A piece of Duluth's history has been sold to a private interest.
The college that spawned the University of Minnesota Duluth opened its first dormitory in 1906. It was dubbed Washburn Hall in honor of Jed L. Washburn, a prominent Duluth attorney who donated $6,000 to help build the $35,000 structure.
The same building was sold this summer along with about 2 acres of surrounding land for $186,000 to Modern Vision Media, a Las Vegas-based marketing media company. University officials say they are satisfied with the price for the building, which had been for sale for about a year and a half.
Modern Vision CEO Mike Scher said the company has no immediate plans for the old Duluth dorm at 2305 E. Fifth St.
"It is a very interesting building and town," Scher said. "We're looking to hire some people there sometime in the future," adding, however, that there was no imminent plan to launch operations in Duluth.
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"We think we can use the work force there eventually," said Peter Absalon, a consultant for Modern Vision.
Scher declined to provide any information about the number of people employed by his company or the scope of its nationwide operations.
Susan Carlson Weinberg, director of real estate for the University of Minnesota, said the dormitory was classified as "surplus property" after UMD purchased the former Chester Park Elementary School in 2006.
Following renovations, offices that had been housed in Washburn were relocated to the former elementary school.
The dormitory dates back to UMD's early days, when it was a teachers' college known as the Duluth Normal School.
Neil Storch, a professor emeritus of history at UMD, said J.L. Washburn was not only a financial benefactor of the college but also was deeply involved in its day-to-day operations, teaching and also representing Duluth on the state Normal School Board, which served a similar function as the board of regents does today.
In 1923, the school began offering 4-year baccalaureate degrees.
In 1947, the city of Duluth set aside the Nortondale Tract -- 160 acres of land west of Woodland Avenue near the Chester Park School -- for the construction of a more extensive college campus, and later that same year, it was designated a branch of the University of Minnesota. The first building to go up on the modern-day campus was a science hall that opened in 1949.
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In 1953, the Romano Gymnasium became the campus' second building, and additional construction continued.
The only building the university still owns on the original campus is a science lab and heating plant.
Old Main, the first building to go up at the Duluth Normal School in 1898, burned down in 1993 as a result of arson. Only the arches of that structure remain on site.
The university first sought requests for proposals involving Washburn in January 2009, but Weinberg said no acceptable offers were received.
"From what I recall, it was the cost of redeveloping the property that brought the building's value down," Weinberg said.
Modern Vision first emerged as a prospective buyer earlier this year, and Weinberg said she considers what the company paid for the 16,000-square-foot building "a very fair price."
