From the Duluth News Tribune: May 8,1906: Amusement Park on Park Point to open July 4,1906. This is perhaps White City? Unknown. Park Point is a recognized geographic location in Duluth but as to exact location of White City?


With a tradition stretching back over 130 years, rowing is Duluth's granddaddy of sports. Duluth hosted its first-ever rowing regatta during a mid-winter thaw in 1870. Sixteen years later in 1886, area "gentleman" rowers formed the Duluth Rowing Club. In July 1887, over 500 people attended the grand opening festivities for the first rowing club boathouse, located at the bottom of Seventh Avenue West. At the turn of the century, the club boomed in popularity with the support of a successful area grain trader, Julius Barnes.

When the original boathouse burned down, Barnes spearheaded a fund-drive for a new boat club, which embraced all forms of boating and recreation in general. Barnes' new Duluth Boat Club stood on the site of the current Lakehead boat basin marina on Tenth Street on Park Point. The impressive complex held a boathouse, tennis courts, sailboats, and a pool in which Olympic swim champion and Tarzan movie star Johnny Weismuller reportedly spent a summer training. In its 1920s heyday, the Duluth Boat Club served as a hub for summer activity, holding dances and orchestra concerts on the existing floor of the current Duluth Rowing Club boathouse on Park Point, at the time known as the "Oatka" site of the Duluth Boat Club. The club boasted over 2,000 members in the 1920s.

An effort is already underway to return Duluth boating to its 1920s glory. The proposed Duluth Community Water Sports Center project is a non-profit organization working to build a new "Boat Club" on Park Point, similar to the one built by Julius Barnes. The Duluth Keel Club, Community Sailing Club, Duluth/Superior Kayak Association and the Duluth Canoe Club have all joined forces to recreate the original Duluth Boat Club concept with a united venue for all of Duluth's water sports.

Besides being the "who's who" of Duluth's social scene in the early 1900s, the Duluth Boat Club consistently fielded one of the strongest rowing teams in the United States. In 1913, four Duluthians Dave Horak, Max Reinberger Sr., and brothers Doug and Phil Moore formed a formidable four-man team to win their first U.S. National Championship. Earning the name "the Invincible Four," they followed that showing with a career-perfect record, retiring unbeaten as a team with 22 national and international victories. Between 1920 and 1923, Duluth single sculler Walter Hoover won two of rowing's greatest prizes the Philadelphia Gold Cup Challenge and the Diamond Sculls at the Henley-on-Thames in London, which was considered at the time to be rowing's World Championship.



CREDIT: Duluth Boat Club


History of Park Point

It is characteristic of north shore streams to form a sand bar across their mouths as they empty into Lake Superior. Minnesota Point (known as Park Point) at 7 miles in length and neighboring Wisconsin Point at 3 miles form the longest freshwater sand bar in the world. The natural entry to St. Louis Bay divides the bar on the Wisconsin side and is known as the Superior Entry. The Park Point Ship Canal is the man made access to the bay on the Minnesota side. The combined forces of eroded sand released by the waters of the Nemadji and St. Louis rivers and the wave action of Lake Superior continuously rebuilds the points which shelter the western most harbor of the Great Lakes.

Native Ojibway people made landfall on the points and used them as stopover sites on canoe journeys to the lower lakes. Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut may have been the first European to see Park Point when he landed here in 1679. He was only the first of many explorers, trappers, traders and settlers who passed through here and into the interior of the western territories. Many of those went no farther than Minnesota Point which became a village in 1854 and was not annexed to Duluth until 1889. It has played a vital part in the history of the port.

Prior to the completion of the ship canal in 1871 docks jutted into the lake itself and were vulnerable to the winds and storms of Lake Superior. The 300 foot wide canal gave Duluth access to port traffic which had previously gone first to Superior Wisconsin. Transportation between the Point and Duluth was by ferry and row boat until 1905 when the first Aerial Bridge was constructed. The suspended cable car could carry ten automobiles and foot traffic and required about 10 minutes to make a round trip crossing. The present Lift Bridge was built in 1929 when increased vehicle traffic demanded faster access.

The "Park" on Park Point was developed in the 1930's. This WPA project included the present beach house and playground area. The park has undergone redevelopment and now volley ball courts, softball fields, a boat launch and picnic grounds add to the attraction of this area. Until 1954 the Oatka Boat Club was one of the centers for social gatherings and rowing regattas until the building burned down. Recently the Duluth Rowing Club has constructed a new boathouse at 3900 Minnesota Ave.