Local lore in Spirit Valley, Duluth, Minnesota

• Spirit Valley has a real main street. Grand Avenue is a walkable commercial district with a grocery and a hardware store, which puts it in a category of two among the neighborhoods in this guide.
• You can watch the chairlifts run from parts of the neighborhood. Spirit Mountain is not nearby, it is directly above.
• The western end of the Duluth Traverse starts at Spirit Mountain, which means the 90-mile network that runs the length of the city begins at this end of it.
• The commercial buildings on Grand Avenue predate the automobile, which is why they sit against the sidewalk with no parking lots in front.
• West Duluth was a separate settlement before annexation, and Spirit Valley still functions more like a town center than a city neighborhood.
• Spirit Mountain's finances have been argued about at city hall for years. Residents follow those debates closely, because the hill is the neighborhood's biggest asset.

Local lore next door

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