Ironwood is located at the very western
end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in Gogebic County. It is situated across the
Montreal River from Hurley, Wisconsin, which marks the boundary between the
two states.
In late 1884, the land on which Ironwood
was built was owned by the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway Company
(now the Chicago & Northwestern). The agent for the railroad company sold the
first lots in Ironwood. He was William L. Pierce, who later built and operated
Ironwood’s first opera house.
The city of Ironwood, Michigan was named
for James Wood. Prominent in the iron ore industry, he was the discoverer of
the Norrie Mine at Ironwood and exposed for the holder of the lease, A.L.
Norrie, what became one of the greater bodies of iron ore ever found in
Michigan.
The "Wood" in Ironwood came from James
Wood’s name. In 1885 while the railroad was being completed, it was learned
that this town did not have a name. James Wood was sent for by the president
of the railroad, Mr. Rhinelander, and as Wood was observed coming down the
trail it was noticed that his hands were covered with the stain of the Norrie
hematite iron ore. It was then decided to christen the new town "Iron-wood."
The hyphen was later dropped, and the name was changed to Ironwood.
The town of Ironwood was settled in the
spring of 1885 as part of Ontonagon County and started out as a community of
only a few tents and bars. The first streets to be opened and cleared of trees
were named Ayer, Suffolk, Aurora, and Vaughn. These names are retained to this
day. The post office in Ironwood was established on January 22, 1886. At that
time, Gogebic County was part of Ontonagon County.
The line built by the Milwaukee, Lake
Shore & Western Railway Company to the area was completed by 1886. It linked
Ironwood to the rest of the world and assured the city of its long-term
future. About this time, hoards of immigrants came to Ironwood to work in the
mines and logging camps that surrounded the area. They came from Finland,
Sweden, England, Poland, Italy, the Slavic countries and the rest of Europe.
They came to fulfill their dreams in Ironwood. Aurora, Norrie, East Norrie,
Pabst, Jessieville, Reno and Newport and Bonnie (in Erwin Township) locations
were there under the headframe of their respective mine. It is easy to believe
that the early homebuilders grew very rich building all those homes next to
the mineshaft.
Ironwood supported several weekly
newspapers printed in the English and Scandinavian languages, also one daily
paper written in English. The Gogebic Range Directory of 1892 states that the
"Daily Advocate" was the first daily paper printed on the Gogebic Range.
Published by the Gogebic Publishing Company, this paper sold for $0.15 a week.
The first weekly paper, no doubt, was "The Gogebic Explorer," the first issue
of which is dated June 4, 1885, Bessemer, Michigan. All the issues for the
first year are in a private collection in Ironwood.
On June 4, 1886, Gogebic County split off
from Ontonagon County and Ironwood became part of Gogebic County. The town was
incorporated as a village in 1887 with a population of 1,000. Members of the
first village board were: president A.A. Hammond; clerk John J. Shea, and six
trustees: William Trebilcock, J.J. Cremans, D.E. Sutherland, C.P. Newberry,
Peter Donally and P.C.J. Murphy. Captain William Trebilcock was the first
mayor of the city of Ironwood. His salary was $25.00 a year.
The first school meeting was held in the
new school building on Vaughn Street. According to the May 8, 1959, edition of
the Ironwood Daily Globe an old building on Vaughn Street, just west of
Suffolk Street, was Ironwood’s first school building. The Globe
received this information from old timers living in Ironwood. Records do not
show when it was used as a school, but it is believed to have been in the
first years of Ironwood, probably between 1887 and 1890. It was used as a
dwelling for many years.
The first merchandiser was Bingham and
Perrin with their log warehouse and store on the corner of Ayer and Suffolk.
The Walker House was the first hotel. It was built and operated by P. R.
Walker. It was located in the downtown district on the southwest corner of
Lowell and Ayer Streets where Lahti's car lot is now.
Among the first businessmen of the new
city was A. Lieberthal who in 1887, built the Lieberthal Building, the first
solid brick building in Ironwood. The Lieberthal Block still stands on on the
corner of Suffolk Street and McLeod Avenue (across from where Hulstrom's City
News was). Other early businessmen were: Patrick O'Neil, owner of the Alhambra
Theatre on Ayer Street near Lowell; William Rothschild, who owned the
Rothschild Block on Suffolk between Aurora and McLeod Streets; C.J. Laughren,
proprietor of the New St. James (now the Town House); Mullen Brothers
furniture and undertaking on Suffolk between McLeod and Aurora, and Walter S.
Goodland, editor of the Ironwood Times.
On September 17, 1887, over half of the
downtown business portion of the city burned for over three hours. Damage was
over $200,000. The fire started just after lunch, probably from a defective
chimney in Dwyer's restaurant on Ayer Street. The flames spread rapidly to the
adjoining wooden buildings. J.T. Atkinson's place, the Alhambra Theatre and
the St. James hotel were soon a mass of flames. Then the fire jumped from the
St. James Hotel across the street to Bingham and Perrin's and Con Geary's
saloon and livery stable. The fire traveled south from Ayer Street along
Suffolk burning the Bank of Ironwood, the post office, Pierce's Express Office
and the Rothschild Block. The wind died down and the Hurley Fire Department
arrived just about the time the fire threatened to cross McLeod. In the end,
80 buildings were lost, a total of six square blocks. Merchants tried in vain
to save their goods by bringing it into the street. Mobs of people stole
everything that was saved.
A post office was established in
Jessieville on February 7, 1887. Two postmasters served in that office. They
were Mary L. Downs and Charles Anderson. It was discontinued on June 12, 1891.
The first postmaster of the United States Post Office was George F. Kelly.
Taken from the minutes of the meeting of
the Ironwood Fire Department, Company 1 held in the council rooms on Monday
night, December 10, 1887:
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"Moved and seconded that the style of
uniform be - shirt blue with white trimming and initials I.F.D to ornament breast, belt to be
red, with name of company to be placed on a white ground of leather in brass
letters on back of each belt. Cap to be white-duck with brass wreath and
figure 1 on front of each."
H. J. Erbelding (Sec.)
Minutes of the meeting on December 13,
1887:
"Moved and seconded that committee of
three be appointed to collect names of members willing to pay $6.00 each for
uniform on arrival at the Express Office.
H. J. Erbelding (Sec.)
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Approaching the turn of the century,
Ironwood was a bustling metropolis of about 10,000. The growth of the village
of Ironwood had been so rapid that in 1888, the citizens realized the
necessity for better government. Consequently, the legislative was petitioned
to incorporate the village as a city. It was not, however, until April 8, 1889
that the legislature finally granted the petition, and the governor’s
signature was received on that date. Ironwood then began to function under the
aldermanic form of government. The first election under the city charter was
held on April 24, 1889. The total vote cast was 1,266 and Nathaniel Hibbert
was elected mayor,
Recorder John J. Shea, Treasurer William
Tribilcock and four Justices of the Peace -- P.C. Murphy, George F. Kelly,
Oliver S. Kerr and Louis M. Munthe.
Other businesses in 1889 were Frank
Healy's Bargain Store in the Bank of Ironwood Block on the northwest corner of
Aurora and Suffolk; M.L. Kane's saloon on Suffolk between Aurora and Ayer; the
London Restaurant across from the depot; the Ironwood Candy Kitchen at 130 E.
Aurora. J.E. Bean on the corner of Suffolk and McLeod sold nearly everything
in his store including watches, jewelry, books, stationery, pianos, organs and
musical instruments of all kinds, sewing machines, etc.
Homes were built as fast as the capital
could be raised. One of the first home builders was Jefferson D. Day, the
superintendent of the Metropolitan Iron and Land Company. He built the
beautiful mansion on East Vaughan Street at Mansfield. Thomas Hartigan, a
merchant, and Matt Fitzsimmons, a mining captain, built wonderful north side
homes, and Luther L. Wright, principal of the city school system lived in the
equally-pretentious mansion next to the Day family.
Soon the Northside, that area north of
the tracks where most of the city's wealthy families were located, was also
the home of a couple of breweries and a barrel factory.
In 1889, permission was granted to A. L.
Dickman, J. D. Day, and G. K. Newcomb to build an electric lighting system in
Ironwood.
Also in 1889, through train service began
over the Chicago and Northwestern from Ironwood to Milwaukee and Chicago.
In September of the same year, the
citizens of Ironwood voted to construct the first main sewers in the city. The
contract was given to Peter Meegan to construct a sewer from Vaughn Street on
Suffolk Street to Ayer Street and west on Ayer Street to the Montreal River.
At the turn of the century, there were
many things to do. Attending musical events, for example. Ironwood had four
bands in 1890. The Norrie Band had 19 pieces; members wore dark blue uniforms
with light blue facings and a Gilmore hat (whatever that was). The Twin City
Band was directed by M. Holemo and had 19 pieces; its uniform was blue with
yellow and gold trimmings and U.S. regulation helmets with yellow plumes. The
World's Fair Band had 14 pieces and was attired in a dark blue uniform and a
silk hat. And, finally, the 16 piece Hibernica Band which met at Mullin's Hall
on Aurora Street between Lowell and Lawrence on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays at 7:30; they wore dark blue uniforms with gold lace trimming and a
Gilmore hat.
Pierce's Opera House on the southeast
corner of Suffolk Street and McLeod had a seating capacity of 700. The Grand
Fancy Bazaar was held at the Pierce in April, 1890. Attractions included
oriental costumes, a gypsy encampment, fine art gallery collection, the snow
palace of the Lilliputians, McGinty the Clown, and the famous Japanese dwarf
To Kiykma. In August of that year, Mrs. Tom Thumb, now known as Countess Magri
since the death of her famous husband, sang at the Pierce. The entertainment
also included trained pigeons, a cuckoo and other trained birds. Mr. Clark
played his banjo for the audience.
It was in 1890 that the Gogebic Electric
Railway and Light Company was organized, and a street car line of four miles
was built. This line gave service to Ironwood, Jessieville, and as far as
Hurley and Gile on the Wisconsin side.
Bicycles were the latest craze among
teens and adults. In March, 1890, George Willetts of Ashland and John Houston
of Ironwood raced five miles for a $2.00 purse. Willits won.
If there was nothing better to do, you
could take a walk in the iron-red, muddy streets or watch the cows eat the
grass on your lawn. An item in The News Record for June 25, 1898, called for
"anyone, anywhere -- Hurley, Bessemer, Wakefield or any other old place --
that has a few cows or horses, or both, to be put out to pasture, ought not to
lose any time in sending their live stock to Ironwood. Miles of good pasturage
in this town free of charge. Free access to lawns and gardens when the picking
gets poor on the streets. Horses and cows are the whole thing here; nothing to
bother them but the flies. Send along your livestock; a few thousand more head
will make no difference; send your animals to the feast."
Parades were big events in Ironwood at
the turn of the century (and would continue to be for several decades). On the
Fourth of July in 1898, clowns paraded the downtown area as did Uncle Sam and
a squad of "Cubans" who had a group of Spaniards in tow. (The Spanish fleet
had just been captured marking the beginning of the end of the
Spanish-American War.) Cowboys and Indians, clowns and "coons" led the
merriment. The Grand Parade was the principal feature in the morning. First in
line was the Norrie Band followed by the Curry Rifle Cadets. The different
civic societies came next, including the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights
of Pythias, Ancient Order of Workmen, Sons of St. George, Ancient Order of
Foresters of America, Improved Order of Red Men, and The Scandinavian Society
In the afternoon, the races began in the
front of the Curry Hotel (now Lahti's new car lot). A race was held for boys
15 years and younger from the different wards. The First Ward won that race,
but the flag race for boys 12 and under was won by the Fourth Ward boys with
the Norrie team coming in a close second. The three-legged race and the sack
race was held on west McLeod Avenue. Joe Blackwell and Willie Stevens, Dan
Harrington and Harry Silverman were winners. The standing broad jump and the
potato race took place in front of City Hall on McLeod (demolished about ten
years ago). The running broad jump and high jump were held on Vaughn Street.
Harry Barr, Will Boyer and Clyde Urquhart were winners. Then everyone went to
Ayer Street for the 220 yard low hurdles, 100 yard dash, men's flag race and
the 120 yard high hurdles. Art Urquhart, Harry Barr, and Will Boyer were
winners. The miners' drilling contest was won by Joe Henders and Jim Stanlake
who drilled about a foot in 20 minutes and won $12 for their efforts.
Wrestling matches followed and continued for the rest of the afternoon until
7:30 that evening when Professor Kaler took to the skies in his balloon from
the corner of Suffolk and Ayer Streets. In the evening, the Ironwood Fire
Department sponsored the Grand Ball at the Armory (located on McLeod across
from the Memorial Building). The ladies of St. Ambrose Church served the
supper.
The population of Ironwood in 1892 was
15,000. The phenomenal growth was due principally to the fact that
the largest and most productive mines located within the city limits. For that
reason, Ironwood gave a lot of business to two railroads, the
Chicago-Northwestern and the Wisconsin Central. They transported all the ore
to the huge ore docks in Ashland. In addition, they scheduled daily passenger
trains to Chicago, Milwaukee and the East Coast, and via Ashland, to the West
Coast.
In 1924, progress and prosperity were
abundant in the USA. Calvin Coolidge was comfortable in the White House, and
people had finally come to believe that the Great War was the Last War. Mah
Jong was out and the crossword puzzle was in. Radio sets were now a staple
item in most homes. Women were drinking and smoking in public, and skirts had
risen to 20 percent of a woman's height. Flesh colored rayon stockings, spiked
heels, rouge and lipstick became the standard. Young girls, with bobbed
haircuts, partied and petted with their boyfriends in cars, bars and bedrooms.
Ironwood had grown to nearly 30,000 people.
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The Great Escape at Ironwood
In September 1926, a mine shaft at
Ironwood, in the Upper Peninsula, collapsed and imprisoned 46 men. Forty-three
survived more than five days underground in what still is considered one for
the greatest mine rescues. Here are excerpts from Kendrick Kimball's account
of the rescue that was published in The Detroit News on Sept. 30, 1926.
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IRONWOOD, Mich. --The 43 men who were
entombed 129 hours in the Pabst Iron Mine were sleeping peacefully in the
Grandview Hospital at daybreak today and by night most of them will be back
with their families with the long underground ordeal of suffering and
privation but a memory.
Grief has turned to joy over the rescue
of the 43 men, the last of whom reached the surface at 11:22 o'clock last
night. Today this mining town is in the midst of a thanksgiving celebration in
which everyone is taking a part.
As soon as they appeared from below, the
miners were taken to the first aid car of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, where they
were given stimulants. Then they were speeded to the hospital, after they had
an opportunity to greet their families. Trewartha was the last to go to the
hospital and he went there to "be with his men" not because he wanted more
medical attention, he said.
Scenes of great confusion were enacted as
the miners came out of the cage. Wives, mothers and children leaped into their
arms. Sons and brothers rushed forward to shake hands. The men, bearded and
haggard, and wrapped in blankets, broke down with emotion. One miner carried
his year-old child to the rescue car and would not part with her. Another
would not leave the side of his wife. A third, although he shivered from the
cold, jerked himself away from the men supporting him to kiss his mother.
"We knew it was only a matter of time
before we would be rescued," said Jacob Luoma. "We expected rescue by
Saturday. We could hear the drilling and blasting you know, and we were
conserving our strength to the last."
The miners devised various means of
spending their time, Luoma said. Sometimes they sang songs or popular tunes,
to impart cheer to the weaker men, whose courage had begun to desert them, or
to keep up their own. Sometimes they joined with Leonard Uren, Salvation Army
worker and a miner for many years, in hymns. Sometimes they sat around in a
circle and discussed politics and in their solemn moments they talked of
religion.
"Some of us prayed, too," said Luoma. "It
made us feel better to pray."
The men pooled their lunches, which had
been partially eaten before the cave-in of the shaft Friday noon, and
Trewartha rationed out the food in small bits, a square inch of bread or cake
at a time. But it lasted a little more than a day and then the birch bark tea
became the only food.
Several other miners said, "It wasn't
bad, you get sick from hunger after the first day or so and then it doesn't
bother you afterwards. You just get weaker, that's all. We didn't dare think
of food, however. Yes, we will be back at work in a couple of days."
The rescue of the 43 men will live for
years as one of the heroic epics of the Gogebic Range. The rescue party
consisted of Oscar Olson, chief mining engineer; Harry W. Byrne, mining
captain; George Hawes, safety expert and Matt Wicklund, a miner. Hawes was the
first to reach them. Trewartha greeted him and then shouted back into the
passageway, "Yoho--boys--wake up--they're here." There came exclamations of
surprise, wild yells of exaltation, as sleeping men, who had awakened with a
start, scrambled to their feet and made their way to the shaft station,
tottering from their weakness.
"What do you need the worst, boys?" asked
Olson.
"Tobacco," responded the miners, and
Hawes produced a cigar. He gave it to one of the men, who lit it with a
borrowed match. In a twinkling seven men were smoking the cigar, passing it
from one to another.
Ironwood went wild with joy when shortly
after 2 p.m. it became known that the miners had been reached and were alive
and well. Half the population started for the mines. The Red Ore road leading
to H shaft was choked with automobiles and men and women streamed over the
open fields from every direction. Extra police were called out to keep the
crowds out of the roped area round the shaft. Women were predominant in the
crowds, many of them the mothers, sisters and wives of the entombed men. Some
wept, some laughed hysterically and some turned their faces upward in
thanksgiving. Others strove to shake the hands of Hawes, Byrne and Wicklund.
D. G. Kerr, vice president of the U.S.
Steel Corporation, owners of the Oliver Iron Mining Co., and D. E. Sutherland,
superintendent of the mine, soon went to the shaft, both grinning from ear to
ear. Sutherland's eyes were damp and his mouth quivered with emotion.
"You don't know how relieved I am that
the men are safe," he said. "I feel 10 years younger."
Perhaps the happiest man in Ironwood was
Michael Collins, county mining inspector for the last six years. Collins,
whose duty it is to inspect the shaft, was blamed for the disaster by
relatives and friends of the miners, and the old man took the censure very
much to heart. Dozens of persons came to his home to upbraid him and threats
of violence were made repeatedly. Police guarded the home from time to time as
the crowds became menacing, and Harry Collins, the inspector's son and game
warden for this district, spent his nights on the front steps with a deer
rifle in his hands.
Statements from the miners that the shaft
had been in poor condition for a year and that repairs had been neglected,
caused John B. Chapple, managing editor of the Ashland Daily Press in
Wisconsin to ask for a Federal investigation of the cave in. He wrote:
"The Daily Press further declares that
fatal accidents in Gogebic County in the last 30 years have totaled more than
500, or an average roughly of one life for every 250,000 to 300,000 tons of
ore mined."
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Ironwood Junior College, now GCC, was
initially established in 1932 and operated as part of the Ironwood Public
School System. Housed on the third floor of the L.L. Wright High School, it
opened its doors that September to approximately 188 students. In 1938, the
name was changed to Gogebic Junior College.
For over half a century, the city park
had a bandshell of sorts where people listened to the bands and Holemo's
orchestra on warm summer evenings. The circular sidewalk around the park was
filled with boys and girls. The girls seemed to walk in one direction around
the park as the boys walked in the other direction. Eyes met, hands were held
and soon couples were walking in the same direction. (A bandshell was
constructed to replace the one that burned down. It is called the "Holemo
Bandshell" in honor of Mathias Holemo.)
Today, many of the old buildings have been torn
down. The headframes of the mines are gone. But the most important part of the
city, the people, are still there. Ironwood's current economic base includes
lumber processing and forest products manufacturing, concrete production, tool
manufacturing and tourism. A popular skiing area during the winter, it has
several slopes nearby, including Mt. Zion to the north, which overlooks
Gogebic Community College.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the
population of Ironwood in 2000 was 8,623.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DID YOU KNOW...?
...that from Ironwood, it's only 275
miles to Minneapolis, Minnesota?
...that from Ironwood, it's only 110
miles to Duluth, Minnesota?
..that from Ironwood, it's only 350
miles to Milwaukee, Wisconsin?
...that Ironwood is 350 miles away
from the Mackinac Bridge, which crosses into Michigan's Lower Peninsula?
..that Ironwood is 625 miles from
Detroit?
