I was traveling through Ishpeming and I saw the red stone and brick building that is the town’s city hall. I had to stop and get a photo of it. Ishpeming is the Chippewa name for “High Place” and it was given that name in 1862 when the post office opened.
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Only a small portion of the orphanage is still standing hidden behind the trees. The building once stood three stories tall and housed several children. Located in the small town, which is almost a ghost town, Assinins Is near US-41 a few miles north of Baraga.
Assinins was founded in 1843 by Bishop Frederic Baraga, who came to the area at the invitation of Chief Edward Assinins. Baraga built the Old St. Joseph Orphanage and School on the site in 1860. Over the years the orphanage was expanded and other buildings including a school were built. The structures were last used in the 1960s and in recent years they have collapsed.
The area is now a National Historic District and next time you are traveling along US-41 it’s worth a quick stop to check out the area and old cemetery.
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Black River Falls is in a rather secluded area southwest of Ishpeming. I like visiting them because it is usually quiet without anyone else around. the boulders at the bottom of the falls are huge, I would say they are about 3 feet in diameter. I climbed out onto them and set up my tripod to get this pic.
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Traveling down the road that follows the Lake Superior shoreline I came across this old Pullman car. It’s somewhere between Brimley and Paradise. According to the map, the town is or at least was Dollar Settlement. I could not find any info about this sparsely populated town. Someone told me that the old railroad car was brought in to convert to a diner, but it never materialized. Now it just sits in Dollar Settlement watching tourists pass by.
PS. I saw where Robert Dollar was the founder of Dollarville near Newberry and he built a dock on Lake Superior for his sawmill and lumber company. I am guessing that is where Dollar Settlement got its name from, but I have never been able to confirm it.
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If you have ever driven down 28 across the central part of the U.P. you know it seems like that road goes on forever. One of the towns it passes through is McMillan. I was mesmerized by this old house near the center of town. At one time it’s faded and peeling yellow paint was vibrant and new. I imagine everyone in town must have known which house you were describing when you said the “Yellow House” The old house seems to be forgotten about but if it could talk I am sure it would have some stories to tell.
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The little town of Watson is near the middle of the Upper Peninsula. Not much of it remains today but a few residents and some old buildings. The town was a sawmill town and mail distribution point with the railroad passing trough it. Even though it only consisted of a few buildings Watson must have been a large metropolis to the people that lived around there in the late 1800s and early 1900s because there is nothing around for miles but forest.
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Michigan has a few historic towns you can visit, but there is one that few people know about. It is located way up in the Keweenaw Peninsula between Calumet and Copper Harbor on US-41. A small brown and white sign that simply reads ” Central Mine Visitors Center” points to the old town. Most tourists just think it is a simple little visitors center for one of the many former mines in the area, but they are mistaken.
Central Mine is the name of a company town that was built by the copper mining company of the same name. The mine was open in the 1850s and closed in the 1890s after the copper ore was depleted. The town at one time had a population of 900 residents. The miners who were mostly immigrants from Cornwall England moved away after The Central Mine turned off the pumps and sealed the shafts. In the 1950s, the last permanent resident in the town of Central Mine left.
The Keweenaw County Historical Society owns 38 acres of the old Central Mine site and town. It operates the visitors center located in a former house. The society has also restored several houses and buildings in the old town. Some are open to visitors and decorated with antiques from the period they were built.
When I visited, the small town was strangely quiet. I could walk through the open houses and explore the area. It was like stepping back in time going into a house over a century old and the items inside from back in the day. If you visit be sure to stop by the visitors center first and look at the map since some of the property is still private and closed to tourists.
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You probably heard the phrase ” win one for the Gipper ” at a football game or from the Knute Rockney movie where a young Ronald Reagan played George Gip. What most people don’t know, is the Gipper was a Yooper.
George Gipp was born in 1895 and raised in Laurium on the Keweenaw Peninsula. He entered Notre Dame intending to play baseball for the Fighting Irish. While on campus, he was recruited by Knute Rockne for the football team, despite having no experience in organized football. During his Notre Dame career, Gipp led the Irish in rushing and passing each of his last three seasons (1918, 1919, and 1920). His career mark of 2,341 rushing yards lasted over fifty years. Gipp is still Notre Dame’s all-time leader in average yards per rush for a season
Gipp died at age 25 of a strep throat infection and pneumonia on Dec 14, 1920, two weeks after being elected Notre Dame’s first All-American by Walter Camp.It was on his hospital bed that he is said to have delivered the “win just one for the Gipper” line and said to Rockne;
“I’ve got to go, Rock. It’s all right. I’m not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock. But I’ll know about it, and I’ll be happy.“
After his death, A memorial was erected in Larium honoring the football hero and Yooper.
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Last year on this date I was heading home from a long trip around the U.P. As I was crossing the big green bridge, the Stars And Strips were proudly flying on one of the twin towers of the bridge. At the moment I saw the flag I rememberd that it was 9-11. I was not alive for the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, or when President Kennedy was assassinated, but I remember the morning of September 11th vividly. I will never forget that day, and I am thankful for the women and men who diligently protect the United States Of America.
On my way to visit the Peninsula Lighthouse HERE near Little Bay De Noc in the Upper Peninusula, I passed this old general store. The sign above the door reads Deerfield and that it was built in 1902. I am not sure if Deerfield was the name of the proprietor since the village of Deerfield is located southwest of Dundee. I was not able to find any history about it but I thought it was a nice looking old building. The sun was shining on it so I thought I would stop and take a photo of it and share it with you.
P.S. I see a lot of old building and houses in the U.P. if walls could talk I wonder what stories they would share.
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