If you are looking for a luxurious hotel in Duluth then click here for information on some really nice accommodations. While you are in Duluth you many be interested in the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge that is sitting out in the port. It is considered a real landmark for the city as it allows the travelers of the land and sea to cross paths harmoniously. It is the first bridge of its kind to be built in America. The first incarnation of the bridge was built in 1905 and then it was upgraded and fortified by the end of 1930. In 1973, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. While you are visiting the city you can come to the maritime museum near the bridge to learn more about this wonderful structure.
As the area was growing in the late 1800s, people were looking for their own lands to own and it spread out across to the small peninsula in the Lake. They spent some time and effort trying to figure out how people could find their way back and forth from the island to the mainland. There were always major problems with either safety and or seasonal weather that kept other ideas from working out. After all you can’t move a fairy across a canal that is frozen over with ice for the winter. In 1892, they decided to have a contest of ideas and the winner was John Alexander Low Waddell, who drew up the plans for the bridge. But the War Department turned it down and Waddell took his design to Chicago. Ideas come and went for a couple of years until they gave it another shot and now there it is. Still in major use today. It only takes 3 minutes to raise the bridge and it usually goes up around 30 times a day, depending on the ship traffic.