Born and raised in Alaska but presently settled in Illinois, Duluth is my happy place. I visit each summer and was married there. My hope is to relocate/retire in Duluth, but the city’s progressive politics, underdeveloped downtown, rampant homelessness, and public drug use, plus lack of a diversified economy over-indexed on tourism & medical give me pause. I still Duluth at its best as a working class community where people build things, work in construction/trades, mining, etc., but there’s a general malaise among the non-working and working poor in Duluth that is unsettling. I also dislike how Minneapolis political sensibilities seem to be shared by a lot of the leftists in Duluth but I understand it as a function of this malaise over feeling left behind in the economy of a town where cost of living has increased without a commensurate increase in jobs & wages.
The arts district crowd seems happy & thriving, however. It’s mostly the downtown that feels dystopian. I return every year wondering if it will be improved and will be back in June, living on the hill, for a month to investigate!
Great read. and thanks for shining a light on this part of the world! The port is fun to visit (and honestly more fun than I think people imagine), and when the water is open you can watch ships come and go at all hours. It's also walkable and full of parks- on the water and off.
Regarding AAR: I believe they closed down and sold the hangar to Cirrus? That facility was originally built for Northwest Airlines as part of a deal with the state, and was (at the time) state of the art, and intended for heavy maintenance on the carrier's Airbus A319/320 fleet.
Duluth is home to a great American company that manufactures state of art synthetic motorcycle wear (Aerostitch). Very popular amongst the BMW/adventure crowd. Quite surprised the query didn't list them.
If there were literacy-training newspapers given to every elementary school student with Sherlock Holmes stories, science and health info etc would there be more hiring at paper mills, or would that be pretty minor?
Are there Jones Act - like stipulations about shipping freight and passengers on interior waterways? I wonder if allowing more Finnish, Japanese, Korean boats would allow more lacustrine and riparian ports and adjacent industrial zones to flourish, or if regulation's not much of an obstacle
What put Duluth on the map for me is the music of Low, or more precisely the intriguing Mormon couple at the heart of Low, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. (Mimi passed away three years ago.) It seemed strange to me that they never tried to take their career to the next level by moving to Chicago or Minneapolis or NYC or Nashville etc. as I imagine most bands do. An artful documentary/profile about Alan and Mimi and their family deepened my interest in Duluth--it's on youtube for anyone interested. Maybe I'll get there one day.
Back when the men's WCHA had 4-5 Minnesota teams, there was a large sense of camaraderie and rivalries. Traveling between the college campuses took ~2-3 hr by car so it was easy to go with a few buddies to see your team play. The final five games were electric with many of the powerhouses nearby, including UND and the hated WI Badgers. Even walking around downtown Minneapolis or Saint Paul, you'd see a ton of other team's fans.
Our division of a large German multinational firm in Elkhart, IN had a sister plant in Duluth. A coworker had been transferred up there for a few years and his favorite story was the Swede vs. Finn "rivalry". When he told a coworker of Swedish ancestry where he thought they'd be moving, the reply was "Ahhh, yah hey dere, you don't wanna buy no home over dere in dat subdivision, it ain't nothing but a bunch of dem <insert various profane/insulting adjectives(s)> Finns!"
Thank you for that. I never thought I would run across an article about Duluth.
I left when I finished sixth grade in June, 1962. Our apartment still had a pile of snow in the front yard -- left over from winter. When we arrived in Oregon, it was warm and lush green.
I used google maps to see if I could find Jefferson Elementary school, where I was captain of the crossing guards. The building is there, but it's apartments now.
The best memory I have from those days was listening to the fog horns from our apartment on 3rd street. It was a good place and time to learn about America.
"The best memory I have from those days was listening to the fog horns from our apartment on 3rd street" -- I understand why that would be such a strong memory. What I liked best about walking Duluth, was getting up on a ridge, and seeing Superior spread out to the east, and I can only image how haunting it would be with the sound of boats.
When I was a small child in beachside LA I found a book that my Dad had as a child (I grew up in the house he was born in). It was called Paddle to the Sea. I read it dozens of times and romanticized about the Far North just as you did, Chris.
If you love the area around Duluth, please get this book from 1941.
Hi Chris, I live in Taipei where I teach high school English at Taipei American School.
I’ve talked about your work with my students when we read the play Sweat (like you I was in the corporate world in New York during the Great Recession, but as a lawyer, before changing careers). How do I get in touch with you? (And do you ever visit schools?)
Born and raised in Alaska but presently settled in Illinois, Duluth is my happy place. I visit each summer and was married there. My hope is to relocate/retire in Duluth, but the city’s progressive politics, underdeveloped downtown, rampant homelessness, and public drug use, plus lack of a diversified economy over-indexed on tourism & medical give me pause. I still Duluth at its best as a working class community where people build things, work in construction/trades, mining, etc., but there’s a general malaise among the non-working and working poor in Duluth that is unsettling. I also dislike how Minneapolis political sensibilities seem to be shared by a lot of the leftists in Duluth but I understand it as a function of this malaise over feeling left behind in the economy of a town where cost of living has increased without a commensurate increase in jobs & wages.
The arts district crowd seems happy & thriving, however. It’s mostly the downtown that feels dystopian. I return every year wondering if it will be improved and will be back in June, living on the hill, for a month to investigate!
Great read. and thanks for shining a light on this part of the world! The port is fun to visit (and honestly more fun than I think people imagine), and when the water is open you can watch ships come and go at all hours. It's also walkable and full of parks- on the water and off.
Regarding AAR: I believe they closed down and sold the hangar to Cirrus? That facility was originally built for Northwest Airlines as part of a deal with the state, and was (at the time) state of the art, and intended for heavy maintenance on the carrier's Airbus A319/320 fleet.
Duluth is home to a great American company that manufactures state of art synthetic motorcycle wear (Aerostitch). Very popular amongst the BMW/adventure crowd. Quite surprised the query didn't list them.
Hell no, would never visit Duluth in winter - left Chicago to get away from winter
Yeah, this is very "in theory, that sounds charming". In actuality, I'd be freezing and wondering why the Hell I did this to myself.
If there were literacy-training newspapers given to every elementary school student with Sherlock Holmes stories, science and health info etc would there be more hiring at paper mills, or would that be pretty minor?
Are there Jones Act - like stipulations about shipping freight and passengers on interior waterways? I wonder if allowing more Finnish, Japanese, Korean boats would allow more lacustrine and riparian ports and adjacent industrial zones to flourish, or if regulation's not much of an obstacle
That freak storm of 1977 that brought snow to Florida also brought the only snow in recorded history to the Bahamas.
What put Duluth on the map for me is the music of Low, or more precisely the intriguing Mormon couple at the heart of Low, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. (Mimi passed away three years ago.) It seemed strange to me that they never tried to take their career to the next level by moving to Chicago or Minneapolis or NYC or Nashville etc. as I imagine most bands do. An artful documentary/profile about Alan and Mimi and their family deepened my interest in Duluth--it's on youtube for anyone interested. Maybe I'll get there one day.
Back when the men's WCHA had 4-5 Minnesota teams, there was a large sense of camaraderie and rivalries. Traveling between the college campuses took ~2-3 hr by car so it was easy to go with a few buddies to see your team play. The final five games were electric with many of the powerhouses nearby, including UND and the hated WI Badgers. Even walking around downtown Minneapolis or Saint Paul, you'd see a ton of other team's fans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Collegiate_Hockey_Association
I'm told that the current Big 10 hockey playoffs don't quite get the same level of excitement.
Wow, what a fun read-for a change!
Strikes me Duluth has the feel of my upbringing (there’s a good old word) in Detroit, wayyy back in the 50’s (accept for the wrestling ‘ladies’).
Ha. My mother was from near Detroit (Dairy farm in Tecumseh) and I'm pretty sure she mentioned having come across some wrestling ladies.
Our division of a large German multinational firm in Elkhart, IN had a sister plant in Duluth. A coworker had been transferred up there for a few years and his favorite story was the Swede vs. Finn "rivalry". When he told a coworker of Swedish ancestry where he thought they'd be moving, the reply was "Ahhh, yah hey dere, you don't wanna buy no home over dere in dat subdivision, it ain't nothing but a bunch of dem <insert various profane/insulting adjectives(s)> Finns!"
Thank you for that. I never thought I would run across an article about Duluth.
I left when I finished sixth grade in June, 1962. Our apartment still had a pile of snow in the front yard -- left over from winter. When we arrived in Oregon, it was warm and lush green.
I used google maps to see if I could find Jefferson Elementary school, where I was captain of the crossing guards. The building is there, but it's apartments now.
The best memory I have from those days was listening to the fog horns from our apartment on 3rd street. It was a good place and time to learn about America.
"The best memory I have from those days was listening to the fog horns from our apartment on 3rd street" -- I understand why that would be such a strong memory. What I liked best about walking Duluth, was getting up on a ridge, and seeing Superior spread out to the east, and I can only image how haunting it would be with the sound of boats.
A big over enthusiastic. Deaf to the challenge of AI and a booming China.
When you comment that the material gets loaded from the railroad onto lake freighters, you are truly understating what that entails.
The train cars roll, loaded, onto a huge trestle, extending into the lake and at a height somewhat above the ship.
Then the ore is emptied into the hold of the freighter.
Very cool!
https://www.cardcow.com/images/set48/card00318_fr.jpg
When I was a small child in beachside LA I found a book that my Dad had as a child (I grew up in the house he was born in). It was called Paddle to the Sea. I read it dozens of times and romanticized about the Far North just as you did, Chris.
If you love the area around Duluth, please get this book from 1941.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddle-to-the-Sea
Very much enjoyed the plot summary and history of the book! Thanks for the Wiki link.
Hi Chris, I live in Taipei where I teach high school English at Taipei American School.
I’ve talked about your work with my students when we read the play Sweat (like you I was in the corporate world in New York during the Great Recession, but as a lawyer, before changing careers). How do I get in touch with you? (And do you ever visit schools?)
send me email at chris@arnade.com
Sounds almost like a mysterious place - high and lonesome in good sorta way…