DeWitt-Seitz Building
Encyclopedia
The DeWitt-Seitz Building is a building located in the Canal Park
Canal Park (Duluth)
Canal Park is a tourist and recreation-oriented district of Duluth, Minnesota, United States. Situated across the Interstate 35 freeway from Downtown Duluth, it is connected by the famous Aerial Lift Bridge to the Park Point sandbar and neighborhood...

 neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

. The building was designed in 1909 in the commercial style
Chicago school (architecture)
Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...

 popularized by Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...

. Its original tenant, the DeWitt-Seitz Company, was a furniture jobber
Jobbing house
A jobbing house is a type of wholesale merchant business that buys goods and bulk products from importers, other wholesalers, or manufacturers, and then sells to retailers. Jobbing houses can deal in any commodity destined for the retail market. Typical categories are food, lumber, hardware,...

 and mattress
Mattress
A mattress is a manufactured product to sleep or lie on, consisting of resilient materials and covered with an outer fabric or ticking. In the developed world it is typically part of a bed set and is placed upon a foundation....

 manufacturer. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the company's wholesale role declined, and they focused their business on mattress manufacture and distribution.

The company was purchased in 1961 and renamed The Happy Sleeper. In 1983, the mattress company relocated to Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,...

, and the owner's son Sam E. Atkins began renovating the building into the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace. The building now houses retail shops in the basement and on the first and second floors, along with office space on the floors above. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.
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