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Interesting Facts
- Duluth, it seems, has always held an appeal for visitors who enjoy the metropolitan world and small-town quaintness. In fact, around the turn of the 19th century, the city was home to more millionaires per capita than any other US city. Although Duluth's population today is only 87,000, the appeal still holds, and the city attracts nearly 4 million visitors per year.
- Richard I. Bong, who earned the title "Ace of Aces" during his stint as a pilot in WWII's Pacific Theatre, was born and raised outside of Superior, Wisconsin. Bong was credited with 40 "kills" during the war, easily making him the Army Air Corps' top fighter pilot. On his best day, July 26, 1943, he shot down four Zeroes while on escort duty over Lae. After tallying three kills on April 12, 1945, he surpassed Captain Edward Rickenbacker's WWI record of 26 kills. Unfortunately, before he could pass his knowledge on to the next generation of aces, Bong died while test piloting a P-80 jet on August 6, 1945, the same day the "Enola Gay" dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
- Perhaps the area's most noteworthy manmade feature, Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge stands as a testament to 20th-century American know-how, determination, and ingenuity. Chicago engineer Alexander Low Waddell first conceived the bridge in 1892; however, his plans were shelved in favor of an aerial transfer bridge, which transported automobiles via a gondola that moved 300 feet in one minute. As traffic increased, city leaders agreed to modify the bridge and create a more time-effective method of crossing the span. Their final solution? A vertical lift bridge designed by one of Waddell's successors!
- One of the Northshore's most legendary figures, John Beargrease, was born the son of an Anishinabe chief in nearby Beaver Bay in 1858. Beargrease became famous as a youth for his hunting and fishing skills, but it wasn't until 1879 that he truly left his mark. That year, he and his brothers began making mail runs along the Lake Shore Trail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais, an effort that continued some 20 years, no matter the weather. Beargrease himself guided dog sled teams during harsh winter months. Today, Duluth remembers his Herculean efforts with an annual dog sled race that attracts contestants from all over the world.
- Although Duluth isn't home to as many millionaires as it once was, one facet of the city's business community has benefited from the departure of the once-substantial elite class: the bed and breakfast industry. Indeed, Duluth is home to inns ranging in style from Arts and Crafts to Italian Revival to Victorian. Most of them occupy lovely mansions dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were formerly home to lumber, shipping, and steel barons and their families.
- Of downtown Duluth's many historic buildings, perhaps the most important to locals is Fitger's Brewery, whose roots can be traced to the city's first brewery, opened by Sidney Luce in 1857. In 1881, Luce sold his operation, and the new owners opened a bigger brewery on the site of the present building. During Prohibition, A. Fitger & Co. made candy bars instead of beer – and did a fine job of it too! After Prohibition was repealed, Fitger's resumed beer production and continued until 1972. Today, Fitger's Brewery Complex is home to a hotel, restaurants, and specialty shops, as well as to Fitger's Brewhouse Brewery and Grille.
- First-time visitors to Duluth may be surprised to find that the city's topography is somewhat ... well, it's almost mountainous. In fact, Duluth is cut into a series of steep, rocky cliffs, some reaching more than 1400 feet above sea level. Beneficiaries of this steep terrain are the city's hillside homes, which have spectacular views of the lake and which once belonged to early 20th century lumber and industrial barons.
- Duluth, on Lake Superior's westernmost shore, almost experienced its first economic boom around 1870, when the prospect of railroads to the west and canals to the east meant that the city would serve as a turnstile for products moving between the Atlantic and the Pacific. However, 1873's stock market crash and its resultant turmoil left entrepreneur Jay Cooke nearly broke and halted his grand designs for Duluth. Still, the city received a shot in the arm in the late 1870s, when Northern Minnesota's lumber and mining industries emerged, boosting the city's population beyond 100,000 and establishing a healthy elite class.
- How about a round of the "Name Game"? Duluth takes its name from Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Du Lhut, a French soldier and explorer believed to have been the first European to visit Lake Superior's westernmost shore sometime around 1679.
- The "S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald," a cargo ship immortalized by folk singer Gordon Lightfoot, was docked in Duluth for repairs from 1971 to 1972. The ship made numerous crossings of Lake Superior, infamous for its unpredictable weather. After sustaining damage during rough weather on November 9, 1975, the "Fitzgerald" radioed the "Anderson" for assistance. The two ships maintained radio contact for several hours. The next night, at 7:10pm, the "Fitzgerald" captain reported, "We are holding our own," despite the bad weather and the loss of both pumps. Sometime around 7:20pm, however, the "Fitzgerald" and her crew disappeared from radar and were lost forever to the chilly waters of Lake Superior. To this day, although theories abound, experts haven't been able to determine exactly what happened to the ship during its last 30 or so hours afloat.
