Goodfellowship Community Club Building, Duluth Minnesota
The stucco and frame "H" shaped building comprising 42,000 square feet on two levels was built as an element of a New Town by the Minnesota Steel Company (a subsidiary of U.S. Steel Corporation) when some 170 other structures were constructed for employees and businesses to complement the steel mill.
Constructed between 1915 and 1917, the formal opening was January 14, 1918 with a reported audience cf 5,000 observers.
Most of the activities and organizations were situated in the Morgan Park Clubhouse, a large centrally located facility which was formally opened on 14 January 1918, to a reported audience of 5,000 observers. One of the finest facilities in the Duluth area, the clubhouse provided residents with access to bowling alleys, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, tennis courts, a motion picture auditorium, and rooms for reading and special activities. Over the years the building was the Community Center. The gymnasium was used by the high school until a facility was constructed on the school site. Meetings of a political nature were held here with Congressmen, Senators and Vice Presidents (Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, James Oberstar, John Blatnlk, among others).
The architects were Morell and Nichols, Minneapolis, and Dean & Dean, Chicago. Funds for the $153,000 building were a gift from J. P. Morgan and housed recreational facilities for all age groups.
The design of the building and materials were the same as that applied to the ether buildings erected during the same period. The site consists of eight acres of open space.
The initial exterior effect was rather gray and drab, but some of the "bomb shelter quality" was avoided by the gables, eaves, and pitched roofs which topped the concrete boxes.
