The Story Behind The ‘Tiny Titanic’ Yard Display In Proctor, Minnesota

There is one yard ornament that is a real "disaster" in the Northland, and it happens to be in Proctor.

I always called Proctor the weather vortex in the Northland because it also seems to be a little more hectic weather wise there than a few minutes down the road in West Duluth. However, I had no idea that a Titanic survivor once called Proctor home.

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Of course the Titanic, most noted for sinking on April 15th, 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean. Then also being an epic and dramatic romance movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in 1997. The movie was a box office smash and won many awards including a few Academy Awards. Great, now I have that Celine Dion song stuck in my head.

Anna Larsen hails from Norway and boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger. The cost of a ticket for a third class passenger was 7 pounds which today equals about nine dollars and thirty-two cents. The article states Anna was asleep when the sinking of the ship began, but was able to find a collapsible lifeboat that also happened to be the last one to leave the ship.

Anna eventually found her way to Minnesota to be reunited with her sister and chose Proctor as her home. She even got married in a church in Duluth. Which brings us to how a Proctor family was featured on a Pioneer PBS show called 'Postcards'.

The show airs on Thursdays and  is a locally-produced program featuring the art, history, and cultural heritage of western Minnesota and beyond. The Seguin family in Proctor discovered that their house was once owned by a Titanic survivor. With that knowledge and the fact that their son had a love for the Titanic, one caring dad got to work on making a pretty sweet display.

They were featured on episode 4 of season 13. You can check out their clip of show below and I think all of this is just so cool. The clip is about ten minutes long, but it's pretty fascinating. Hats off to the Seguin family for this!