Lutsen Resort celebrates 125 years

Carol Kranz and David Gross fell in love with each other in the 1970s, about the same time they fell in love with Lutsen.

They were quickly smitten by the rugged charm of the North Shore, the Scandinavian-style lodge at Lutsen Resort and all the outdoor activities available there.

“We love the fact that it doesn’t change, and for us that is a real positive,” Kranz said. “What appeals to us is the constant, the beauty of the birches and Lake Superior.”

Such personal connection is a reason Lutsen Resort, overlooking the Poplar River and Lake Superior, has endured. The longest continuously run resort in Minnesota, Lutsen Resort is celebrating its 125th birthday this weekend with special sold-out events for its guests that will include popping a 15-liter bottle of Champagne.

Its location 80 miles north of Duluth is another reason for Lutsen’s success, said Scott Harrison, who owns Lutsen with his wife, Nancy Burns.

“We’re on Lake Superior, that’s a good start,” he said. “We’re within driving range of the Twin Cities, which is 70 percent of our business. We’re across from a golf course and 1½ miles from the biggest ski area in the Midwest.”

The BWCA, Superior National Forest and state parks are also a draw.

“Ninety-two percent of the land is in the public domain,” he said. “There’s very little development in these areas, so it’s pristine and beautiful. You’ve got topography, Lake Superior and miles and miles of woods and inland water as well.”

Because the place was special to them, Kranz and Gross got married there on Labor Day weekend 1972, exchanging vows on the rustic covered bridge near the lodge.

Kranz, now 63, recalls the justice of the peace arriving in jeans and a plaid shirt with a boat strapped to the top of his car.

“Where’s your witnesses?” he asked them, in a hurry to go fishing.

They had no guests, no witnesses. So they went inside the lodge and recruited an older couple to be witnesses. And when a little girl handed Kranz a bundle of wildflowers she had picked, that became Kranz’s bouquet.

To this day, the couple treasures the memory.

Creating memories

Continuing to create such memories for guests was a goal of Harrison and Burns when they purchased the resort, along with other investors, for $2.4 million in 1988.

“We’re proud of what we’ve been able to do,” Harrison said. “The brand name recognition was high when we bought it. We think we’ve been able to maintain those traditions and create some of our own that we’re proud of.”

Longtime employee Diane Loh says the owners have done well not only preserving but enhancing what was there, including upgrades to rooms and public spaces as well as a new kitchen.

The couple’s purchase of the resort ended four generations of family ownership that began in the 1880s when Swedish immigrant Charles Axel Nelson settled there.

Before roads were built, prospectors and others traveling up the shore would stop at Lutsen. In time, lodging those travelers became a business and a main lodge was built. For decades, steamships stopped there during the resort’s summer season, bringing supplies and passengers to Lutsen.

In time, Nelson’s son George Nelson took over, followed by George Nelson Jr. who pushed to develop the Sawtooth Mountain Range for skiing to create year-round traffic to the resort. As a result, Lutsen Mountain Ski Area opened in 1948 with two runs. Today there are 92.

Fire destroyed the resort’s first two lodges. The current lodge, built in 1952, was designed by renowned architect Edwin Lundie.

In 1980, the family sold the Lutsen ski hill and chalet, but guests still use it. In the early 1990s, the Superior National Golf Course was established across the highway, creating another draw.

Over the years, Lutsen Resort has grown and now stretches over three miles along the North Shore to include log cabins, condominiums and townhouses, some of which Lutsen now manages and rents out for other owners.

“It has a rustic feeling because of the environment, but has first- class accommodations,” Harrison said of their facilities, which can accommodate up to 600 people.

More competition

For a long time, Lutsen was the only game in town. But resort development along the North Shore has changed that.

“It’s very different now,” Harrison said. “We have some very big competitors like Bluefin Bay. But we like to think we’re No. 1 in image.”

At the same time, the marketing of the North Shore has increased three-fold, he said, drawing even more people from the Twin Cities. More special events such as weddings and reunions are held there. And as a further draw, the resort provides guided kayaking, canoeing and other activities for guests.

“You’ve got to be doing a better job than the other guy, or you’re not going to be head of the pack,” Harrison said.

Then there are loyal regulars like Kranz and Gross of Deephaven, Minn.

“It holds such a place in our hearts,” Kranz said. “We just don’t let a year go by that we’re not at the North Shore. It’s so hard to describe. It’s such a wonderful place. It’s just so gorgeous every season.”

Reported by:  Duluth News Tribune