page_title: Duluth, Minnesota
section_title: Continued growth
hierarchical_section_title: Duluth, Minnesota / History / 20th century / Continued growth
caption_attribution_description: Ore docks of the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway loading ships in w:Duluth, Minnesota. (Ship left front is George H. Russel launched 1905 in Ecorse, Michigan)
context_page_description: Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. Duluth has a population of 85,618, making it Minnesota's fourth-largest city and the center of Minnesota's second largest metropolitan area, with a population of 278,799. Duluth forms a metropolitan area with neighboring Superior, Wisconsin; together they are called the Twin Ports. The city is named for Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, the area's first known European explorer.
  Situated on the north shore of Lake Superior at the westernmost point of the Great Lakes, Duluth is the largest metropolitan area on the lake and is accessible to the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles away via the Great Lakes Waterway and St. Lawrence Seaway. The Port of Duluth is the world's farthest inland port accessible to oceangoing ships, and by far the largest and busiest port on the Great Lakes. The port is ranked among the top 20 ports in the United States by tonnage. Commodities shipped from the Port of Duluth include coal, iron ore, grain, limestone, cement, salt, wood pulp, steel coil, and wind turbine components.
context_section_description: For the first half of the 20th century, Duluth was an industrial port boom town dominated by its several grain elevators, a cement plant, a nail mill, wire mills, and the Duluth Works plant. Handling and export of iron ore, brought in from the Mesabi Range, was integral to the city's economy, as well as to the steel industry in the Midwest, including in manufacturing cities in Ohio.
  The Aerial Lift Bridge (earlier known as the "Aerial Bridge" or "Aerial Ferry Bridge") was built in 1905 and at that time was known as the United States' first transporter bridge—only one other was ever constructed in the country. In 1929–30, the span was converted to a vertical lift bridge (also rather uncommon).  The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places  in 1973.
  In 1916, after Europe had entered the Great War (World War I), a shipyard was constructed on the St. Louis River. A new workers neighborhood, today known as Riverside, developed around the large operation. Similar industrial expansions took place during the Second World War, as Duluth's large harbor and the area's vast natural resources were put to work for the war effort. Tankers and submarine chasers (usually called "sub-chasers") were built at the Riverside shipyard. The population of Duluth continued to grow in the postwar decade and a half, peaking at 107,884 in 1960.
caption: Duluth Ore Docks and freighters circa 1900 - 1915
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