The town of Bessemer is in the southwest part of the Upper Peninsula. As mining production increased so did the population of the town. In 1887, Bessemer became the Gogebic County Seat and this sandstone courthouse constructed that year at a cost of $50,000.
The Upper Peninsula had several sandstone quarries and in the late 1800s the stone was popular in the construction of buildings and large houses. The stone was easy to cut into large squares and also well suited for carvers to create antiquate designs. In the early 1900s sandstone fell out of favor for other materials such as brick and steel. The historic Gogebic sandstone courthouse still stands as a reminder of a time when stone from the U.P. was used to construct magnificent buildings.
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