This area is below Superior Street. Superior Street is the main street in downtown Duluth. Minnesota Slip (water), on some 1920s maps called Lake Avenue Slip, is the parking spot for four lake vessels in this photograph. Today this slip holds the William A. Irvin ore boat museum. The slip is bounded by the Northern Pacific Railway Dock and the NP’s low freight sheds on the right, and by Canal Park on the left. The sign on the brick building next to the Robert N. Joynt vessel says North Star Terminal and Dock Company; Standard Salt and Cement Company. The Marshall-Wells company was located in Canal Park and was in fact the world’s largest hardware distributor for decades. The Coast-to-Coast Stores bought the Duluth division of Marshall-Wells-Kelley How-Thomson Company in 1958, which ended the Duluth firm’s operation. The Marshall-Wells water towers stand tall next to the De Witt-Seitz mattress manufacturing building. De Witt-Seitz is a mixed-use building today of shops, restaurants, offices and meeting spaces. Zenith was a brand name for many Marshall-Wells products. Everything in this view will transition into a tourist destination.

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