Duluth, Minnesota

Today was spent in Duluth, Minnesota.  Minnesota is the 32^nd state in the United States with a population of 5+ million people.  Sixty percent of those people live in the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.  The capital is St. Paul.  The state motto is “Land of Ten Thousand Lakes.”  Minnesota is a Dakota Indian word meaning “clear water.”  One of its boundaries is Lake Superior which is the largest, deepest, and clearest of all the Great Lakes.  It is 350 miles long by 160 miles wide.  The average water temperature is 40 degrees.  Duluth, with its population of 86,000 people, sits right on the edge of Lake Superior so its economy and culture are heavily influenced by the lake.  Duluth combines with Superior, Wisconsin (which is just across the bay) to be the largest of all ports in the Great Lakes.

Duluth Skyline

Radisson Hotel
I had to show you this because of the round tower -
and that's where our room is.
(I seem to have this fascination with round buildings!)

Glensheen Mansion

Built by the Congdon Family in the early 1900s

It is currently owned by the University of Minnesota in Duluth.  Little bit, correct that a lot, of additional information regarding the family who built this mansion – the Congdons.

Chester and Clara had seven children all of whom lived in this mansion until they married and left home, with the exception of Elisabeth who never married so lived in the mansion until her death in 1977.  Although she was not married she had adopted 2 daughters:  Jennifer and Marjorie.  Jennifer went on to get married and live a relatively normal life in Racine, Wisconsin.  Marjorie, however, was anything but normal.  She married, had 7 children, got divorced and remarried and moved to Colorado.  She was constantly in debt by simply overspending.  She convinced her husband to kill her mother to hasten the inheritance, which he did and in the process killed the night nurse who was caring for the 83-year-old stroke victim.  He (Roger Caldwell) was tried and found guilty and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.  Then Marjorie was tried but found not guilty because of new evidence.   Roger then appealed and was found not guilty the second time around.  He went back to his home in Latrobe, PA, where he lived unhappily for another ten years then committed suicide by slicing his wrists with a kitchen steak knife.  Marjorie was imprisoned for several arson events from which she collected insurance money, was believed to have murdered her third husband but was already serving time so they didn’t pursue the murder.  She was released in 2004 and was back in prison in 2007 for killing yet another elderly man from whom she had acquired a power of attorney to get his money.

College of Saint Scholastica
Duluth is very proud of this institution of higher learning that is run by the Benedictine Monks and encompases their monastery.