OUR HISTORY
The discovery of iron ore on the Mesabi Range in 1890 turned Duluth into an international shipping port, and the U.S. Steel plant here added to the development of western Duluth. The steel plant eventually led to shipbuilding right here where our marina stands today.
McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company
The port, the steel plant, and factories also brought an increasing number of foreign workers who settled the western parts of the city. The western riverfront was the location of two major company towns, Morgan Park and Riverside. Morgan Park was a village developed in 1913 for workers at U.S. Steel.
In 1917, the neighborhood of Riverside was developed along the riverfront between Morgan Park and West Duluth. It provided housing for workers at the McDougall-Duluth Company shipyards. At the time, World War I created a demand for ships, and Riverside grew to more than 1,000 people and had its own theater, clubhouse, and boathouse.
Spirit Lake Marina & RV Park
Our location on the St. Louis River Estuary is one with the unique history of large-scale wartime manufacturing that subsided to recreation on the leisurely river.
Today there are only two buildings left standing from the original shipyard campus of over two dozen buildings.
