Marenisco was established by a railroad company. It was in 1887, upon the plotting by the Milwaukee, Lake Shore, and Western Railway, that settlement began in Marenisco.

Curtis and Stone operated a large sawmill in Marenisco in 1887. The Fair Brothers built a mill in Marenisco in 1888. It was at this time that the town began to prosper. In 1905, the mill burned. It was succeeded by a mill built by the Charcoal Iron Company. It was a combination wood and lumber mill.

Named for Mary Enid Scott, wife of the founder.

The last stagecoach robbery in the United States took place on the Gogebic Stage Coach Road 10 miles from Marenisco on August 26, 1889. Bankers Adolph G. Fleischbein and D. Mackichor, both Illinois residents, were passengers enroute to Lake Gogebic for their summer vacations, when Reimund Holzhey held up and opened fire on the coach. D. Mackichor was shot in the mouth and knee, But Adolph G. Fleischbein fell to the ground mortally wounded.

The villain was Reimund Holzhey, who had terrorized northern Wisconsin for five months, robbing trains and waylaying stages. This "Black Bart" leaped in front of the morning stage making its way along Stagecoach Road from the railroad station. Sheriff Dave Foley of Bessemer organized a posse immediately upon receiving the news and gave hot pursuit. Five days later, on August 31, 1889, Marshall John Glode captured Holzhey at Republic in the Upper Peninsula. After his capture, Holzhey was taken immediately to Marquette for safekeeping.

The case went to trial and continued until November 16, 1889, when the jury returned a verdict of guilty. Holzhey was sentenced to life imprisonment at Marquette Prison. He was paroled in 1914 and worked in Marquette County. On September 24th, 1952, Holzey committed suicide at his home in Florida, at age 86.

Martin J. Gillen, born at Racine, Wisconsin in 1872, spent the last thirteen years of his life at his vast wilderness estate, "Tenderfoot," in Marenisco Township. He died there in 1943.

He was the man who introduced Bernard M. Baruch to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1917, Mr. Baruch became the chairman of the War Industries Board, and Mr. Gillen organized the "Industrial Mobilization Plan" for him. In 1918 and 1919, Mr. Gillen served as Mr. Baruch’s assistant in the War Industries Board.

As an attorney, Mr. Gillen was an advisor and consultant for many of the large corporations in the United States. He was a specialist in economics and large corporations from bankruptcy.

Mr. Gillen is an example of some of the brilliant American leaders who spent a great part of their lives in Gogebic County.