upper peninsula Archives - Page 25 of 26

The Ruins in the Kewenaw

Halfway between Calumet and Hancock on M26 in the Keweenaw Peninsula, I came across these massive concrete blocks, standing like giant dominoes, and I could not help but wonder what they were. Doing a little research, I found out they are the remains of the old Ahmeek Stamping Mill built in the early 1900’s. Atop the concrete blocks were stamping machines, part of which remains today, and they would pound the rocks down to a sand like material, and extract the copper from it.

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The Grand Old Home at Finlandia

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, upper peninsula .

The Lieblein House was built in 1895 in the city of Hancock by William Washburn, who owned a local Hancock clothing store. In about 1905, Washburn sold the house to Edward Lieblein, a wholesale grocer who owned stores in Hancock and Calumet. The house remained in the Lieblein family until 1979, when Edward Lieblein Jr. sold it to Suomi College (now Finlandia University). The college renamed it the “Vaino & Judith Hoover Center” after the patrons Vaino and Judith Hoover who funded the purchase. As of 2009, the building houses the offices of the President, Institutional Advancement, Alumni Relations, and Communications. The house was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1979 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

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The Iron County Courthouse

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in courthouses, upper peninsula .

The Iron County courthouse is a magnificent building, almost castle like, at the top of the hill, looking over the city of Crystal Falls. The Richardsonian Romanesque Style building which was completed in 1891. Constructed of regional materials, including reddish stone columns quarried from the nearby Paint River and yellow clay bricks.

You can’t miss this old courthouse when traveling across the Upper Peninsula on U.S. 2, as it takes you thru the city of Crystal Falls. As you drive up the hill, heading west thru downtown, the building is looking down on you, almost as if it’s judging your character. I guess that’s one more reason why it is such and impressive courthouse.

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The Continental Fire Company

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, upper peninsula .

The Continental Fire Company organized in 1860 in Houghton built their new fire hall in 1883 and occupied the basement, which housed horses, and the main floor, which stored fire engines. Village offices were on the second floor. The Michigan Mining School, now Michigan Technological University, held its first classes on the second floor and in the basement from 1886 through May 1889. In the early 1900s, the building was extended to the north to store more oats and hay for the horses. In 1916, an addition was built on the western side to store two more fire engines.

The city moved its offices out of the fire hall in the 1930s. On August 5, 1966, a bronze plaque was unveiled commemorating the building as the original home of the university. In 1974, the fire department moved to a new, more centrally located fire hall along Sharon Avenue in order to accommodate larger modern equipment. The fire bell was removed in October 1975 and transferred to the new location.

The fire hall was listed as a Michigan State Historic Site on August 6, 1976.In 1978, the university purchased the building from the city to use as storage.It was sold in 2010 to a private group who renovated it into an entertainment venue, called the Continental Fire Co., which opened in February 2012.

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The Old Forgotten Mineral Range Railroad Depot

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Train Depots, upper peninsula .

The old train station in Calumet looks rather sad and lonely, even the tracks are gone. It’s like a lighthouse with no shoreline to protect. After it was built in 1908, by the Mineral Range Railroad, I imagine many passengers and minors, ( not children, but they guys working in the copper mines, which you probably knew that) came into this once grand old station in copper country. The mines closed permanently after the strike in 1968, and it was not much longer after that the station was sold off and now it sits today wondering when a train with a load of passengers is gonna stop by.

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Getting Lost in Alder Falls

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in upper peninsula, Waterfalls .

I have been to a lot of different waterfalls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but my favorite is Adler Falls. Located northwest of Marquette it can be a little tricky to find on a two-track road off County Road 550 near Big Bay. After parking near a little wooden sign for the falls you need to hike down into a gorge to see the waterfalls. There are no steps, so it can be tricky to climb down and back up, especially for someone out of shape like me. I think that is why I like these falls so much, they are hard to access, and find, so there is not a large crowd of people, the times that I was there, no one else was around and it was a peaceful place to relax and enjoy the falls as the water rushed around the large rocks in the river.

Besides the falls, you are near the Big Bay lighthouse ( you can see my post about it HERE) and the Tavern that was made famous in the Jimmy Stewart movie Anatomy of a Murder

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The Story of the Wawatam Lighthouse

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, upper peninsula .

In 1998 a 52 foot tall lighthouse was built built by Ed Morris of Bay City at the one-man machine shop, Morris Machine & Mold, for the Monroe welcome center. In 2004 the welcome center was remodeled, and the lighthouse was no longer needed. St. Ignace Welcome Center heard about the lighthouse, and found out it would be demolished in 17 days if no one claimed it and got the state to donate it to St. Ignace to mark the entrance to the harbor.

The lighthouse was taken down and trucked to St Ignace in 5 sections and re-assembled on the old docks of the railroad car ferry Chief Wawatam, which is where the lighthouse got it’s name from. I think its rather interesting how the lighthouse went from a troll to a yooper, and is now an official Coast Guard aid to navigation. It even remains illuminated thru the winter, guiding snowmobilers across the frozen Straights of Mackinac. On a clear night, the light from the beacon can be seen from 13 miles away.

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The Mysterious Death of Sand Point’s First Female Lighthouse Keeper

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Lighthouses, Michigan Historical Markers, upper peninsula .

The United States Lighthouse Service approved construction of the Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba at a cost of $11,000. Construction began in the fall of 1867 and was completed in early spring 1868. John Terry was appointed the first lighthouse keeper of the new lighthouse in December 1867, but he became very ill and died in April 1868 a month before the lighthouse was ready to be manned. With the lighthouse nearly completed, but with no lightkeeper ready to report to duty, John Terry’s wife, Mary, was appointed lightkeeper and subsequently became one of the first female lightkeepers on the Great Lakes Mary was the one who lit the fourth order Fresnel lens on the night of May 13, 1868. which could be seen for 11.5 miles.

Mary Terry was a well-respected citizen in the community and fulfilled her duties as lightkeeper with efficiency and dedication.She lived there alone, as she and her husband had no children and was lightkeeper until 1886, when a mysterious fire severely damaged the lighthouse and took her life. To date, no one knows exactly what happened or why it happened. Some speculate that it was an attempted burglary and that the suspect set the lighthouse afire to cover any evidence of wrongdoing. The south entrance door showed signs of forced entry, yet none of Mary Terry’s valuables were taken, and the fact that Mary was found in the oil room and not in her bedroom, led people to believe there was foul play. Deep snow made it impossible for fire fighters to reach the lighthouse before it was very badly damaged. Some people who knew Mary Terry found it hard to believe that this was an accident since she was so careful and efficient.

One other strange fact about the Sand Point Lighthouse is that it was constructed with its tower facing the land instead of facing the water. Whether this orientation was intentional or an engineering blunder is unknown.

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The Magnificent Houghton Fire Hall

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, Historic Places, upper peninsula .

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Hancock Town Hall and Fire Hall – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, Uncategorized, upper peninsula .

The Quincy Mining Company platted Hancock in 1859, a decade after the company began mining Keewanaw copper. While many copper towns boomed and busted within a short period of time, Hancock remained stable, incorporating as a city in 1875. By 1897, Hancock’s four thousand citizens wanted a government building that would reflect the city’s prosperity and stature. The Quincy Company sold this lot to the city in 1898 and in January 1899 the Town Hall and Fire Hall opened.

The Marquette firm of Charlton, Gilbert and Demar designed Hancock’s Town Hall and Fire Hall. Completed in 1899, the building housed city offices, the fire department, and the marshall’s office and the jail. Built of Jacobsville sandstone with stepped and curved gables, it exhibits Richardsonian Romanesque, Dutch and Flemish influences. The building is listed in the National register of Historic Places.

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