Duluth-City of history

In 1818 Gwinnett County was created by an act of the General Assembly of Georgia and the area was opened to settlers.

1821 - The Cherokee Indian Territory was settled by Evan Howell, the first successful farmer and merchant of Duluth.

In 1833 Howell applied for permission to the Interior Court to construct a road across his land from the Chattahoochee River.

In 1852 the first settler, George P. Stuntz, arrived.

1855 (March 3) | Minnesota’s Superior County is renamed St Louis County.

1857 (May 19) | An expanded Duluth incorporated as a townsite by George E. and William Nettleton, J. B. Culver, Orrin W. Rice, and Robert E. Jefferson.

1858 | The expanded townsite of Duluth is officially platted.

1860 Population: 80 (federal census estimate)

1865 Population: 126 (state census estimate)

In 1869, Duluth was the fastest growing city in the United States, and it was on track to becoming the largest city in the Midwest.

1870 Population: 3,129 (federal census estimate)

1873 - The town name was changed to Duluth following completion of the railroad.

1875 Population: 2,415 (state census estimate)

The date 1876 represents when Duluth was first Chartered.

1877 (October 22) | Duluth becomes the Village of Duluth.

1880 Population: 3,483 (federal census estimate)

1881 (March 7) | Property owners of land south of the Duluth Ship Canal cede from the Village of Duluth and reorganize as the Village of Park Point.

1882 Population: 12,000 (village census estimate)

1883 Population: 14,000 (village census estimate)

1884 Population: 16,690 (village census estimate)

First Mayor elected in Duluth, John Knox, Served until 1885.

The Baptist church was organized in February 1886 and the first building built the same year.

1887 (March 2) | Duluth pays off the last of its debt and regains its status as a city.

1889: Construction begins along the ancient gravel shoreline of glacial Lake Namadji, an ancestor of Lake Superior.

1890 Population: 33,115 (federal census estimate)

1891 | Duluth annexes “streetcar suburbs” to the north: Woodland, Hunter’s Park, Kenwood, Duluth Heights, Piedmont Heights

1892: Rimmed with rustic logs and protected along its sharp curves by granite boulders, Rogers Boulevard opens between what today are Chester Bowl and Lincoln Park.

1893 | Duluth annexes city of Lakeside, including Lester Park

1894 | Duluth annexes Village of West Duluth, including today’s neighborhoods of Oneota, Denfeld, Cody, Irving, and Fairmount

The University of Minnesota-Duluth has a rich history with origins dating back to 1895 when the Minnesota Legislature created the Normal School at Duluth.

Built in 1896, the SS Meteor is the last surviving above-water whaleback ship in the world.

1899: Nearly two decades before he becomes Duluth's longest-serving mayor, Samuel F. Snively starts construction of what today is Seven Bridges Road.

1900 Population: 52,969 (federal census estimate)

1901: Seven Bridges Road is completed for $12,000, about half of which comes from Snively himself.

The timber industry grew as the forests of Michigan were gradually depleted, reaching its peak around 1902.

1904 - First bank built in Duluth, The Bank of Duluth.

1906 - The title was officially incorporated as the City of Duluth.

1910 Population: 78,466 (federal census estimate)

The Farmers and Merchants Bank opened in 1911.

1913 (April 14) | Duluth begins its era of a Commission Form of government in which the mayor and four elected commissioners were in charge of different aspects of city government: public affairs, public works, public safety, public utilities, and finance.

In 1915 brothers William James and Charles Horace Mayo (see Mayo family) helped establish the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research at Rochester as part of the University of Minnesota Graduate School.

1920 Population: 98,917 (federal census estimate)

1922 - Georgia’s First Female Mayor Elected, Alice Harrell Strickland, Mayor of Duluth.

1925: "The Mayor's Boulevard Extension," as it is called in city budgets, opens between Thompson Hill and Becks Road, offering views of Duluth's westernmost neighborhoods.

1928: The Mission Creek section to Fond du Lac opens, extending the boulevard to Jay Cooke State Park.

1939: Hawk Ridge opens under Snively's watchful eye.

The hospital was funded by General A.R. Glancy after the death of Olin Burnett, 6, in 1941. his daughter, a Duluth cow farmer, and employer of the boy’s father wrote to him about a small clinic to serve the people of Duluth’s medical needs.

Gwinnett’s first hospital was built in 1943 in Duluth – Joan Glancy Hospital.

The Bank of Duluth was re-organized in 1945 in the original building.

The building was rebuilt in 1948 of brick, rock, and Stone Mountain granite.

1956 (March 20) | Duluth abandons the Commission form of government and adapts a Mayor/City Councilor form of government still in use today.

When the St Lawrence Seaway, the 114-mile channel between Montreal and Ogdensburg, New York opened in 1959, Duluth was ready.

So it was first on the list in a June 1966 preliminary report for the beautification of Duluth.

When the US Steel Plant – a sizeable employer – closed in 1971 along with other corporations, Duluth suffered greatly and unemployment rose.

1980 Population: 92,811 (federal census estimate)

It wasn’t until 1984, however, that a complete plan was formed.

In early June 1988, the first 400 feet of the Lakewalk were dedicated.

Duluth was named Tree City in 1989 and is known for its dedication to preserving green space.

1990 Population: 85,493 (federal census estimate)

SOURCES: Duluth News Tribune archives; research historian Pat Nunnally; 1994 article, "Snively's Road," by Mark Ryan, for Minnesota History magazine.

1995: Duluth's Heritage Preservation Commission hires Pat Nunnally, then with the St Paul firm Loucks and Associates, to survey and study Skyline Parkway and its history as efforts begin to plan for its protection and preservation.

1996: City invests $112,500 to repair granite caps and do other work to restore a historic stone bridge along Seven Bridges Road.

1999: A nonprofit community group called the Western Skyline Planning and Preservation Alliance organizes to protect and preserve the aesthetic, environmental and historic character of Skyline Parkway.

In September 2000, the City of Duluth opened its doors to the first Duluth History Museum located at 3582 West Lawrenceville Street.

2001: Skyline Parkway is designated a State Scenic Byway as city officials begin work on a corridor management plan.

The new seal of the City of Duluth, Georgia, was created in the year 2003.

2010 Population: 86,265 (federal census estimate)

Since the reference to it was just a brief mention in a comment to the PDD Gift Guide 2012, perhaps it is time the Duluthy commode is revisited and given its own separate post, if for no other purpose than for speculating on its origin.

2019 Population: 87,213 (state demographer’s office estimate)