Pickwick is Home to more than 100 Years of History

Northland Uncovered: Pickwick

DULUTH, Minn. – A restaurant in Duluth is home to some of the city’s oldest stories.

In fact, it’s been around for 103 years.

In this week’s Northland Uncovered we visited Pickwick.

Pickwick is Duluth’s oldest public restaurant.

It opened in 1914 as The Old Brewery Saloon.

“It originally was the tasting room for the Fitger Brewing Company,” said Co-Owner Amy Wright.

When prohibition became law, the first owners, the Wisocki family, knew change was necessary and moved the saloon to the current location.

“One of the first non–alcoholic beverages was the Pickwick, which is where they got the name,” explained Wright.

Wright and her husband, Tim, and other investors purchased the restaurant in 2010.

Original tapestry, hand painted wallpaper and woodwork cover the old saloon.

“You don’t go into a restaurant very often and see something that was painted well over 100 years ago,” said Wright.

Wright sees herself as a caretaker of the restaurant, “woodwork that was handcrafted without one single nail, tables that have been there and have seen many conversations and many celebrations for over 100 years.”

She says in those years Pickwick has been present in many Northlander’s lives, “maybe they had their graduation dinner here, or this is where they got engaged, or they had their groom’s dinner. The stories that I hear over and over again are very heartwarming,” said Wright.

Wright believes it’s these heartwarming stories making Pickwick the place it is today.

“We have so much to be proud of here that we need to continue to embrace the past so that we can move into the future.”

Pickwick opens daily at 11 a.m.

Oktoberfest celebrations will be taking place October 2-7.