We have these amazing open spaces.

We have these amazing things like these rivers and the terrain, the hills above the lake, the river itself, the lake itself.

[music playing] We have 129 parks in our system.

We have over 7,000 acres of green space that is declared parks land.

All the forefathers before us, they wanted to set aside parkland for us to enjoy.

In Duluth, this is one of our most recognizable landmarks.

Almost 100 years later, it's a very, very popular.

The river boat Montauk came through, one of these 12 boats that came through.

And then the railroad depot got-- we're not talking hundreds, even thousands of people here at times for big picnics and gatherings.

I think from 1960 to 1988, somebody from Chester Bowl was on the Olympic winter ski jumping team.

We created the plan in 1986 for this area, tying together the downtown and the waterfront.

The intent really is that the peopleew of Lake Superior.

So you know, it's great.

It's really great.

Right down the road here where you can sit, PAMELA FISH: The earliest residents of the incorporated city marveled at the miles of terraced terrain.

One visitor from Chicago called it "a God-graded town that no engineer could imitate."

Far above the lake there was a natural shoreline from the glacial ages that ran across the hillside.

The first to declare his vision for that expanse was Ohio native William King Rogers.

MARK RYAN: William Rogers came to Duluth to act as agent for Rutherford B. Hayes.

Hayes purchased property in downtown Duluth and also up And Rogers was had some interest in that also, besides being Hayes's agent.

PAMELA FISH: As he walked through the brush and bramble overhanging the big lake, Rogers came upon a sight to behold.

MARK RYAN: When he was up surveying, he came out one day and looked and just was maybe taken away by the view.

PAMELA FISH: What he pictured then was a pathway, a future drive or thoroughfare that would become the underpinnings of Duluth's park system.

It is said that Roger's original vision for a scenic boulevard Hayes to the White House and serve as private secretary to our 19th president.

Returning to Duluth a few years later, Rogers served as president of Duluth's first parks commission and oversaw construction of the initial leg of the Skyline Boulevard.

MARK RYAN: I think they started about 1889, and they started on both ends of the-- two crews, one at Chester Park and the other at Lincoln.

Rogers supervised that first five miles, or four or five miles for a couple years, and then returned to Ohio.

PAMELA FISH: Rogers' vision had set the stage.

City leaders embraced his plan for the parkway and several adjoining parks.

JERRY KIMBALL: He came up with the concept of four elements for the park system.

One is the water.

And then the other was above the Skyline, the Parkway.

And then large parks adjacent to the Skyway.

And then important fourth element are the streams that go down the hill, connecting the two big open spaces.

PAMELA FISH: The boulevard was the setting for tallyho parties, where caravans of horse drawn carriages transported passengers to picnic sites along the route.

Some claimed there was no finer drive in America.

Following Rogers' death in 1893, the roadway was named for him the Parkway remained just five miles long by the turn of the century, that is, until Samuel Snively took an interest.

A lawyer from the east, real estate investor, and developer, Snively would oversee completion of another 20 plus miles of the road over the next several years.

His work began on the eastern end of town along the west branch of the Leicester River, where Snively once had a summer home and large hobby farm.

MARK RYAN: He started that road as an access to his property up on the hilltop because there were other farmers that were up there.

But he also had a real sense of aesthetics, and he loved the outdoors.

And he-- you know, he could have made it a much easier road than what he did, because you know, he had it crossing the creek, the Amity Creeks, in several places.

PAMELA FISH: It was 1899 when Sam Snively decided there should be a right of way so citizens could have access along this area of Amity Creek.

That road would require some long, high bridges over the water, but practicality wasn't the issue for Snively.

He determined it should be the most scenic route without regard to the challenges of construction.

Snively got the city and other property owners on board, donated 60 acres of his own land, and $6,000.

The winding drive, with 10 rustic wooden bridges, was built along a path that Snively had tread so many times on foot.

It was open for public use in 1901.

Two years later the city extended it to 26 East, the site of what we still call Snively Road.

But within a few years, Snively's road along Amity Creek and its wooden bridges had fallen into disrepair.

Snively again went to work garnering support and donations so the road could be rebuilt.

MARK RYAN: They replaced the wooden bridge with the stone age bridges.

A firm, Morell and Nichols from Minneapolis, were hired to do those bridges.

But Snively was involved even then as a private citizen, making sure that it was the way he envisioned, I guess.

PAMELA FISH: The refurbished route with the bridges of stone and granite, later named Seven Bridges Road, was opened in 1912 and became part of the growing boulevard system.

The subject of countless postcards and pictures, it remains today a cherished travel way.

In its day, one nearby bridge within Leicester Park eclipsed all others with its elaborate design and rare hand-hewn construction.

The Leicester Park rustic bridge was built by Ojibwe John Busha and his two sons and made with logs from the surrounding cedar forest.

The double decker bridge included openings along the bottom to view the course of the Leicester River below.

Just after the turn of the century, the rustic bridge was a famous landmark.

But its upper deck succumbed to weather damage within 15 years, and within another 15 years, the entire structure had to be removed.

In 1921 Sam Snively was elected mayor, and his dreams of expanding the boulevard even further were revived.

The next part of the route would go west.

MARK RYAN: That entailed going down the hillside from some Becks Road towards Jay Cook State Park, which in 1915 had been established as a state park.

DOUG STEVENS: We're at the opening of the Mission Creek because he wanted seven bridges on this side of the Parkway, the western side, to match that on the eastern side of the Parkway.

When we stop and look down below, had the official opening of the boulevard.

PAMELA FISH: That same year, the name of the boulevard was officially changed to Skyline Parkway.

15 years later, on a return visit to Duluth that included a ride across the vista drive, Minnesota's first Poet Laureate, Sinclair Lewis, would write "Glorious skyline Parkway with Duluth and the endless lake suddenly steel blue and courageous sun and the distant pines, stubby hills all spread out.

I loved it all."

PAMELA FISH: The earliest parks were often no more than a small square plot of land, set aside for public gatherings-- much like the common spaces found in England.

In America-- and here in Duluth-- they would soon find more flourish with a trend toward landscape .

Architecture And you can credit Frederick Law Olmsted out of New York, who did Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

The thought of the day was Duluth is growing fast.

And as fast as any city in the Midwest, and the need for parks space, and recreational spaces, and places to leisure were really very important to the forefathers of our city.

One of Deluth's very first platted park spaces-- Cascade Square-- has quite a storied history as everything from a one time dump site, to one that ran through the park called Clark House.

And the creek meandered through the park, and it created lagoons, and garden spots, and places to sit and enjoy this beautiful view of our city below.

PAMELA FISH: Cascade park included a waterfall and stone passageway for the creek, and soon its popularity soared.

But situated above 5th Street-- In the coming decades the park was severely damaged again and again.

And by the 1950s, much of it had been taken over by construction of Masaba Avenue.

Other park squares had also been adorned in the earliest years with flora and fountains.

But by later days, the embellishments would fade away often replaced with playground equipment.

And the parks would be more lightly manicured, used most often as a simple city respite for young and old.

[music playing] NARRATOR: Skyline was stretched across the city from east to west.

And in its final stages, a branch had emerged to connect the parkway to the oldest and most historic part of town, Fond du Lac.

That region had become a well-traveled recreation site.

CHRISTINE CARLSON: It was a great place for tourists, as well as many wealthy people lived out here.

And the riverboat, the Montauk, came through, or one of these 12 boats that came through.

And then the railroad people brought, you know, we're not talking hundreds.

Even thousands of people here at times from big picnics and gatherings.

So it's always been a gathering spot, from the Native Americans, and then here, later on, coming through the years.

NARRATOR: Fond Du Lac was where the Ojibwe settled, and then came voyagers.

It's where the earliest trading and treaty signing took place.

And here, business was conducted between white men memorializes that history.

But adjacent to Fond Du Lac is Chambers Grove, a park that developed because beginning in the 1870s, it had been used by early Duluthians as a favorite location for leisure and play.

Early on, just a place to come, because the Chambers-- that was Emily and Michael Chambers, they had a stone mansion that they quarried the stone right down the river there at the Chambers Quarry and built a stone mansion, over 20 rooms.

And so he was the auctioneer.

She had the hotel and a big dance floor up above.

NARRATOR: Within 25 years, Michael Chambers was dead, and the mansion burned down.

But his widow leased and sold land to the widely popular excursion lines.

CHRISTINE CARLSON: Three places that the river boats docked in this area, and then a huge railroad depot up on the hill in Fond Du Lac.

Or they came by wagon road, or a lot of people walked or even came in the boats along here to come to Fond Du Lac.

This was the place to be.

While the river was most often the preferred route driving automobiles, train service to Fond Du Lac ended.

About the same time, Mayor Snively's far west expansion of Skyline Parkway was in the works.

There was an extension built down from this parkway, down into Fond Du Lac, to appease the residents of Fond du Lac, because they were afraid that people would only use Skyline Parkway and not come down to Fond du Lac.

They had huge pageants here also, historical pageants, the most famous being in 1935, where there were thousands of people who came here.

And that's when they built the pavilion here, the stock-- it was the stockade.

A replica of the stockade was here.

And they had games and pow wow and dancing.

NARRATOR: Above and below the hills, townsfolk found more and more ways to play and to use the land for future park development.

There was the ski jump.

That was huge.

Thousands of people came to that as well.

That was called Ojibwe ball.

And a city nursery out there, too.

And a city nursery out there, too.

A 36 acre city nursery.

So that had some real purpose.

So that would have been from about 1927 probably to 1958.

I believe it was July 1, 1958, there was a severe rain storm that happened and that flooded out the section of the roadway.

And it only was here then for 31 years.

And that's not a very long span.

And it really didn't make the citizens of Fond Du Lac very happy.

They always thought this should be reopened, and I'm sure if Sam Snively would have known the city had closed this and never rebuilt it, he would be pretty unhappy, too.

NARRATOR: Ultimately, Mother Nature steered the future.

An even worse flood in 2012 overflowed Mission Creek and the St. Louis River, reigning destruction on Chambers Grove Park.

Currently, a stretch of the Duluth Traverse Trail, the Mission Creek section, winds its way through, and improvements to facilities and buildings have been done or continue.

CHRISTINE CARLSON: You know, it's a beautiful, calm place to be, you know, when you look at the river and you feel the breeze.

And its just a great spot.

HANSI JOHNSEN: We've been working on the Duluth Traverse Trail for about nine years.

So it's been a really cool partnership between a lot of folks, the cyclists of Gitche Gumee Shores, which is actually COGGS, the main user group that's been helping raise the money, the city of Duluth, which has been a huge supporter with the resources they have at the city itself, especially their Parks and Recs Department.

LISA LUOKKALA: Every day that I'm out in the parks, you see people A lot of people use it simply for transportation.

They walk our trail to kind of cut across town to get to work.

You'll see people just fitting it into their daily schedule, however they can.

HANSI JOHNSEN: Duluth is an interesting place, geographically, in the fact that it's 27 miles from east to west.

And then on top of it, it has literally thousands of acres of open space, which are both official city park, but then also county tax-forfeit land, and in Brownfields, places where industry tried and failed.

and failed.

LISA LUOKKALA: Unlike a lot of communities around the country, that are struggling and buying back green space to develop trail systems, we have it all here in front of us.

HANSI JOHNSEN: And so there's starting to be a real conversation around how you could tie trails together across the city to create something.

Just as that was happening, though, we also saw the Superior Hiking Trail come to town, and do a really great job of working with the city, and putting their trail in across the length of the city.

LISA LUOKKALA: We see people wanting to hike.

That's the number one reason why people use our park system, is to take a walk, take a hike.

HANSI JOHNSEN: When we first started out, when COGGS first kind of entered into this, we somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 members.

Now, we're almost up to 800 members.

This talks just a little bit about what the ability level of the trail is, which is green-- so just like the ski trail system, green, blue, black.

So it's very beginner-friendly.

And then it also just talks a little bit about what kind of uses are actually allowed on the trail, so mountain biking, of course, but then also trail running, hiking, snowshoeing, and just human-powered use.

[upbeat music] LISA LUOKKALA: We're seeing more people want to interact with the natural environment.

HANSI JOHNSEN: We're getting people are coming from all over the country, and from all over the world, to ride our trails, and what they're like totally impressed by is just how much fun they're having on them.

PAMELA FISH: The flow of water in the creeks and streams along the Hillside would mark the boundaries for the new parks.

On the Western end of town, there was Miller Creek.

So the earliest park board secured land along that waterway, built the scenic drive to cross the stream, and incircle one of Deluth's first and most prominent parks.

So-called tallyho parties-- sightseers traveling by horse and buggy-- made many a jaunty tour through what would come to be known as Lincoln Park.

Deluth's very first playground-- primitive by today's standards-- was built in Lincoln Park in 1908.

And the park soon became a prime location for both formal and informal gatherings.

Thousands attended the annual Swedish-American Midsummer Festival there for close to 30 years.

[music playing] For a time Lincoln Park included a man made lake, a fountain, and a wading pool for bathers.

To enhance the winter fun a ski jump was built in 1931.

[music playing] Over the generations, other structures would come and go.

But the water, the rock, the natural environment, have always been the vital elements.

I think there is real awareness allows us a lot of green space.

Actually kind of forces us to have a lot of green space.

We're creating more of a transition from those more traditional park infrastructures.

We've been working with the city of Duluth just on both the assessment and vision, and then both public process and implementation of some of their outdoor recreation on the west side of town.

PAMELA FISH: Hiking and biking trails now shadow Miller creek.

have spurred other changes, like a restoration of Miller creek and naturalization of the shoreline.

Today Lincoln Park is part of the multimillion dollar St. Louis River Corridor Initiative.

We all love our historic fields and in the park, you know, we have this dried stack rock, you know bridges, and retaining walls throughout our park system.

And sometimes, although beautiful, can be really challenging for us to maintain.

And we know a lot more than we did 100 years ago.

We are challenged in some ways, and Lincoln Park the great example of how we have to kind of work with our natural, natural environment, and let nature direct us how, how we should be building our parks.

[music playing] NARRATOR: Duluth's Chester Park was first established in the late 1880s at what was to be the eastern edge of Skyline Parkway.

That ravine down there, how many millions of years And it's my understanding that he had to homestead by the-- there's a little waterfall and a pool there, and that it was named after him.

Looking down the waterfall on the right side, and lived on Parkland Avenue, which is right parallelmen a day reported to work at Chester Bowl.

And they built the dams and the athletic field and the tennis courts and some of the retaining walls some Skyline.

And they made these very nice trails down the ravine to Fourth Street.

And there would be hundreds of people a day that would just come and walk or hike or jog or walk the dog or whatever.

So there was all that kind of passive stuff going like skiing for a while, the jumping, the cross-country skiing, eventually alpine skiing.

And in the summer there was soccer.

At one point there was coed softball.

If you go even farther back, at one point there was football here.

And then from Skyline to College Street to Kenwood Avenue was considered Chester Bowl.

And I think that was named because the actual geological part of the park is, you know, it's surrounded by these uppers hills and then it goes down to a bowl shape.

My father was a national ski jumping champion when he was 15 years old.

And he ski jumped here, you know, at Chester Bowl.

And Chester Bowl has always produced these really great ski jumpers.

And I think from 1960 to 1988, every single Olympics somebody from Chester Bowl was on the Olympic winter ski jumping team.

So ski jumping was very important.

I ski jumped until I was 30 and then slapped my hands and said I'm glad I'm still alive and that's the end of that.

But then as the person in charge of the park, the jumps were in such disrepair and you know, the wood was broken and everything, I was like, we can't do this.

It's just too dangerous.

Kids are out of school, so there's lots of kids in the park today.

And the Chester Bowl Improvement Club actually has a two day camp.

So for parents that are working, which is pretty much everybody, their kids can come here for a couple of days and be in the park and enjoy being out in nature.

We can actually walk trails to the top of the hill and get a view of Lake Superior.

So you know, it's great.

It's really great.

Right down the road here where you can sit, there's a nice bench.

You can hear the noise of the creek.

And you see these nice rocks and cedar trees and everything.

So that's one of my favorites.

There's all these pine trees basically growing out of solid rock.

And the roots are all on top of the rocks.

And somehow they're getting nourishment and living right by the edge of the waterfall.

This is all part of somewhat of the restoration after the flood of 2012.

The creek is being put back in somewhat of a natural state where there's going to be little pools and ripples in places where fish could potentially, you know, get up the creek and so on.

When I was a young 26-year-old and got hired to work here at Chester Park, in the spring the city would get a lot of seedlings.

And so I had a spade, one of these hand spades, and I started going out and planting trees.

So these were some of the original trees.

And now they're huge.

Because this is like, you know, 40 plus years later.

And of course, way after I'm gone and nobody has any idea who Tom Storm was, the trees will be my real heritage.

[music playing] NARRATOR: From the early spring blooms of the azaleas to the multicolored foliage of a crisp autumn day, there is seasonal beauty, but also unique historical structures and stunning vistas on one of the highest spots in the city.

TOM KASPER: We're at Enger Park, named after Bert Enger, who donated much of the land that is now Enger Park and also Enger Golf Course.

And he was a Norwegian immigrant who came to the United States, made his money, and wanted to give back to his community with the purchase of what was called Grand Mountain.

In his passing, the tower was built.

In Duluth, this is one of our most recognizable landmarks.

Originally, this area was called Zenith Park, or was going to be named Zenith Park.

But it was part of a corridor that actually goes down to First Street, back in the 1800s, was referred to as Central Park.

Central Park is still here.

It's still part of the Duluth park system, although a completely undeveloped and pretty much in untouched state from when it became a park back in the 1870s.

The prince of Norway came to the dedication because Mr. Enger was of Norwegian ancestry.

So it was dedicated back in 1939.

So this plaque honors the renovations to the tower back in 2011 and the rededication of the tower, with the king of Norway, at that time now, returning for that event.

So this is part of Enger Park.

And we're really on the overlook, or the edge, of Grand Mountain here, looking out over the city.

Originally, it was just rocks.

And over time, the different structures have been built up here for people to have a greater place to view.

And of course, now, we have this beautiful gazebo that's here for weddings, and picnics, and things like that.

NARRATOR: Enger Park would also house a piece of history honoring another cross-culture friendship.

TOM KASPER: This bell is a replica of a bell that actually found its way to Duluth back after World War II, in the 1940s.

The original of this, which was hundreds of years old, was returned to Japan in the 1950s.

[bell tolls] NARRATOR: Just above the park, east of the golf course, are two small bodies of water created in the construction of Skyline Parkway, first known as Gem Lakes, and later Twin Ponds.

KATHLEEN BERGEN: It used to be quite a popular swimming area.

And there used to just be tons and tons of people there.

But you still see a fair amount of people on really hot days go there.

But it's not a really big area.

And people usually just kind of drive by it as they're going to Enger Park.

NARRATOR: With Buckingham Creek a designated trout stream as its source, one of the Twin Ponds now includes a fishing pier.

Since 1927, they've been passing by the ponds on the way to Enger Golf Course.

Highly successful for many years, the course expanded to 27 holes in 1988.

But in recent years, the future of both of the city's golf courses, Lester and Enger, have been in doubt.

KATHLEEN BERGEN: There's been some financial situations that have occurred that made it a little bit more difficult to manage with city employees.

And then there's just the whole maintenance issue.

You know, a 27 hole golf course is extremely expensive to maintain.

The city is now working with a management company.

[gentle music] NARRATOR: In the early 1900s, many hoped to see a park developed in Duluth, going north along the Lake Superior shore.

Eventually, a few blocks of property was secured below London Road, and became known as Lakeshore Park.

The park was renamed Leif Erikson in the late 1920s, afer the benefactor of Enger Park, Burt Enger and his business partner, purchased the replica Viking ship Leif Erikson, and donated it to the city.

That vessel had been sailed from Norway just months before, retracing the voyage of the original Vikings.

And Enger and others thought the park on the shore would be the perfect display space.

But you won't find the Leif Erikson ship in the park today, at least not at this writing.

That boat has seen more rough times on land than it did at sea.

After decades of decay, vandalism, relocation, controversy, and refurbishment, it sits in storage, awaiting a planned exhibit case in the park that was named for it.

Still, Leif Erikson Park has plenty to offer.

Leif Erikson Park is actually one of our more popular event parks, especially before Bayfront was built.

It was our biggest park.

And a lot of our major outdoor events occurred at Leif Erikson Park.

And it's built perfectly, you know, the bowl area, and then the stage area.

So it really is a great location.

NARRATOR: The stone stage, bordered by two small castle towers, was built in 1927 with the lake as a backdrop.

Concerts and performances were enhanced by the natural ampitheater at the base of the grassy hill.

Just east of the stage, the Duluth Garden Flower Society, and later the Lake Superior Rose Society, helped install and maintain stunning gardens with thousands of rose plants and bushes, and dozens more carefully quaffed plantings.

But in the freeway construction and waterfront development of the 1980s, the rose garden had to go.

When they built the freeway, it was temporarily like disassembled.

I don't know how you do that with a garden, so to speak, but they managed, somehow, to disassemble it in a way, and help it survive for the time period that it took to build the tunnels.

And then, they were able to reassemble it on top of the tunnels.

So it was an amazing feat.

And I remember hearing that it got written up in different architectural or national magazines.

NARRATOR: Often credited for overseeing and advancing the waterfront redevelopment at that time, Duluth Mayor John Feto helped forward the garden redesign.

He brought in the ornate gazebo used by thousands of people for pictures of all kinds, especially wedding photos.

John just should have a lot of credit for this.

He was inspired by some of the cities he would see traveling around the country in mayors forums and stuff.

He was a detail person.

NARRATOR: During that time, the key element of the downtown waterfront, Duluth's Lakewalk, would be extended through Leif Erikson Park to the site of what many say is the pinnacle of park beauty when the roses are in bloom.

It is a very well-groomed park.

It's a very popular park, for locals as well as tourists.

The only reason that the rose garden looks the way it does is because we've had some extremely dedicated staff and a tremendous volunteer output to help with that.

We have lots of weddings in the rose garden.

We have to book them two-hour slots every weekend, all summer long.

But a lot of people just love to go there, and sit on the benches, and enjoy watching the lake.

NARRATOR: The Duluth Lakewalk is arguably the city's most beloved and well used park space.

But it grew up from controversy and a public groundswell.

Many people remember the junkyards and the scrap-- I call them sins of the past-- all through here.

NARRATOR: Back in the 1970s and early '80s, a walk along the lake took you through a timeworn industrial zone until the public was asked what should be done.

The planning commission actually sponsored a series of forums in 1983, forums that talked about various things, land use and economics and how can we make this city better, what should be our emphasis.

Concentrate on the waterfront, get people access to the waterfront.

NARRATOR: About that same time there was near constant debate and disputes over construction of a freeway extension right through the heart of the city.

The freeway was so controversial for 20, 25 years.

It resulted in a project that was shaped for Duluth and by Duluthians and created a lot of open spaces and parks.

These big boulders, of course, come from the freeway, freeway tunnels.

And the highway department and the federal government saved a lot of money using the short distance to haul the rock away from the tunnels.

These big boulders provide a lot of protection for Lakewalk.

We like to talk about the downtown waterfront.

It includes not just Lakewalk, but it includes the whole Canal Park area as well as what we now call Bayfront Park.

NARRATOR: With its iconic backdrop, Bayfront Park is touted by many a performer and concert goer as their favorite outdoor venue.

Countless shows and festivals take place there.

Since 2009, it has been the site of the Bentleyville Tour of Lights, one of the most popular and largest walk through holiday displays in the nation.

And while the adjacent Canal Park and tourism business soared.

Yet this newspaper clipping from 1910 shows a familiar looking waterfront plan had been proposed some 80 years earlier.

Regardless of when the upgrades happened, we know they never would have without the lure of the lake.

The big reason people are there, Each of us have been lucky to be able do a lot of traveling around the country.

And none of us can come up with a walkway, walking experience that equals this.

NARRATOR: Just south of the canal and across the Aerial Lift Bridge is a stretch of beach beyond compare.

The naturally formed sand bar of Minnesota Point was an early draw for new Duluthians.

They set up a township there and set aside two public squares eight miles of sandy, nice beach shore.

And on a beautiful day or even on a cold day, it can be a beautiful place.

NARRATOR: That's what drew the first pioneers.

They established what was called Oatka Beach on the bay side where picnickers from Superior and nearby Minnesota neighborhoods traveled by boat or canoe to pass some pleasant time.

But in the earliest days, before the Aerial Lift Bridge, getting there was the challenge.

Once the canal was dug in the early 1870s, what had come to be known as Park Point became an island.

It wasn't until 1905 when the Aerial Transfer Bridge provided direct access to the point.

With a connection to the mainland, expansion of a boat club would follow.

And an amusement park called White City patterned after the famous Chicago park was put up as well.

This was built and opened in 1908 and was just in existence for a couple of years.

The first person to ever do a documented loop-de-loop on roller skates did it down at White City, Rollo Boy.

[laughing] NARRATOR: The Aerial Lift Bridge of today replaced the Transfer Bridge in 1930.

And in the Depression years of the '30s, a recreation site was built on the south side thanks largely to the Works Progress Administration Jobs Program.

Though residential and business development now covers miles of the property, Park Point remains a treasured summer destination with courts, fields, playground equipment, pavilions, public.

And the southern tip beyond Sky Harbor Airport retains much of its natural state, with hiking trails that can take you back to where the city's first settlers found their respite.

[music playing] At the turn of the century, the acquisition and development of green space for public play continued all across the city with some exceptions.

West Duluth residents were left wanting for a spot to dip into the cool waters of the bay.

There was Fairmont Park along the Kingsbury Creek-- named for a Pennsylvania pioneer William Kingsbury.

But the creek and its fast moving waters across crevice, rocky terrain would not suffice for swimming.

So by the early 19 teens land along the shore where Kingsbury creek meets the st. Louis River was secured to become Deluth's first public beach.

It opened July 4th, of 1915.

And by August of that year, it was one of the most popular spots in town.

As many as 200 people a day came here to the Indian Point Bathing Beach each and every day.

[music playing] At Indian Point they might spend a few hours, let pass a leisure summer day-- or in the case of the more fortunate-- relax for several days at camping sites that were set up overlooking the river.

Today Indian Point Campground welcomes modern day recreational vehicles.

There is no longer a designated swimming beach, but there are docks for those who wish dip a line.

Further up the Ripley Kingsbury Creek are even more opportunities for anglers.

And where the creek makes its way into the upper reaches of Fairmont park, you'll find both native and non-native animals at the Lake Superior Zoo.

Fairmont park-- which is adjacent to the zoo.

has gone from a pen for pet deer, to an exhibit of exotics including tigers, lions, and an elephant.

On adjacent Kiddie Land Amusement Park, entertained generations of children.

Once a full city entity-- and accredited keeper of creatures of all kinds-- this zoo like so many others has struggled to stay relevant.

The city still owns the property of the zoo.

And in 2008-- when we had our significant budget cuts with the city-- they had to look at different ways to manage the zoo that were more cost effective.

So the challenges are, how do you maintain all of that?

And of course the the floods in 2012 devastated the zoo.

And they've really, really struggled with coming back from that.

PAMELA FISH: Those floods destroyed the adored polar bear exhibit, letting loose a bear and forcing its relocation to another zoo.

It also caused the deaths of several barnyard animals.

So the zoo has undergone quite a lot of changes over all those decades.

PAMELA FISH: Now Fairmont park and Kingsbury creek are slated for upgrades in the multimillion dollar St. Louis River Corridor Project, designed in part to protect the area from future flooding.

And another major redesign of the zoo has also been proposed.

[music playing] NARRATOR: A push to attract winter visitors to Duluth steered the birth of the Spirit Mountain Ski Hill, which opened in 1974.

Spirit Mountain sits within and adjacent to the Magney-Snively Forest and Park, named for two former mayors who were champions of greenspace protection.

A major recreation center for both downhill and cross-country skiing, the property is city-owned, but not operated.

Spirit Mountain is an authority, a state-designated authority, and there are some interconnectedness with the city.

But it is totally independent.

They have their own system for hiring people, and they manage the entire location.

NARRATOR: The Ski Hill and Park has added warm season activities, like alpine rides and zip lines, and there is more to come.

We're building 3.3 kilometers of Nordic ski trail at the base of Spirit Mountain, that'll be lit and have snowmaking, so that there will be consistency for those Nordic skiers that need to get out and get their fix.

NARRATOR: The mountain's woodland was first set aside as park nearly a century ago.

After the mature hardwood forests survived the great fires of 1918, city leaders, including Mayor Clarence Magney, recognized a need to preserve it.

Views from on high at Bardon's Peak overlook much of the developed and undeveloped acreage in that locale, where sweeping sights of the lake, bay and river, are enjoyed as well.

Today, 1800 acres of Magney-Snively Forest, with its primal oak, sugar maple, and basswood trees, is permanently protected as a public wildlife habitat, for some rare plant species, and also the migratory birds and raptors that soar above and into the untamed land.

Further east, the birds of prey are known to favor a Duluth park, built as the last leg of Skyline Parkway.

It was Major Sam Snively, the developer of Seven Bridges Road, who envisioned the future observatory site.

He wanted to bring the Hawk Ridge section from in back of the hillside to the front of the hillside, to take advantage of Lake Superior views.

So that was the very last road building project for Sam Snively, and he was already 75 years old at that time.

MARK RYAN: He'd be out there, in the mornings, you know, chopping down trees and brush, and measuring, and he widened the right away, anyways, to make sure that development wouldn't intersect with the Parkway.

But for my money, that's really one of the more beautiful views of Duluth is sitting up on Hawk Ridge and just seeing that panorama of the lake and the city.

NARRATOR: According to the Duluth Audubon Society, prior to 1950, Hawk Ridge was used by gunners for target practice, during the raptor migration.

Once that practice was stopped, its popularity as an observation site soared.

Hawk Ridge is now a 365-acre public nature reserve, managed by the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory.

It draws birdwatchers, researchers, and visitors from across the globe.

[gentle music] med for a prominent Duluth businessman, Hartley Park is one of the city's most unique greenspaces, but not because of its ancient geographical wonders, or preserved natural terrain.

One of the ironies of Hartley, perhaps, is lots of places, like Lester, were set aside prior to being developed.

And Hartley was set aside after it was extensively developed.

And so you have this old farmstead that's sort of rewilding over the last 100 years.

NARRATOR: Guilford Hartley made part of his fortune at a large agricultural facility called Woodlands Allendale Farm, which was famous for producing lettuce and celery in the early 1900s.

We are at the root cellar, which is one of the few infrastructure pieces left over from the farm days.

So this is where they used to store the farm's crops.

And there used to be a stone house here.

And we're right off of Old Hartley Road, which is sort of the main thoroughfare that runs through the park.

It was built originally to serve the farm, and now it's a trail that hikers, walkers, bikers, joggers use.

And people come up here and do a little exploration of the old farm sites.

This is what we call the wet meadow now, you know, 30 years ago, when you could more clearly tell that it was an old farm.

And now that a lot of it's grown up the sort of end of the active area of the farm.

People used to drive their truck along Old Hartley Road.

Ha rtley is 660 acres.

So it really bumps up against multiple Duluth neighborhoods, you know, Hunters Park, Woodland, Kenwood.

Guilford Hartley had an earthen dam put in, in I think it was 1912, which created a much smaller pond It was built bigger over the years.and we do can be found out here fishing in the summer.

It's probably a spot where lots of kids have caught their first fish off the dock.

Boy Scout groups and school groups planted these red pines.

as a nature center.

There's lots of other user group.

So there's the Duluth Cross-Country Ski Club.

There's mountain bike trails-- so the COGGS cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores.ark.

This is our home base.

But this serves our school field trip programs.

So we see over 10,000 school kids from throughout the region, who come here every year to tromp around Hartley, and learn about animal tracks, and traces, and beavers, and life in the pond.

We also operate Hartley Nature Preschool out of to help connect kids with nature.

NARRATOR: Currently, Hartley Park and Nature Center is overflowing with interest and demand for its programs.

[music playing] NARRATOR: It's unlikely Duluthians or visitors, will ever tire of the natural beauty of a beach front like this.

Perfect for a restful stroll.

Or a brisk walk against a bracing leg wind.

A prime place to fish from the water's edge.

And generations later, they still appreciate the preserved country charm of an historic park, made possible by benefactors like the Congdon family.

The city is also strewn with fields, courts, we play has forwarded some ongoing adjustments.

SPEAKER 2: We see a good mix of changes.

I think, in the recreational world, its about every 15 years, that it cycles that there's new trends that come up.

SPEAKER 1: There's not as many organized sport kinds of things that there used to be.

Our softball league dwindled over the years.

with yourself and maybe a few friends, had increased dramatically.

NARRATOR: Some of that outdoor enjoyment includes high adventure.

[music playing] Yes, they have rode the wind-whipped waters from a boat club off Park Point for more than 100 years, but now, you might find surfers or scuba divers in those same waters.

SPEAKER 2: We have paddlers, anglers, snowmobilers.

recently led to a title, when Duluth was named "Outside" magazine's best town ever.

SPEAKER 3: Not a lot of people realize that, but we've taken that and we certainly have leveraged the "Outside" magazine article, and we've used that to keep getting attention.

Duluth actually just created a new park, and it's called Quarry Park, and it's in the old Duluth loose sand and gravel quarry.

So I think the quarry actually stopped production a real grassroots effort to turn it into a more positive place.

NARRATOR: At Duluth's newest park, you can disk golf in the summer, and in the colder months, come for the thrill of the climb.

In the wintertime, all this ice forms at this place.

It's fantastic.

It's rare to find a place like that.

And so people started ice climbing here.

It's this habit-- it's very exciting.

You can imagine, if you have any fear of heights at all-- which I started out with quite a bit of fear of heights-- it's always a little terrifying.

We've got people from all over that come here.

in a Duluth park on a Fat Tire bike, a paddle board, or even climbing a cliff.

A far cry from the sedate strolls and picnics of days gone by, but as the populace embraces all the new exciting outside activities, Duluth-- with all its glorious open space-- is well-positioned for the outdoor activities to come.

A photographer told me take your-- take a picture of your kids at the same place every year.

And she recommended the Rose Garden.

So we started going down there every year until they were 18.

Going to get pictures at the Rose Garden was our family tradition.

So it was a lot of fun.

[music playing] We were married in Bentleyville, Bayfront Park.

Got married under the tree with Mary Larson.

Mostly people get engaged, so that's the big deal.

Not married, so-- but there have been other weddings.

It was a picture perfect wedding that-- you know, in a perfect setting.

Had family there that were important to us.

I had a big white parka.

A beautiful parka was my wedding dress.

And then Todd had a-- Just a long black coat.

--stately black coat.

And that's what we get married in.