Star Tribune
Fire at Lutsen Lodge wipes out latest chapter in rich North Shore history
Lutsen Lodge, the iconic Minnesota skiing and tourist destination, was declared a total loss after a late-night fire engulfed the historic resort overseeing Lake Superior. The wooden lodge was more than 70 years old, having replaced another lodge lost to a fire in 1951.
Here are three things to know about the Lutsen Lodge:
Swedish immigrant roots
Charles Axel Nelson bought the property at the mouth of the Poplar River in 1881 and built a house on the land in 1893. The family home served as an outpost for travelers who arrived by boat, horseback, wagon, sleigh dog teams or on foot — the nearest neighbors were 30 miles away. Nelson himself was an angler who also trapped animals and logged the land.
Guests would typically sleep on the second floor of the family home or in a loft in the barn, according to the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH). The house was soon replaced by a hotel in order to make space for the increasing number of travelers. The family named the resort after the Battle of Lützen between Sweden and Austria during the Thirty Years War.
The Society claims newspapers repeatedly misspelled the name, which led to the current spelling of the resort and surrounding Census designated place: Lutsen.
Blaze. Rebuild. Repeat
The Nelson family expanded the hotel throughout the years, adding a lobby, dining room and several guest rooms in the 1920s. Charles Nelson’s son and grandson, both named George, winterized the lodge and hired two lumberjacks to clear the hillside behind the resort in 1945.
“It was being called ‘the oasis of the North Shore,'” George Jr. told the Star Tribune in a 1993 interview.
A fire destroyed the lodge in 1948. Another fire leveled the resort’s main lodge again in 1951, according to a Star Tribune report from the time. The blaze began in the laundry room and obliterated the two-story structure. The newspaper reported that 40 executives from the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company were having breakfast when the fire started, but no one was injured.
The iconic wood-framed structure that was erected in its place stood for 72 years.
Three owners over 140 years
The Nelson family held the property for more than a century. George Nelson, Sr. died in 1993. His son told the Star Tribune he “was a true North Shore pioneer.”
George Jr. sold the resort to Scott Harrison, a Duluth-based financial consultant, and local attorney Billy Burns in 1988. Although the men did not disclose how much they paid for the property, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board’s director of economic development pegged the price tag at about $2.36 million, or more than $6.2 million today.
The resort again exchanged hands in 2018 when Bryce Campbell and his mother, Sheila, bought it for an undisclosed amount. The property had gone up for sale a year earlier with an asking price of nearly $10 million.
A look at the top Minnesota donors to the political groups supporting Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
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Twin Cities, get ready to potentially spot an ex on the Minneapolis season of Love Is Blind, which was officially announced Wednesday night.
The anticipated reunion episode that closed out season 7, set in Washington, D.C., included the surprise announcement. The eighth season will launch on Valentine’s Day.
“This Valentine’s Day 2025 will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of Love Is Blind, and it is going to be the launch of season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis,” host Vanessa Lachey said in a moment also posted to social media.
Three of the incoming Minneapolis singles were introduced in the reunion episode. When asked about the challenges of the dating scene in Minneapolis, one contestant shared a sentiment many Minnesotans will be familiar with.
“It’s such a small community, it’s not like a major city but it’s also not a small town. So you kind of see the same people over and over, and it’s a small bar scene,” he said.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
