In this month’s episode of Archive Dive, we explore Central High School. The school, which opened in 1910, educated a roster of famous students, including football legends Ernie Nevers and Bud Grant, author Gordon MacQuarrie, photographer Esther Bubley and America’s Ace of Aces Major Richard I. Bong.

The building itself made history in 1928 when it became the Summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge. Despite a grassroots effort to save the historic building, it was torn down in 2004.

Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by retired librarian and local historian Teddie Meronek as they look back at the history and impact that the school, it’s staff and students had on the community. Meronek co-wrote a book titled “Central A to Z - The History of a Superior School.” While not a student at Central, she was one of many supporters who tried to save the building.

“I thought it was important to support it because the Wisconsin Historical Society doesn’t put up a marker in front of a building unless it’s important, and there was (one) in front of Central designating it as the Summer White House,” says Meronek. “There was something so iconic about it when you knew the history of it and you knew the people who had gone to school there and you’re thinking, what did they have in the water there at Central where there are just all these amazing people that came out of that school?”

Meronek also felt the architecture made the building stand out.

“When you think about it, there is some of the best architecture in Superior on Belknap (Street). There was Central, there is the old courthouse, there’s the Hammond Avenue Presbyterian Church, there is the Masonic Lodge which is now the Elks, there’s that great Belknap Electric building which was built as a duplex back in the 1890s and then, you go down to Belknap and Tower (Avenue) and there is Globe News. I just thought that this is a stupendous piece of real estate here that has all these great buildings and so, to see Central go was really, really sad.”

Also during this episode, Maria and Teddie discuss how Earl Barber won the competition to design the building and why well-known architect Carl Worth didn’t; what name did the school start out as, the additions in the 1920s and 1930s; the contributions from Webster Chair Factory owner Andrew Webster, the significance of the James J. Hill statue out front; the story of Lulu Dickinson and a strike; Principal Clifford Wade and the tributes after his death; the Summer White House and what other future presidents visited Central High School; how was Central used after Superior High School was built; the Central and East rivalry; and much more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

This month’s episode of Archive Dive focuses on Antoine and Sarah Gordon, who founded the town of Gordon. The couple played a key role in growing the community following the end of the fur trade era. Their 1858 log cabin, which served as a home, hotel and trading post for the stage coach line, is listed on the Wisconsin Register of Historic Places.

Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by Antoine and Sarah’s great-great-grandson Doug MacDonald, as well as Brian Finstad — both of the Gordon-Wascott Historical Society — as MacDonald shares stories of Antoine and Sarah that were passed along in his family.

Antoine (pronounced An-twine) was born in 1812 in Sandy Lake, Minnesota and died in 1907. Sarah was born in 1827 in Burnett County, Wisconsin and died in 1911. They met on Madeline Island, married in 1843 and went on to have three daughters and two sons.

Antoine was community-minded and involved in many things, including as a storekeeper in Gordon. He founded a mission that became the Catholic Church. He also started the first school in Gordon. This, despite the fact that he didn’t have much schooling of his own.

“He really only had not even a six-month education, but yet, he spoke five languages,” says MacDonald. “Latin, Sioux, Chippewa, English, French.”

What brought Antoine and Sarah to the Gordon area?

“He was up and down the St. Croix River trading in years past,” says MacDonald. “He thought that it (Gordon area) was a choice spot apparently and apparently, it was.”

Finstad jokes that Antoine and Sarah “founded the best town in Douglas County.”

“I think they are some of the most interesting historical figures of the area,” says Finstad. “In their time, they had wide influence. They were so well-connected, if not related, to people in sort of fur-trade era society and the local native communities. Their story is just an interesting story. They moved around a lot and they were well-connected and had a lot of interesting events.”

Also in this episode, Maria, Doug and Brian discuss when Antoine walked from Gordon to Crow Wing in Minnesota in the 1860s to see his cousin, Chief Hole-in-the-Day, what came out of that visit and did Antoine’s 12-year old son William make the trip; how Antoine and Sarah met; what was Gordon before it became a town; Antoine’s generous heart; how he helped the area during a smallpox outbreak; where can we see Antoine and Sarah’s influence today in Gordon; the process of getting the log cabin listed on the historic register; who owns their log cabin these days; stories of Antoine and Sarah’s grandson Father Phillip Gordon; Antoine’s penmanship and letter writing style; Sarah’s involvement in the fur trade; and much more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

Let's take a trip back to the heyday of Superior ship building.

In May 1943, the famous Dionne quintuplets visited Superior to launch five cargo ships — at once — at the Walter Butler Shipyards. At the age of 8, the Canadian girls were the first quintuplets known to survive their infancy and were bonafide superstars.

Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by retired librarian and local historian Teddie Meronek as they discuss the quintuplets’ visit and the importance of Superior’s shipbuilding industry during World War II.

The Dionne quintuplets — Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie and Marie — were born May 28, 1934 near Callander, Ontario, Canada. They were celebrities in their home country and around the world, as they were frequently featured in newspapers and their images and likenesses could be found on products, toys and more.

"When I do the mural tour at the Superior Public Library, I always tell people they were the Kardashians for the 1930s,” Meronek said.

The five cargo ships would be going to England for the war effort during World War II. With five ships to be launched, they hoped the five Dionnes could christen them.

"They said they were going to be named after them (Dionne quintuplets), but the names of the ships were decided long before they were even built,” said Meronek. "There was this old story that if you change the names after they had been originally named that it was bad luck for anyone who sailed on them, so they didn't name them after the girls. But together, they called them the Quint Fleet."

On May 9, 1943, which was Mother’s Day, the Dionnes took part in a two-hour ceremony that featured dignitaries from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada. The sisters, whose primary language was French, sang "God Bless America" in English. An estimated crowd of between 18,000 and 25,000 attended, and witnessed the most ship launches in one day — not just in Superior, but anywhere.

It was great publicity for Superior, Meronek said. It had the attention of Gordon MacQuarrie, a Superior native and reporter for the Milwaukee Journal (now the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

“Gordon MacQuarrie said this was the biggest day in Superior since (President) Calvin Coolidge came here to set up his Summer White House (in 1928),” said Meronek.

Also in this episode, Maria and Teddie discuss if then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered attending the launch; comparisons between Walter Butler Shipbuilders and Globe Shipbuilding Company; what liquid was in the bottles that the Dionnes used to christen the ships; why the Superior Telegram didn’t have photographs of the Dionne quintuplets’ visit; the unique lives of the famous quintuplets; and more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

This month’s episode of Archive Dive focuses on two Superior Central High School graduates who made a name for themselves in the literary arena.

Gordon MacQuarrie was a newsman, reporter and the nation’s first outdoors writer. An avid hunter and angler, MacQuarrie is credited with establishing the modern school of outdoor writing. His magazine stories of the Old Duck Hunters Association Inc, a fictional group based on friends, family and neighbors in the Barnes area, remain popular today.

John William “J.W.” Beecroft graduated with MacQuarrie from Central. Beecroft began his career as associate for Crowell Publishing and went onto become the sole editor for Doubleday’s Literary Guild, the Book League of America and the Dollar Book Club. As an editor, he made choices that influenced what millions of Americans read.

Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by retired librarian and local historian Teddie Meronek as they discuss the early and professional lives of MacQuarrie and Beecroft.

“If you look into the history of Central High School, you know that there were extraordinary people that came from Superior, Wisconsin,” says Meronek. “Small town, big things.”

While it doesn’t appear their paths crossed often, MacQuarrie and Beecroft shared similarities of having parents from Canada, working on the high school yearbook, graduating from Central High School in 1919 and spending part of their post-secondary education at the Superior Normal School, now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. One was an extrovert and the other was an introvert, but both provided reading enjoyment to many readers in the region and across the nation.

Also in this episode, Maria and Teddie talk about some of the other notable names during the time period of the late 1910s and early 1920s that were Central graduates; MacQuarrie’s interest in music; and Beecroft’s interest in the theater; and much more on MacQuarrie and Beecroft.

MacQuarrie died in 1956. Beecroft died 10 years later in 1966.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

This month’s episode of Archive Dive focuses on the Grand Foot Path, a trail that traverses from St. Croix Falls to Madeline Island. Known by many names over the years, it was used for travel by foot, horseback and via stagecoach as the area developed. Echos of the foot path remain as various trails in Douglas County.

Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by Brian Finstad, historian with the Gordon-Wascott Historical Society, as they discuss the trail's Native American origins, and how it grew it become an important travel circuit Finstad, a native of Gordon, grew up with the foot path "in his backyard" as segments went right through property his family owned.

"It is always interesting to me that there were communities that were very historically connected together because of how people traveled that today, we don't think of as very connected," said Finstad. "The Grand Foot Path (St. Croix Trail, Bayfield Trail, Stagecoach Line) fell out of use when the railroads came to the area. As soon as the railroads came in, it very quickly disappeared. Even in the 1880s, you'll find that they were already writing about it as it was something from long ago history."

Also in this episode, Maria and Brian look at how the foot path influenced business, careers and traveling; its multiple names; why it had the attention of a U.S. Senator from Minnesota; why it was national news in newspapers in the 1850s and 1600s; why it's hard to find mentions of it in Wisconsin and Minnesota stagecoach history; where you can see segments of the trail; the significance of Gordon's Moccasin Road; plans for an auto tour of the trail, and much more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

We take a peek inside of one of Superior’s grandest buildings, the Grand Opera House.

Buildings designed by Carl Wirth anchored downtown Superior in the late 1800s. His most elaborate design was the Grand Opera House on Belknap Street. The lavish theater opened in 1890 and entertained Superior residents for years before it was destroyed by fire.

In this month’s episode of Archive Dive, Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by local historian and retired librarian Teddie Meronek to discuss the history of the opera house and its next door neighbor, the New Jersey Block. Also designed by Wirth, the New Jersey Block is now known as the Globe News Building.

“If there is a building that I could rebuild in Superior, it would be the Grand Opera House,” said Meronek.

What was it that set it apart?

“It was so exotic,” said Meronek. “Because it was a Moorish design. It had all kinds of fancy exterior decorations and stained glass.”

It cost $75,000 to build the 1,200-seat Grand Opera House, which hosted its first performance August 11, 1890 for an opera called "Martha." During its existence, the theater was the site of plays, vaudeville acts, wrestling and boxing matches, high school graduations and more. It also hosted a memorial service after President William McKinley was assassinated in 1897 while President Theodore Roosevelt spoke there running on the Bull Moose ticket.

The building was supposed to be fireproof, but dealt with fires in 1909 and 1911. A fire in 1939 was ultimately its demise.

During this episode, topics include how the Grand Opera Houses' interior looked; the dismay over a loss of a valuable piece of equipment; the role then-Superior Telegram owner John T. Murphy had with the Grand Opera House; the early days of the New Jersey Block; the mystery of when Globe News officially became Globe News and more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at  [email protected].

Fire destroyed two storied Superior warehouses one bitterly cold day, Jan. 6, 2022 . No one was injured, but Superior Mayor Jim Paine called it “a terrible tragedy for the city.”

In this month's podcast, Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is once again joined by local historian and retired librarian Teddie Meronek as they discuss the history of the Osborne Warehouse and the Twohy Mercantile Building, also know as the Bayside Warehouse, which were built in the 1890s. Built with large pieces of timber, which was slower to burn, both were prominently mentioned in newspaper articles as being fire safe.

"They must have thought they were safe and they were, if you really think about it, as they were over 100 years old when they burned down, 120 years old," said Meronek. "I would have loved to have seen them in their hey day of what they looked like.”

The buildings had so much life and so many different businesses come through their doors. The Osborne Warehouse was the first one to be built, with construction beginning in the fall of 1892. It was not financed by Osborne, but by the Land and River Improvement Company and was used as a grocery wholesale center. But with internal issues, it was never utilized by Osborne. It would be utilized by the Bemis Company, which made bags. Other companies would use it as a warehouse, but really didn’t have a stable occupant until Sivertson Fisheries in the 1970s.

Near the Osborne Warehouse was another grocery warehouse, The Twohy Mercantile Building. Built in 1894, it was financed by Edmund Twohy, who was also the first fire chief of Superior. Within the warehouse, there was a cigar manufacturing center. Twohy went into business with Peter Eimon, and eventually left the business. Years later after Eimon opened a warehouse on Winter Street, Twohy would return to the original building and the grocery wholesale business.

In this episode, they'll discuss the other businesses that occupied the buildings, the financial panic in the United States in the 1890s, the connection President Franklin D. Roosevelt's family had to Superior, could Superior have been "the Chicago of the North" and more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at  [email protected].

Did you know that Superior hosted royals during the World War II era? The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway visited Superior, not once, but twice during that time. Newspapers of the day were filled with information about the royal visitors and their activities and the Crown Prince even took in a Superior Blues baseball game at their newly built stadium.

In this month's podcast, Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by local historian and retired librarian Teddie Meronek as they look back at the visits from Prince Olav and Princess Martha. The first visit was in 1939 during a goodwill tour of the United States for the royals. That included a few days in Superior, coincidentally at the same time the city observed its 50th birthday of being an incorporated city.

“One of the factors was because of the large Scandinavian population in the Twin Ports,” says Meronek.

Maria and Teddie also discuss another reason for the royals' visit, which included time in Duluth for a dedication of a well-known monument.

While the 1939 trip involved celebrations, the tone was different in 1942 as World War II was underway. Germany had attacked Norway, with the royal family able to escape. Prince Olav and Princess Martha again found themselves in Superior as part of an organized trip to get support from allies as the U.S. was now part of the war.

“Prince Olaf and Princess Martha wanted to make it perfectly clear that they didn’t want a lot of celebration. It had to be a simple visit because of what was going on in the world," says Meronek. “The prince spoke about what had happened and that we all needed to stick together.”

The people of Superior asked the royals to visit again and they said they would. Ultimately, they didn't return to Superior. However, their son, King Harold V, along with his wife, Queen Sonja, visited Duluth in 2011.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

We follow the trail of a portrait of a local veteran who lost his life in World War I. The portrait of Henry Blomberg was taken down during a renovation of Old Main on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus. But the name for the portrait was lost. Years later, the portrait’s identity was discovered.

In this month’s episode, retired librarian and local historian Teddie Meronek joins Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood to guide us through the mystery.

Blomberg was born in Superior on Aug. 3, 1892 and after moving with his family to Aitkin, Minnesota, returned to Superior in 1914 to attend college as 22-year-old non-traditional student. During his time on campus, Blomberg was an active in sports, the student newspaper and was president of the debate team.

He also joined the Wisconsin National Guard, and after his 1916 graduation went with a group that was patrolling the United States/Mexico border. After graduating with a two-year degree in education, he spent a year teaching in Virginia, Minnesota. The U.S. would soon join World War I and having registered for the draft, Blomberg went to Texas to train and would eventually go into battle in France in 1918 with the U.S. Army’s 32nd Division. Blomberg performed many acts of heroism, including in the battles of Juvigny and Argonne. It was at Argonne on Oct. 5, 1918 where Henry lost his life, just five weeks before the end of the war.

After his death, Lt. Blomberg was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross which, after the Medal of Honor, is the nation's highest military honor. (Superior native Dick Bong also earned the Distinguished Service Cross in 1943).

Blomberg’s friends with the Superior Normal School debate team commissioned a painting of him, at a cost of about $300, and presented it to the college, where it hung in the auditorium for many years. But during a renovation, the portrait was taken down and put into storage and in the process, the name plate was lost. Without the name plate, it would be difficult to identify the person in the painting.

Almost 100 years after Blomberg’s death, Meronek wrote an article about him, and in this episode, she shares how her writing helped lead to the rediscovery of the portrait, which now hangs with a name plate on UW-Superior’s campus.

“That just makes me happier than anything I think I’ve ever done in all my time at the library,” says Meronek. “Every time I’m in Old Main, I stop and say hello to Henry.”

Throughout this episode, Meronek goes into detail about Blomberg’s life, time in school, his military career, his untimely death and more.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].

We unspool the story of a 1892 stained glass window that was meant to showcase Douglas County at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Designed by Tiffany Studios, it included whaleback ships, grain elevators and a bird’s eye view of Superior. When Douglas County commissioners traveled to see it displayed in the Wisconsin Building, they hated it. They called it a “perfect botch,” demanded Tiffany remove the window and commissioned a new one. No photographs of the window exist, just a sketch. Where it is now remains a mystery.

We’ll also learn about the only passenger whaleback ever built, the S.S. Christopher Columbus, which was built in Superior and ferried passengers to and from the Chicago World’s Fair.

It was over 100 years after the Chicago World's Fair in the 1990s when local historian and retired librarian Teddie Meronek first became aware of the stained glass window and she's been researching it ever since. In this month’s episode of Archive Dive, Meronek joins the Superior Telegram’s Maria Lockwood to discuss both the window and the whaleback.

New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at  [email protected].