Central Centennial: What in the James J. Hill was going on here?

Book signing by authors Teddie Meronek and Kathy Laakso of DCHS newly released book TITLE of BOOK: Central A to Z: The History of a Superior School

Coolidge Room 

In 1928, Senator Irving Lenroot invited President Coolidge to Cedar Island for a summer of cooler weather and good fishing on the Brule River.  His presidential office that summer resided in Central High school's library.  When the Superior school district closed down and demolished Central, it saved the room's contents and donated them to DCHS for an exhibit. 

Using photographstaken of the room in 1928, DCHS has recreated part of the Coolidge Room including his desk,which was filled with cement to prevent fire and theft.  Other items from the Coolidge Room are a forty-eight star U.S. flag and several photos of Coolidge as he posedfor pictures with everyone, including children, dogs and even a cow.  This summer the Coolidge Room will be expanded to recognize a time when a president could be so accessible topeople in a small hamlet in northern Wisconsin.

Traveling Exhibit

“Superior: The Making of a Labor Town” 

A look at three historic phases of Superior’s labor movement and the people involved.

“All We Ask is $2.00 Per Day,” describes the early strikes involving construction laborers, railroad workers and a strike in 1913 at the Great Northern Railroad Ore Docks in Superior.  A grant from the Wisconsin Labor History Society funded part of this first phase.


“Building a Labor Community,” centers on what is known as Superior’s “North End”, which borders the shipyards, docks and rail stations and has always been a working class district.  The North End was home to Työmies, the Finnish Workers Hall and the Central Cooperative Wholesale Exchange with its branches of cooperative stores out in the county that served the needs of Finnish-Americans.  Community halls set the scene for vibrant musical and theatrical performances.  Most of this segment of the exhibit was done through research at the Immigration History Research Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which also houses photographs from the Työmies Society collection.

“A Labor Town” shows the results of these efforts, when local economic reports boasted that Superior was “a ninety-five percent union city”.  Whether this percentage was true or not, legislative changes such as the Wagner Act of 1934 aided in the successes of unions.  Suddenly, strikes exploded all over the city involving longshoremen, tugboat operators, and workers with the telephone company, hotels, restaurants and bakeries.  By World War II, labor unions were so strong that, even with the shortage of manpower, strikes arose at the shipyards.

The exhibit, designed and developed by Carnita Tuomela and Allen Noska of Venture Exhibits, was funded by the Wisconsin Humanities Council.
Accompanying this exhibit is “Superior’s Labor History Hall of Fame,” panels created by the Superior Federation of Labor with support from the Wisconsin Labor History Society.

Shipping Exhibit

2' x 4' WPA Painting

Psycograph 

Psycographs were designed to read the bumps and ridges on the skull which told of the weak and strong characteristics of the personality.

Currently not on display
Mary Branca

This wonderful doll pictured at left is but a sample of the artistry of Mary Branca.

We have many of Mary Branca's dolls on display in our great hall.  The following two pictures are also of Mary Branca Dolls.

Mary Branca grew up above her father’s confectionery shop at 1218 Tower Avenue.

She was educated at local schools, worked in the family store and eventually went to Chicago to study at the Art Institute and begin her career as a designer in a millinery firm. In her spare time, she made dolls. Mary not only created the bodies for the dolls from her own secret formula, she also attired them in authentic costumes. She learned how to make wigs, do leather and metal work, design jewelry and sew everything from petticoats to slippers in miniature. When she finished a doll, she sent it home to her mother who displayed them in beautiful cases made by Mary’s father.

Along with some of her beautiful oil paintings, DCHS is proud to be able to open a new exhibit of Mary’s dolls and display them in the cases that her father made so long ago.

The dolls vary in their construction and design, some made from porcelain, others from a nylon or stockinet fabric. Notice the long, spindly fingers on some of the dolls, while others are more natural looking. Whether these differences are developments resulting from years of experimentation or deliberate is not known. Mary apparently did not make notes on her research or didn’t keep them. Mary and her gift of genius continue to be a mystery.

Currently not on display
Pictured here is part of our David Barry Exhibit

This famous frontier and pioneer photographer helped preserve the pictorial history of the old West with photos of The Custers, military officers and enlisted men, military forts, the little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, and also Buffalo Bill Cody with his Wild West shows. Without his camera images, much of the photographic record of the people, places and events of the past would be lost to us today.