The History Behind Duluth’s Iconic Maritime Landmarks
What could be the backdrop of your postcards is the symbol locals never grow tired of – to visit Duluth without seeing the Bridge would be like visiting Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower!
The infamous Aerial Lift Bridge spans 390 feet over the Duluth Shipping Canal and is a steel marvel you just have to witness for yourself. Along the Lakewalk the wind brushes past, waves slam the breakwater, and the North Pier Lighthouse keeps its quiet watch.
You’ll see everything from little fishing boats to massive freighters cruising through the canal, and the bridge lifts right up for them like it’s no big deal, it’s been doing this for generations. With the steep North Shore cliffs as a backdrop Duluth just has this cozy, familiar vibe no matter the season.
It’s one of those places where you can just stop, take it all in, and feel a little bit like a local yourself.
The Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth is seriously impressive. It was first built in 1905, redesigned in 1929, and its two steel towers rise 172 feet above the water. It lifts in only a minute to give ships a generous 135 feet of clearance to come and go from the harbor. The port boomed with daily freight and passenger travel after the canal was created in 1871.
The Lake Superior Maritime Museum Association provides online schedules and live cameras so you'll know when the big ships are coming through!
The concrete North and South Piers were added in 1897 when the canal was widened due to the mass volumes of traffic through there continuing to grow with time. Built later in 1909, the beautiful 37-foot-tall North Pier Lighthouse still shines and can be seen as far as a whopping 11 miles away across Lake Superior; you can capture its charm and history in your very own artwork!
TRAVEL TIP
If you drive down to the end of Park Point near the airport, you’ll find a trail through a pine forest that runs with Lake Superior on one side and the bay on the other, offering scenic views along the way. It also passes the remains of the Minnesota Point Lighthouse, first constructed in 1855 and lit in 1858 at Henry W. Bayfield’s “zero point” from his 1823 survey of Lake Superior as stated in archived U.S. Coast Guard records. The original brick tower and keeper’s dwelling were eventually replaced or abandoned as new navigational aids and pierhead lights were built between 1871 and 1913. Today, the truncated brick tower stands as a reminder of Duluth’s early maritime history and the development of the harbor that shaped both Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin.
The bridge wasn’t always the vertical lift you see today, until 1929 it was a gondola-style suspension platform capable of carrying ‘one streetcar, two [station] wagons, and 350 persons in [its] two enclosed cabins,’ as recorded in its original National Register of Historic Places paperwork.
How wild would that have been in the 1900s?!
Today’s Aerial Lift Bridge traces its design back to a national competition that drew proposals from leading engineers across the country, including John Waddell’s pioneering vertical lift bridge, which was only acknowledged decades later in the 1929 redesign.
It combines steel towers, a counterweighted roadway, and precise mechanics to allow large ships through without disrupting city traffic and barely misses a beat. It’s one of those things you’ve got to see in action, there’s something kind of magical about watching it lift and lower over the harbor.
Image Source: Visit Duluth, Ten Things You Never Knew About Duluth
The bridge symbolizes Duluth’s role as the port to the Great Lakes and has remained largely unchanged for nearly a century making it both a landmark of engineering innovation and a historic icon of the city’s maritime commerce.
It’s one of those sights that never really gets old whether you’re seeing it for the first time or the hundredth, it’s always worth stopping by.
I know you’ll make so many memories when you visit Duluth! One of my favorite ways to be reminded of my trip and hold onto travel memories is with a locally inspired sticker for my laptop and water bottle (yep, both of them, obviously). Every time you see it you’re transported right back to that cool Lake Superior breeze. If you feel the same way, check out these stickers and other Duluth art to carry a little bit of the city with you wherever you go
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For great views of the bridge any time of year, Bayfront Festival Park gives a wide angle of the lake, and Pier B Resort is perfect for stunning bridge photos especially at sunrise or sunset. And if you happen to be there in July, you can catch the Festival of Sail in action. It’s a swimming and maritime event that opens with a parade of tall-masted, majestic ships sailing through the canal and right under the Aerial Lift Bridge! It’s a sight you won’t forget.
