Keweenaw National Historical Park is part of the U.S. National Park Service. Created in 1992, the park honors the history and people of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a park managed by the federal government and local communities, with two main areas: the Calumet Unit and the Quincy Unit. These units, along with nearly two dozen "Heritage Sites," are located on federal, state, and private lands around the Keweenaw Peninsula. The National Park Service owns about 1,700 acres (690 hectares) in the Calumet and Quincy Units. These areas are in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties.
The law passed by Congress to create the park stated, among other things, that:
Copper heritage
The Keweenaw Peninsula has the largest known deposits of native copper in the world. This copper is found in a very pure form, making it easy to remove from the rock and shape into many different items, such as jewelry, tools, coins, and electric wire. Copper was mined in this area for about 7,000 years, beginning around 5000 BCE and ending in 1968. From 1840 to 1968, more than 11 billion pounds (5 million metric tons) of copper were mined here. During World War I, from 1916 to 1917, the amount of copper produced each year reached its highest level, with 270 million pounds (125,000 metric tons) mined annually.
Ethnic heritage
Many different groups of people helped shape the history of the Keweenaw National Historical Park. During the late 1800s and the first 20 years of the 1900s, people from across Europe moved to the Keweenaw to work in copper mines and mining communities. By 1910, the Copper Country was home to people from France, Germany, China, Ireland, Cornwall, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Greece, and Syria.
When news about the area’s rich copper deposits spread in the 1830s, many families from Cornwall, England, moved to the Upper Peninsula. They brought with them a type of food called the Cornish pasty and their knowledge of mining hard rock. Some park Heritage Sites, like the log cabin village called "Old Victoria," show the influence of Cornish culture in the region.
In the later part of the 1800s, many families from Finland moved to the United States. Until 1918, Finland was part of Russia. Many Finns settled in the Western Upper Peninsula because they saw similarities between their old homes and their new ones. They found work in the Keweenaw. Finnish saunas are still found in the area today. Some park Heritage Sites, such as the "Hanka Homestead," remember the large number of Finns who lived there.
Calumet Unit
The Calumet Unit of the Keweenaw National Historical Park includes many places in and around the towns of Calumet and Laurium. These towns are not ghost towns but active communities that continue to exist after the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company closed in 1968. Miners and company owners found rock layers containing pieces of nearly pure copper by digging shafts into the rock.
The Calumet & Hecla was the most productive copper mine in the Keweenaw region. The buildings constructed near the mine, such as a 1,200-seat opera house, large churches made of Lake Superior brownstone, and homes built by mine managers, remain as reminders of the mine’s successful past.
- Main Office of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company (now the Headquarters of the National Historical Park)
- Company Library and Bathhouse for employees
- Warehouse of the C&H Mining Company in Calumet, Michigan.
Quincy Unit
The Quincy Unit of the Keweenaw National Historical Park honors one of the greatest engineering achievements in northern Michigan: the Quincy Mine shaft, which is 9,000 feet (2,700 meters) deep. Known as "Old Reliable" because it provided money to owners every year for many decades, the Quincy Mine was located on the rich copper deposits of the Pewabic Lode. A private group works to preserve the Quincy Mine's surface hoist, which is the largest steam-powered hoist in the world.
- Quincy Unit, Keweenaw National Historical Park
- Quincy Mine plan prepared by HAER, part of the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.
- Quincy Smelting Works plan prepared by HAER, part of the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.
- Mine Hoist Powerhouse for the Quincy Mine Hoist.
- KNHP sign for the Quincy Mine.
Heritage Sites
As of 2023, the Keweenaw National Historical Park works with 23 heritage sites in the Keweenaw Peninsula and nearby areas. The heritage site system was created in 2007 with 19 original sites. In October 2013, two new sites were added: Houghton's Carnegie Museum and the Michigan Technological University Archives.
The Adventure Mining Company is located at 200 Adventure Avenue in Greenland, Michigan. The Adventure Mine operated in Greenland from 1850 until 1920 and had five shafts, one of which reached 1,300 feet (400 m) below the surface. Although the mine looked promising, it never made a profit. Today, the company offers tours of the mine’s surface and underground areas.
The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum was located on the Fifth Floor of the Electrical Resource Center at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. As of 2011, it moved to a location across from the Advanced Technology Development Complex. The museum is named after Arthur Edmund Seaman, who worked at Michigan Tech in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and served as the museum’s curator from 1928 to 1937.
The mineral collection began in the 19th century and had 27,000 specimens by 1890. A museum to display the collection was built in 1908. The museum has moved several times, and the collection now includes over 30,000 specimens, with 8,000 on display. The museum shows a large mineral collection and exhibits about copper formation. It also holds the world’s best collection of crystallized native copper and native copper in crystallized calcite.
The Carnegie Museum in Houghton was once a Carnegie library and the home of the Portage Lake District Library. It is now a museum that focuses on local history.
The Calumet Theatre is located at 340 Sixth Street in Calumet, Michigan, within the park’s Calumet Unit. The theatre was built in 1899 and opened on March 20, 1900. It was the first theatre in the United States built by a city. The theatre originally hosted live performances by famous actors, including Frank Morgan (later known for The Wizard of Oz), Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Lon Chaney, Sr., John Philip Sousa, Sarah Bernhardt, and Madame Helena Modjeska. Later, it became a movie theater and remained one until the 1950s. Summer stock theatre returned in 1958 and continued until 1968, then again in 1972.
In 1975, the theatre’s auditorium was restored for its 100th anniversary. In 1988–89, the theatre’s exterior was restored. In 1983, the Calumet Theatre Company became a nonprofit organization. Most of the staff are volunteers, but eight full-time employees also work there. Today, the theatre hosts up to 80 events each year, with about 20,000 people attending.
The Chassell Heritage Center is located at 42373 Hancock Street in Chassell, Michigan. The center is in a 1917 elementary school building and shows exhibits about Chassell’s history as a fishing and lumber town up to today. It includes the Chassell Township Museum and the Friends of Fashion Vintage Clothing Collection.
The Copper Range Historical Museum is located on Trimountain Avenue in South Range, Michigan. The museum is in an old bank building and shows exhibits about the Copper Range Company.
The Coppertown USA Museum is located at 25815 Red Jacket Road in Calumet, Michigan, within the park’s Calumet Unit. The museum is in the old pattern shop of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. Exhibits cover the history of copper mining from ancient times to today, with a focus on the operations of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company.
The Delaware Copper Mine is located off U.S. Highway 41, 12 miles (19 km) south of Copper Harbor, Michigan. The mine offers tours of one of the oldest copper mines in the Keweenaw, dating back to 1846. The mine had five shafts, with the deepest reaching 1,400 feet (430 m). The mine is open from June through October and provides guided and self-guided tours.
The Finnish American Heritage Center & Historical Archive is located at 601 Quincy Street on the campus of Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan. The center includes a theater, an art gallery, and historical archives that hold the largest collection of Finnish-North American materials in the world. The center connects the Finnish community in America to Finland through exhibits on Finnish history and traditions. The historical archive, started in 1932, currently holds 20,000 items, including genealogical resources, cultural information, artifacts, and Finnish-American artwork.
Fort Wilkins Historic State Park is located on U.S. Highway 41 in Copper Harbor, Michigan. The fort was built in 1844 and protected the Keweenaw’s copper resources during the Civil War. The park also includes one of the first lighthouses on Lake Superior and offers camping, fishing, hiking, swimming, biking, and day-use facilities.
The Hanka Homestead is located about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of U.S. Highway 41, off Tower Road in Pelkie, Michigan. The Hanka Homestead is a Finnish-American "stump farm" homestead settled around the start of the 20th century. The Hanka family lived there until 1966, and the farm has been restored to look like it did in 1920.
The Houghton County Historical Museum is located at 5500 M-26 in Lake Linden, Michigan. The museum has over 100 years of photographs and artifacts, with three floors of exhibits about local Copper Country mining, logging, and cultural history. The museum also operates the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge Lake Linden & Torch Lake Railroad, the Traprock Valley School House (a one-room school), the First Congregational Church in Lake Linden (used as the HCHS Heritage Center), the Leo Chaput Log Cabin, and the Perl Merrill Research Center (used as archives and a genealogical facility).
The Keweenaw County Historical Society, started in 1981, has five locations in Keweenaw County, Michigan. These locations include the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, Central Mine Historic