Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the Forging of a Company Town

by Arnold R. Alanen, Chris Faust (Photographer)

From 1915 to 1971 the large U.S. Steel plant was a major part of Duluth’s landscape and life. Just as important was Morgan Park—an innovatively planned and close-knit community constructed for the plant’s employees and their families. In this new book Arnold R. Alanen brings to life Morgan Park, the formerly company-controlled town that now stands as a city neighborhood, and the U.S. Steel plant for which it was built. Planned by renowned landscape architects, architects, and engineers, and provided with schools, churches, and recreational and medical services by U.S. Steel, Morgan Park is an iconic example—like Lowell, Massachusetts, and Pullman, Illinois—of a twentieth-century company town, as well as a window into northeastern Minnesota’s industrial roots. Starting with the intense political debates that preceded U.S. Steel’s decision to build a plant in Duluth, Morgan Park follows the town and its residents through the boom years to the closing of the outmoded facility—an event that foreshadowed industrial shutdowns elsewhere in the United States—and up to today, as current residents work to preserve the community’s historic character. Through compelling archival and contemporary photographs and vibrant stories of a community built of concrete and strong as steel, Alanen shows the impact both the plant and Morgan Park have had on life in Duluth. Arnold R. Alanen is professor of landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His previous books include Main Street The New Deal Community of Greendale, Wisconsin and Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America.  

Genres: History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 26, 2007

Reviews

[Bruce Grossman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good workmanlike history. A good refresher of American history from 1915 on-- but really great book because it makes you think about town planning and "utopian" communities. The U.S. Steel company built and owned the planned privately owned company town of Morgan Park (named after J.P. Morgan), at Duluth, Minnesota. Morgan Park had the class system built into its very DNA. For example, the managers lived in the most spacious area, the eastern end, what "the other side" called Pig Pen-- whereas more common laborers lived in the western end which "the other side" called Hunkeyville (after Bohunk). Only about 15% of The Minnesota Steel division employees lived in the planned community of Morgan Park, now part of Duluth.

But what is really challenging is the thought, "How could it be otherwise?" We don't like to think about "hierarchical society", but how can it be otherwise?

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, not too dry in style - very readable. It was interesting to learn more about a place I always heard about but didn't actually know much about. Might have to swing through Morgan Park on my next trip to Duluth to see the community for myself.