Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Company launches including one named Prairie State. During WWII, the company installed the piping in 30 vessels built by Zenith Dredge company of Duluth. A tugboat (tug) is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal, or those that cannot move themselves alone, such as barges or disabled ships. The company was located at Eleventh Avenue West and bayfront. The company became Modern Constructors, Marine Iron and Shipbuilding in 1954. Today, Marine Iron and Shipbuilding is at 325 South Lake Avenue and Waterfront Plaza Building. Above the tug on the left, just above the tug’s name, is the two story brick Webster elementary school at 433 South First Avenue East in Canal Park. It was built in 1897 and razed in 1930. It was named for Daniel Webster who, as Secretary of State, negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty that established the definitive eastern border between the United States and Canada.

~ Photo Credit: University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections