Nanci and Allan Garon's Family Website
Jews of Duluth - Introduction

Many of our Jewish ancestors imigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe and settled in the Duluth, Superior, the Iron Range" and the surrounding areas of Northern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. They came in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This family website is about our family, our huge extended family and about many of the other Jews who settled and lived in this region. This page is specifically about the Jews of Duluth, Minnesota.


Links to other pages or sites of interest:

Stories and Legacies of Some Jewish Immigrants to the Twin Ports - - click here    (pdf file)
written and compiled by Bob Goldish - August 2011
The Duluth Art Instute hosted a retrospective of Esther Bubley, a world renown photographer, in summer 2011.
Bob Goldish was asked (as a communtiy elder) to give a presentation regarding Jewish immigration to the Twin Ports,
The outline or script, along with the images, is available here.
Bob gave the lecture on July 7, 2011. Click on the link below to see an amateur video of the speech.
(Note that the speech lasts an hour and 20 minutes and takes several minutes to download.)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16079386/Some%20History%20of%20Jewish%20Immigration%20to%20Duluth.wmv

The Rabbis of Duluth and Superior - Chronology - - click here    (page on this site)
A listing of Rabbis that served in Synagogues of Duluth and Superior over the years.
Compiled by Jack Abramson

The Rabbis of Greater Duluth and Superior - Page Index - - click here    (protected page on this site)
A listing with links to pages for Rabbis for whom there are pages on this website.
The list includes Rabbis from the Greater Area, Rabbis who served in the area
and Rabbis who are relatives or family connected.

The Rabbis of Greater Duluth & Superior - Old Newspaper Articles - - click here    (page on this site)
A listing with links to old newspaper article that mention Rabbis of interest.

Duluth Greater Area Temples and Synagogues - - click here    (page on this site)
Historical information about the Temples and Synagogues in Duluth
Information from various other sources.

Duluth Relatives Directory - 1949 - - click here    (page on this site)
Selected Sections (family names) from the Duluth Telephone Directory - June 1949
This page is in the password protected area.

Early Jewish Settlers - Index - - click here    (page on this site)
A listing of early Jewish settlers that came to Duluth (and Superior) prior to about 1900.
Some may be relatives, but others are just people of interest because of their early history.

A Short History of the Duluth Jewish Community - - 1870-1976 - - click here    (page on this site)
by Bertha (Mrs. Samuel) Singer    - booklet
Jewish American Bicentennial Celebration - October 24, 1976

Early Duluth History through 1906 - - Background for A Short History of the Duluth Jewish Community - 1870-1976 - Bertha Singer
Duluth's Story from the Coming of the Explorer, Sieur Du Lhut, and his Intrepid Voyagers down to the Opening of the Electrical ERA - - -published in the Duluth News Tribune on Nov 29, 1906
................. in the Historical Section of the Historical, Industrial and Commercial Edition


Page 1 - Duluth original name - -
1906-11-29 Superior Street, Looking East From Fifth Avenue West - - The entire edition covers about 92 pages and includes commercial, industrial, and historical events. Duluth's story from the coming of the explorer, Sieur du Lhut, and his intrepid voyageurs, down to the opening of the electirial era. Dawn of history breaks in romance. Spirit of Adventure and religious inspiration brought the white man across the unsalted seas and Duluth's career opened. Two hundred years of hibernation followed by strenuous awakening and development of commercial and industrial resources. History rejects romantic story. The voyage of the intrepid du Lhut, Trading instinct makes him trouble. Superior street, looking east from fifth avenue west. Photo. - - - 1870 comparison: 1906-6-24 1870 photo of Superior Street - - - 1922 comparison at: 1922-9-10 West Superior Street looking East

Page 2 - Seaport Pittsburgh coal - -
1906-11-29 pg. 2 It Is 2,000 Miles Due West To The Next Seaport.

Page 4 - Railroads - -
1906-11-29 pg. 4 Duluth Missabe And Northern Road

Page 5 - Churches and Synagogues - -
1906-11-29 pg. 5 Growth Of Church In Pace With City. Thirty-Seven Years Ago There Was Not a Church Edifice in Duluth-Now There Are Seventuy-Five. 3 synagogues.

Page 10 - Farming vs Mining - -
1906-11-20 pg. 10 Duluth Wants More Farmers In Neighborhood. farming vs. mining.

Page ? - Cook building hotel - -
1906 Photo of M S and B J Cook Block - Hotel property

Page ? - Superior Street Photo from 1870 - -
Duluth in 1870 North Side of Superior Street, East and West of Lake Avenue.

Page ? - Duluth Sketch from 1876 - -
Sketch of Duluth in 1876. From an orginal drawing by David Erickson made during the period of depression following the panic of 1873.

Duluth and St. Louis County - MN - Their Story and People (1921) - - click here    (book as pdf)
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development
Prepared under the Editorial Supervision of WALTER VAN BRUNT
ISSUED IN THREE VOLUMES - VOLUME II
The AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, CHICACO and NEW YORK, 1921
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from MIicrosoft Corporation

Adas Israel Chevra Fadisha Cemetery, Duluth, St. Louis Co., MN - - click here    (website)
Cemetery Listing for Adas Israel Chevra Fadisha Cemetery, 4820 Howard Gnesen Rd, Duluth MN 55803

Tifereth Israel Cemetery, Duluth, St. Louis Co., MN - - click here    (website)
Cemetery Listing for Tifereth Israel Cemetery, 4820 Howard Gnesen Rd, Duluth MN 55803

The Tombstone Transcription Project - - click here    (website)
St. Louis County, Minnesota, Cemeteries

Jewish Fellowship News - Reunion Issue - September 1985 - - click here    (pdf file)
JFN vol 30 - no 1 - - Twin Ports Jewish Reunion - Schedule of Events - - New Year 1985-5746 Greetings
Jewish life has flourished in freedom of Twin Ports:
This is no full-fledged chronology. It is intended merely as a sharply condensed overview of some events and names significant in the development of this community. Though it contains information gathered through fresh research, this account is based largely on others. Among those were the histories compiled by several congregations and organizations, the extensive 50-year chronicles of the Fellowship News, and the writings of Joseph Pappo, the late Harry and Ida B. Davis, Brenda (Bertha) Singer and Thelma Covner. Stacks of records and legal documents also were perused.

A Collection of Memories Celebrating Jewish Live in the Northland - 1996 - - click here   (pdf)
Jewish Fellowship News - Jubilee Edition - - Welcome to the story of your community! by Phil Myzel and Harry Bergal
Stories and photos from the pages of theJewish Fellowshp News, 1936-1995

The Oreckovsky Family: From Russia to America - - click here   (website)
Editor: Lionel "Len" Traubman, DDS, MSD - - The Oreck Foundation, San Francisco, CA; December, 1994
322 pages; 200 photographs; graphics and maps
MY JEWS OF DULUTH (website) by Len Traubman - - go to website to download full book (19 MB PDF)

The Jews in Minnesota - - click here    (page on this site)
by W. Gunther Plaut, American Jewish Historical Society, New York, 1959
Chapter 19 - Head of the Lakes (starts on page 132)

Books about the Jews of Duluth and of Minnesota - - click here    (page on this site)
A listing of reference books with cover pictures, information and summaries.
Books about Bob Dylan with info on his life as a Jew in Minnesota - - click here    (page on this site)
Books that can be purchased from your favorite book seller

Soloski, Cohen, Milavetz, Levy, Margulis, Smolkin Families Website - - click here    (website)
Jewish Web Index - - webmaster - Theodore "Ted" Margulis    (Ted's website)

Bernard & Nettie Silberstein - The First Jews of Duluth - - click here    (YouTube Video)
YouTube Video / 7 1/2 minutes - Published on Jun 10, 2013
Bernard SILBERSTEIN (1846-1922) and Ernestine "Nettie" WEISS SILBERSTEIN (1850-1932) from Hungary were the first Jewish newlyweds to make their home in Duluth, Minnesota about 1870.

Cookbooks compiled by the Jews of Duluth - - click here    (page on this site)
A listing of cookbooks with cover pictures, information and summaries with links to complete pdf versions.
These cookbooks were created from recipes submissions by the Jews of Duluth and were sold for fund raising.

A Study of the Jewish Community of Duluth - - click here    (secure pdf on this site)
by Joseph M. Papo - Jewish Welfare Federation, Duluth, Minn. - - author's bio
Reprinted from The Jewish Social Service Quarterly for December, 1941 - - Vol. XVIII, No. 2
Courtesy of the Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives, University of Minnesota. - - copyright notice

DULUTH - - From the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia - - click here    (page on this site)
source: The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia By Isaak Lzandman Volume 3, page 609 - date?
Intro: In 1860 Duluth was still an Indian trading post, a struggling frontier town of four hundred souls,
but by 1940 it had grown to a city of 100,328 with a Jewish population of 3,700.

Duluth WWII Airmen, news articles correlated by Alvin D Grady - - not online
The book is not online but is available at the following locatings:

According to Al, "My research of Duluth WWII airmen has been given to the Duluth Public Library, Veterans Hall, CAF (Commemorative Air Force), Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame, Duluth Air Guard Base and the St Louis County Historical Society."

Lost Duluth - A Documentary - YouTube video (1:04:49) - - click here    (website)
This is the story of people and places lost to history; of mysterious ruins, forgotten markers and outdated industries; of what was back then. This is the story of "Lost Duluth."
Published on Nov 12, 2013 by PBS

Lost Duluth II - Full Documentary - YouTube video (58:01) - - click here    (website)
There's more to rediscover in "Lost Duluth II", a history documentary found exclusively on WDSE WRPT Public Television. Uncover hidden underground tunnels beneath Duluth's streets, century-old tributes to the forgotten men and women who built the city. We'll remember a World War I-era shipyard that once employed thousands in western Duluth's Riverside neighborhood.
Published on Jun 28, 2013 by PBS

Memories of Hattie Kenner Goldish
History of the Jewish Community in Duluth - - - click here
   (local webpage - password required)
written by Hattie Kenner Goldish

Henry & Lucy Myers House - - click here    (website)
Myers House photo and description (Image: Duluth Preservation Alliance.)
Source: zenithcity.com

West Duluth’s Incline Railway - - click here    (website)
This Month's Lost Landmark - This story originally posted May 20, 2012
First operated in 1889, the “West Duluth Incline” or “Bay View Incline” as it came to be known,
...... ran from a station at Sixty-First Avenue West and Grand Avenue up to the newly developing neighborhood of Bayview Heights
Source: zenithcity.com

Old Newspaper Articles - Index - - click here    (page on this site)
A collection of over 6000 newspaper articles from as early as 1860 related to our ancestors and their communities
in Northern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan
The articles are mostly from the Duluth newspapers.

Park Terrace - - click here    (website)
A grand example of a Victorian townhouse overlooking downtown Duluth and the harbor.
Source: zenithcity.com

Temple Emanuel Story by Ida Davis - 1968 - - click here (pdf document on this site)
. . . author: Ida Meriam Blehert Davis (1895-1970) - Mrs. Harry William Davis

Faith and Charity United Early Settlers - - click here (jpg document on this site)
from the writings of Harry W Davis - published in the 1982 Jewish Fellowship News
- - transcrpition
Some year’s before his death in 1948, Harry W. Davis wrote about the history of the Jews of Duluth. His son Lionel, an organist at Tempe of Aaron in St Paul and also a Jewish history buff, recently came across the original and offered it to the Fellowship News. The author was a prominent Duluth attorney, active in Jewish and civic life. His wife Ida was for many years the director of the Jewish Federation and also a prolific writer.

Who Knew: Stories Unearthed from the Archives - - click here    (website)
Edited by Linda Mack Schloff - The Journal of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
page 25-26 Oscar Shapsi Kaner letter
page 32-33 Arthur Stone
page 38 Isadore Crystal
page 40 Silberstein and Bondy
page 42 Joseph Papo

Early Jews in Duluth - - click here (pdf document on this site)
. . . written by Burton E Levinson - - Source: The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia

Tour Old Duluth - - click here (website - opens with MS Word in your browser) - - pdf backup on this site
Tour Old Duluth    “The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas”      by Sheldon T. Aubut and Maryanne C. Norton

The Many Birthdays of the Zenith City - - click here (website) - - pdf backup on this site
Duluth first became a city on March 6, 1870.
Adopted from Dony Dierckin's Duluth: An Urban Biography published in the DNT in Jan 2020 in celebration of Duluth's 150th birthday


Summary
List
of
Indices

People's Pages   -   Index (open) of all the people for whom there are pages
People's Pages   -   Index (protected) of all the people for whom there are pages
Obituaries  -   Index for our family and other Duluth-area Jewish families
Cemetery Markers  -   Index for our family and other Duluth-area Jewish families
News Articles  -   Index for our family and other Duluth-area Jewish families
Pictures  -   Index of pictures of other Jewish families from the Duluth area
Businesses & Organizations  -   Index for our family and other Jewish Duluth-area families



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Nanci and Allan Garon's website.

Feedback always welcome!

Contact: Allan@Garon.us

Page created in Sep 2012.