William Gwinn Mather, president of
the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company,
oversaw the development of Gwinn in
1906. He was inspired by
benevolence, a need to attract
dependable workers, and the desire
to avoid labor strife. Mather hired
Boston . . . — — Map (db m253867) HM
The sport of skiing was introduced to America in the nineteenth century by Scandinavian immigrants. The first ski club in Michigan and one of the first in the country was formed at Ishpeming in 1887. It held its first public ski meet on February . . . — — Map (db m205532) HM
From the late 1860's to the early 1870. there was a critical need
for experienced underground miners.
As large numbers of the Irish labor force in the area had departed for jobs in open pit mining in Colorado, the Cleveland Mining Company went . . . — — Map (db m226659) HM
The Iron Range opened in the 1840s, but it was not until the early 1860s that the first Italians settled the area.
Coming from
Tuscany, Venice, Lombardy, Piedmont, Calabria, Naples,
and Sicily. They settled in Negaunee, Ishpeming, and
Gwinn . . . — — Map (db m226615) HM
Frederic Baraga was a lawyer, an artist and a Roman Catholic priest who came to the U.S. from present-day Slovenia in 1830. Baraga (1797-1868) served Native Americans in the Great Lakes region and wrote A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language . . . — — Map (db m206057) HM
Iron making at The Mouth of the Carp River
Iron making requires three ingredients: iron ore, flux material, and heat. In the late 19th century, in Michigan's iron ranges, iron was made in blast furnaces using iron ore, limestone and . . . — — Map (db m278588) HM
On this site in 1852, the Green Bay and Lake Superior Rail-Road began the survey which led to the construction of the first steam railroad in the Upper Peninsula. The railroad ran from Marquette to the Jackson and Cleveland iron mines fourteen . . . — — Map (db m206097) HM
[south side] George Shiras III (1859-1942) was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He developed an interest in wildlife at the age of eleven when his father took him hunting and fishing near Marquette. Shiras received his law degree from Yale . . . — — Map (db m206174) HM
During the seventeenth century, dedicated Jesuit missionaries forged into the North American wilderness to live and work among the native peoples of the Great Lakes region. In September 1666, at age twenty-nine, Father Jacques Marquette arrived in . . . — — Map (db m206171) HM
Commissioned by William Janzen, this house has served residents of Marquette County since 1893. It was designed by Lovejoy and Demar, architects for the Old City Hall on Washington Street. Following a fire in 1983, Doris Seavoy Bullock donated the . . . — — Map (db m214540) HM
On September 25th, 1951, a group of artists met in Marquette to plan the idea of forming the Lake Superior Creative Arts Association, later to become Lake Superior Art Association. In 1959, LSAA established Art on the Rocks, the annual art fair . . . — — Map (db m269984) HM
This Neoclassical Revival structure, designed by Charlton & Gilbert of Marquette, was constructed in 1902-04 at a cost of $210,000. Built of local sandstone, it is the second courthouse to occupy this site. In a case tried here in 1913, President . . . — — Map (db m206155) HM
The Marquette Fire Department was organized as early as the 1850s and reorganized in 1861 as Phoenix Fire Co. No. 1. After several additional reorganizations, the department was unable to halt the terrible fire of 1868 which destroyed the business . . . — — Map (db m214544) HM
The Tocsin or Fire Bell has been part of a community since ancient times, warning the inhabitants of danger. The old fire bell was cast in bronze by the Henry McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland in 1882. It was placed in the Spring Street . . . — — Map (db m214545) HM
Established by the legislature in 1899 as a normal school to provide teachers for the Upper Peninsula, Northern opened with thirty-two students, six faculty members, and Dwight B. Waldo as principal. A four-year collegiate program was introduced in . . . — — Map (db m206001) HM
Northern Michigan University's original 20 acre site was donated to the State Board of Education by John M. Longyear and Frederick Ayer in 1899. The first dormitory (1900-1917) was located to the south across Kaye Avenue. D. F. Charleton was the . . . — — Map (db m214504) HM
In these calm but treacherous waters of Lake Superior sixteen lives have been lost since 1961. This memorial serves to honor those lives and the lives of the ones before them. Through this knowledge from this day forward may no more lives be lost. . . . — — Map (db m239999) HM
The Iron Ore of the Upper Peninsula
"We have an abundance of good ores in Pennsylvania and have no need of your Michigan ores, besides we will not see
a ton of Michigan ore in Pittsburgh market in our day", proclaimed Mr. Schoenberger . . . — — Map (db m278585) HM
Between 1946 and 1957 Vetville existed on this site. It was developed by President Henry Tape (1940-1956) to accommodate the influx of World War II veterans who attended Northern Michigan University funded by the G.I. Bill. It was also home to . . . — — Map (db m214444) HM
This monument, representing a World War II submarine, is dedicated to Captain David H. McClintock USN, Marquette; to Captain B. Dulaney Claggett USN, Bethesda, MD; and to the officers and men of submarines Darter and Dace. Their . . . — — Map (db m154129) HM WM
Each state along the North Country National Scenic Trail offers visitors a realm of outdoor opportunities. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the trail enters from the south at the Mackinac Bridge and St. Ignace, and heads into
the Hiawatha . . . — — Map (db m278581) HM
Each year, over 200 species of songbirds,
shorebirds, waterfowl, and birds of prey
migrate through the Great Lakes region as
they journey between breeding and wintering grounds. Many of these birds travel hundreds even thousands of miles . . . — — Map (db m278579) HM
Patience is a virtue we are often told. But impatience spawns innovation and that's how the first iron ore pocket dock came to be. In 1857 Captain George Judson became impatient with the slow transfer of iron ore from trams on the dock to the . . . — — Map (db m216246) HM
The County Road 510 steel truss bridge over the Dead River owes its existence to the passage of a few key Acts by the Michigan Legislature in the early 1900's. The first of these acts was the Trunk Line Act of 1913, which provided for the laying out . . . — — Map (db m198443) HM
In March of 1999, the Marquette County Road Commission (MCRC) received word from the State of Michigan that critical bridge funding for replacing the CR 510 Bridge over the Dead River had been approved. It was at this time that the planning process . . . — — Map (db m198444) HM
On this spot on Sept. 19, 1844, William A. Burt, a deputy government surveyor, was the first to discover the great Lake Superior iron ore deposits. Peculiar fluctuations in his magnetic compass led Burt to ask his men to seek the cause, and they . . . — — Map (db m76314) HM
The first of the immensely rich Lake Superior iron ore deposits to be discovered and mined were those of the Marquette Iron Range. In 1844 William A. Burt and his surveying party discovered outcroppings of iron ore south of Teal Lake. This area soon . . . — — Map (db m153993) HM
Marji-Gesick a Chippewa chief was hired in 1845 to locate a
valuable iron ore deposit about three miles from here. He was
paid with a Certificate of Interest entitling him to stock in the
company. That action led to a landmark Michigan supreme . . . — — Map (db m253997) HM
The 1928 Barnes-Hecker Mine disaster was the worst mining accident in Michigan history.
Fifty-one men died when the mine flooded without warning on November 3, 1826.
In fifteen minutes the mine filled with water and sand. Rutherford J. (Wilfred) . . . — — Map (db m253978) HM
Among the earliest settlers in the Republic area, circa 1870, were the Munsons, Polkinghornes, Pascoes, Gibsons, Wilsons, Doyles, Gambels, Petersons, Bergstroms and Dodges. They had made their way from Cornwall County, England; Sweden, Finland, . . . — — Map (db m154298) HM
The forest industry is alive and well here at present but farming is mainly a thing of the past. When immigrants flocked to the village of Republic, they settled in separate and distinct locales — such as "French Town", "Finn Town" (Park . . . — — Map (db m154327) HM
Government land surveyors made the first recorded notice of the mineral deposit in 1846 when surveying the township lines (½ mile to the west), stating "...there appears to be an almost inexhaustible quantity of specular iron ore, the needle . . . — — Map (db m154324) HM
Lawrence A. La Fave — August 12, 1962 Robert E. Bengtson — Nov. 7, 1962 Norman S. Korpi — Sept. 9, 1965 Ronald W. Polkki — Oct. 18, 1969 Melvin L. Roberts — Nov. 22, 1969 John Hedko Jr. — June 25, 1972 Robert W. . . . — — Map (db m154405) HM
A Republic landmark named in honor of Andrew Kloman; founder of the Kloman Mine. Dedicated on this day, July 1, 1995 by Mr. Klomans great-grandson, Andrew (Drew) Kloman III during the Republic Quasquicentennial Celebration. — — Map (db m154300) HM
There were advantages and disadvantages to the mine expansion and subsequent moving of Republic. In 1950 rumors circulated that the long period of mine inactivity was coming to an end. Cleveland Cliffs began a huge expansion program and . . . — — Map (db m154328) HM
Various underground mining occupations included trammers, teamsters, drilling teams, blasters and at the very top “miner.” Ore extraction in the 1870's was pure manual labor. The ore was broken from the surface with picks, sledge . . . — — Map (db m154326) HM
The Republic Iron Company was the first successful mining company in Republic and was located on Swede Hill. Anna Mae Gibson was the first girl and Charles W. Munson was the first boy born in Republic to the early settlers in 1872 and 1873, . . . — — Map (db m154299) HM
The low-grade hematitic cherty iron formation (band 3 in the diagram) provided the raw material for the production of concentrated iron ore pellets. As the depth of the pit increased, the primary crusher was installed in the 300-foot high wall (to . . . — — Map (db m154325) HM
Twice in history the Republic mine was one of the greatest producers in the country: from 1872 to 1928 and again from the 1950s through the 70s. The late, great Republic Mine was the impetus for the creation of the village of Republic in . . . — — Map (db m154323) HM
William Bakewell was born in Joliet,
Illinois, in 1888. As a teenager he
worked in Upper Peninsula logging
camps before making his way to South
America. In 1914 he became the only
American crewmember of Sir Ernest
Shackletons ship, . . . — — Map (db m253862) HM
