On this day in Duluth in 1906, Mayor Marcus B. Cullum declared that a public park along the Lake Superior Shore between 9th and 13th Avenues East had been secured. The previous year Cullum, got behind the idea for the park, put forth by Louis Loeb. It involved purchasing land from the Northern Pacific Railway, which wanted $20,000. Other than contributing $10,000, the park board did very little to help acquire the land. Instead, Mayor Cullum took the lead. In May 1905 he called together property owners and interested citizens to discuss ways to raise money for the project, which at that point was referred to by a variety of names including East End Park, Lakeside Park, Lake Front Park, and Lake Shore Park. A year later Cullum’s campaign was stil $5,000 short. By August 1906 time was running out on the city’s option to buy the land, and the mayor made a final strong push by sending out urgent appeals to many of the prominent property owners in Duluth’s East End. Theeditorial staff also continued to encourage the public: “Duluth has not today a foot of lake front park.… It will be exceedingly short-sighted and false economy if this park is not secured, and if this opportunity passes, the day will come when every citizen of Duluth will bitterly regret it.”. The park was first named Cullum Park in recognition of the mayor’s efforts. It was soon changed to Lake Shore Park and finally, in 1927, it became Leif Erikson Park. Read its entire history here , and about the boat for which it is name here