ABSTRACT
The closing of the US Steel plant in the late 1960s, the closing of the air force base in Duluth, and the efficiency movement in the mining operations on the Range all served to throw Duluth into major economic crises approaching depression level by the early 1980s. According to Duluth mayor Garry Doty, Duluth's turnaround can be attributed to a $67 million windfall that it received from the federal government. Duluth's new economic base is anchored in higher education, medical facilities, and tourism, in place of the old extraction and industrial bases which had persisted from the rural-land and urban-industrial frontiers. The overall Minnesota side of the civil community including the City of Duluth, the City of Hermantown, the City of Proctor, Canosie Township, Duluth Township, Grand Lake Township, Lakewood Township, Midway Township, Rice Lake Township, and Solway Township peaked at 126,468 in 1960 and had declined to 109,841 in 1990.
