, gable-style Bergetta Moe Bakery occurred around 1875 and survives today as one of Duluth's oldest standing buildings. For nearly thirty years, the Bergetta Moe Bakery occupied the house. However, the structure has also been home to such businesses as a coffee shop, residence, hotel, design shop, and specialty chocolate shop. The building represents the construction typically found in the city during its early growth from the 1850s to the 1870s.Migrating Americans and immigrating Europeans displaced native Ojibew inhabitants in what is now Duluth during the mid-nineteenth-century (notably after 1860). Miners flocked to the area during the 1850s seeking to discover gold or copper, which eventually led them to find an abundance of iron ore. Meanwhile, other entrepreneurs capitalized on nearby rich forests in establishing successful timber companies and saw mills. As mining and milling increased, so did the need for transportation, which led to canal construction and railway extensions to Duluth. As a result, the city experienced a small economic and population boom during the 1860s and early 1870s.Carrie Ray and James Whitmore took ownership of the land where the bakery now stands shortly after the U.S. Civil War ended in 1865. Records indicate the erection of the building occurred during the 1870s for use as a residence or boarding house. Little is known about the bakery, but it served Duluth during the town's most significant boom from the 1890s until roughly 1930 when the population soared from a little more than 3,400 to more than 100,000 residents. The home served many functions throughout the twentieth century. From around 1970 to 1989, the building housed a design store called the October House. Martin Gould, the owner, also worked in his architectural office located in the lower level of the building. As of 2020, the house operates as a specialty chocolate shop. This building has stood in Duluth for roughly 145 years and is one of the oldest having been constructed in the town's early years. The structure has seen the turn-of-the-century economic boom, and today Duluth is the largest metropolitan area on Lake Superior and second largest city that is on the lake. Today, the Port of Duluth is the world's farthest inland port (accessible to oceangoing ships) and the busiest port on the Great Lakes. To view the wood-framed home today is to be reminded that today's bustling Duluth started as a Native American village that transitioned to a small, growing city of a few thousand people after the Civil War.

Built after the Civil War as a boarding house, this historic Duluth structure was home to the Bergetta Moe Bakery for many decades. The building was constructed during the 1870s after Duluth experience its first period of sustained growth that followed the arrival of a railway connection in 1871. The wood-framed structure provides a glimpse into how rapid the city was growing which created the need for boarding houses, and it also serves as a reminder for how  Duluth appeared in its early years, many decades before it grew into one of Minnesota's largest cities and one of the busiest ports on the Great Lakes. In addition to the boarding house and bakery that was once located here, the building has been home to a design shop, coffee house, hotel, and chocolate shop. 

Bergetta Moe Bakery Building

The Kitchi Gammi Club formally incorporated on October 1, 1883, as Minnesota's first social club. The Kitchi Gammi Club has catered to wealthy business owners and the upper class for more than a century; membership is invitation-only. The club first met in the old Grand Opera House, but that building burnt down. After moving a couple of times, the organization finally found a permanent home into the historic clubhouse after its completion in 1913. For the design of the historic building built by the Kitchi Gammi Club, the members commissioned the East-Coast architectural firm of Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson with Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, a musician, writer, and architectural lecturer, designed the building. He possed a solid resume that included designing buildings for West Point in New York,including its famous chapel. Construction commenced in 1912 on the Georgian, Gothic Revival Kitchi Gammi Club building; it opened in 1913. At thirty feet wide, fifty-four feet long, and three stories high, the ballroom is the club's grandest room. The club also offers guests a stunning view of Lake Superior. The evolution of the historic social club during the 1880s coincided with a tremendous economic, construction, and population boom for Duluth. The mining or iron ore, milling of flour and timber, processing of grain, distribution of coal, and the development of railroads and canals helped Duluth grow tremendously. Duluth supported a population of 3,483 in 1880, which rose to 33,115 in 1890 and continued to climb to just under 100,000 by 1920. Indeed, Kitchi Gammi Club founders included such men as M.J. Forbes (Duluth grain trade founder &amp; president of Consolidate Elevator), F. W. Paine (founder of Duluth National Bank, St. Luke's Hospital, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church), and several men connected to the mayor's office. During the club's first few decades, the list of members reads like a "who's who" list of business titans. The African-American history at the social club reflects the city's broader racial history. Only 400 Black Americans lived in Duluth in 1900 (of the 53,000 total residents). When U.S. Steel opened its plant in 1916, the company recruited Black Americans living in the South to come to Duluth (and work for less than other laborers residing in the city). The recruitment failed; thus, Duluth's Black population was unable to grow. In 1920, A mob-action, public lynching of thee innocent Black men (accused of raping a White girl) spurred an outcry and was reported by numerous newspapers. The lynching highly discouraged further migrations and pushed many established Black citizens to leave Duluth. By 1940, Duluth's Black population decreased to 314 people. The Black presence at the Kitchi Gammi Club in the first decades of the twentieth century mirrored most of the nation's elite business clubs, as noted in a 1975 interview with Almetra Robison, an African American who lived in Duluth.  Interviewer: "What do you know of the Kitchi Gammi Club? I recall that the Blacks used to work out there." Robinson: "Yes, they were valets, worked in the kitchen, and ladies' rooms. They just did the menial things." Today, the club policy states: "Membership in the Kitchi Gammi Club is by invitation only. The club seeks a diverse membership and will not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion, disability, age, marital status or national origin." The sustained lack of presence of people of color resembles the town's population; only 3% of the city's 86,000 citizens identify as Black. Meanwhile, women did not enjoy many benefits at the club for several decades, either. For several years, even wives of members had to enter the building through a side door. Women did not earn the right to join the club until 1985. As of 2020, 40 members are women (and two sit on the 11-person board). What has not changed is the club's purpose as a haven for business elites, people of power and influence, and wealthy citizens. In addition to enjoying an array of amenities, members and their guests can broker deals and partnerships, as well as organize philanthropic endeavors. The historic building also serves as a space for hosting stylish weddings, social gatherings, and community events. Besides the members and activities, the physical structure ultimately serves as a tangible reminder of how Duluth rapidly grew during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Speculators invested in mining, milling, and distributing raw materials, which inspired immigrants and American migrants to seek jobs in the growing city and helped entrepreneurs gain wealth as the investments succeeded.

For more than a century, the Kitchi Gammi Club has served as a social club that catered to the city's power brokers and social elites. The organization first met in 1883 during Duluth's initial population and economic boom. The historic building was completed in 1913, a time when business leaders relied on organizational memberships as a way to become connected to leaders of industries. It was also a time when industries such as mining, production, milling, and coal distribution were on the rise. The club largely catered to white males for most of its existence, and women were excluded until 1985. Women now comprise two of the eleven members of the organization's board.

Kitchi Gammi Club

The Hartley Building embodies the Tudor Revival style as designed by nationally prominent architect Bertram G. Goodhue. From the 1880s to around World War I, Minnesota agriculture, lumber, and iron ore mining, along with the concurrent growth in railway and seaport transportation, helped Duluth expand greatly. Indeed, during the first ten months of 1913, Duluth led the nation in commercial construction -- the Hartley Building arrived during that construction boom in 1914. The building's namesake and Duluth Street Railway Company General Manager, Guilford Hartley, also gained substantial wealth by conducting iron ore explorations and investing in numerous enterprises tied to agriculture, timber, mining, and newspapers. He decided to build his office building away from the commercial center near the exclusive Kitchi Gammi Club (for which he was a member); both buildings overlooked Lake Superior. Occupants sharing the building with Hartley's business interests included attorneys, realtors, mining and exploration companies, and an office of Dupont Company. Lastly, acclaimed author Margaret Culkin Banning maintained an office and summer apartment in the Hartley Building for several years.  The Hartley Building is one of four Duluth structures designed by the prominent Boston firm of Ralph A. Cram and Bertram G. Goodhue between 1912 and 1915. Goodhue headed the firm's New York office; his name and New York address appear on the building's blueprints. He also designed the Kitchi Gammi Club (where he likely developed a relationship with Hartley) and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 1912, and then the Cavour Hartley house in 1915. Goodhue successfully designed the Hartley Building to stand alone with Lake Superior in the background despite the crowded street for which it stood. Hartley, his wife Caroline, and his family lived in the now-razed twenty-one-room Hartley Mansion, which stood as a landmark for decades from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. As well, today's 640-acre Woodland's Hartley Park and Hartley Nature Center lie on the site that once supported Hartley's Allendale Farms, which once produced a variety of vegetables. The mansion, park, and the Hartley Building collectively speak to Hartley's wealth and influence in Duluth and the surrounding region. After Hartley died in 1922, his estate's value amounted to $3 million (more than $40 million in 2020 dollars). He bequeathed the office building to his family, who continue to maintain a portion of the building. In 2009, renovations to the building included replacing the original slate roof with new slates from the same quarry used in 1914.

The Hartley Building (1914) on the shore of Lake Superior stands as a physical reminder of the wealth and influence of Guilford G. Hartley in Duluth during its boom time of the 1880s through 1910s. Hartley operated and invested in several industries including agriculture, timber, mining, newspapers, shipping, and railways. His economic success allowed him to build a twenty-one-room mansion that stood as a landmark in Duluth for several decades (now razed), and the office building near the Kitchi Gammi Club, an exclusive club for which he was a member and oversaw its construction (1912-13). 

Hartley Building

Chester Terrace is a noteworthy example of Romanesque Revival row house design in Duluth, designed by the acclaimed late nineteenth-century architects, Oliver Traphagen and Francis Fitzpatrick. Traphagen and Fitzpatrick designed more than fifty buildings in Duluth, most of which exhibit characteristics associated with either the Romanesque or the Medieval style. Chester Terrace stand as one of two examples of row house designs executed by the team. Chester Terrace functioned as a rental house, which points to a tremendous population and building boom in Duluth tied to the rapid development of mining and milling industries. The population soared from nearly 3,500 people in 1880 to more than 50,000 people by 1900. Slowly but surely from roughly the 1830s to the 1860s, migrating Americans and immigrating Europeans displaced native Ojibew inhabitants on the shores of Lake Superior in what is now Duluth, Minnesota. By the 1850s, miners flocked to Duluth looking for gold or copper, which eventually led to the discovery of plentiful iron ore and the resultant mining thereof. Additionally, as people moved to Duluth during the 1850s and 1860s, the extensive forests near Duluth piqued speculators' interests who sought to invest in lumber (timber). The combination of mining and timber (and saw milling) pushed leaders to develop more canals, invite railroads to extend tracks into the city, and develop ports on Lake Superior. With enhanced transportation came greater economic success for Duluth during the 1870s. A thriving grain trade (and the concurrent emergence of flour milling) emerged, and because a need arose for coal to keep the industries running and people heated in the cold city, Duluth grew into a meaningful coal distribution center. The rapid development of milling, mining, and factories led to an influx of unskilled labor (usually poor immigrants), many of whom lived in shanties.Along with laborers, plenty of skilled workers, professionals, and other residents "with means" arrived in Duluth during the late nineteenth century. Indeed, the town experienced more than an 850% increase in population during the 1870s. However, despite the abundance of nearby timber, residential housing construction lagged behind commercial development and the demand required by such an explosive population boom. Indeed, it wasn't until the 1880s and 1890s that housing proved adequate, leading to such projects as the Chester Terrace rental property, an excellent example of property catered to the middle class. Chester Terrace survives today as a reminder of the 1890s building boom that resulted in a densely populated downtown Duluth. The three-story, brick Chester Terrace consisted of twenty-five residential units ranging from one-bedroom apartments to 2800 square foot townhouses when it opened in 1890. The exterior enjoys distinctive ornamentation, such as towers, turrets, pinnacles, and gables. The building name comes from the neighboring Chester Creek that flows into Lake Superior. The exterior has remained almost entirely unaltered from its 1890 appearance, and the building continues to function as an apartment complex.

Chester Terrace survives as a historic Duluth, Minnesota rowhouse complex that has served as a rental property since its completion in 1890. The eye-catching exterior and Romanesque Revival style, designed by notable Duluth architects Oliver G. Traphagen and Francis W. Fitzpatrick, speaks to its appeal to the middle class that arrived to Duluth (along with significant numbers of poor immigrants) during a time when the city experienced tremendous industrial, construction and population growth. 

Tour of Historic Duluth

St. Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information