Sand Hills Lighthouse: 1919 Keweenaw Light, Now Private
Sand Hills Lighthouse on Five Mile Point went up in 1919 after a new freighter hit Sawtooth Reef, lost its keepers in 1939, sold...
How the U.P. became the U.P.
History & Culture
People, places, traditions, industries, and turning points that shaped Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Keweenaw & Copper Country
43 stories from this part of the U.P.
Keweenaw Mountain Lodge: History, Access and Season
Keweenaw County built a log lodge, golf course and cabins near Copper Harbor when its unemployment ran past 70 percent. It owned the place...
Keweenaw Waterway: What Was Dug, What Was Already There
Locals call the top of the Keweenaw "Copper Island." The waterway that cuts it off runs 25 miles. The part anyone actually dug is...
Why a U.P. Pasty Is Not a Cornish Pasty
Britain protected the name Cornish pasty in 2011, and the specification rules out every pasty made in the Upper Peninsula. Here is how the...
Pequaming: The U.P. Town Henry Ford Bought
In 1923 Henry Ford bought Pequaming and 40,000 acres from the Hebard family. He ran the mill for car parts, raised wages, built schools...
The 1896 Ontonagon Fire, 130 Years On
On August 25, 1896, a swamp fire driven by a gale reached the Diamond Match Company's lumber yards and burned 344 buildings in Ontonagon,...
Lake Linden's 1887 Fire and the Brick Downtown It Built
On May 20, 1887 a fire that started on one roof burned most of Lake Linden because the village owned no fire equipment. The...
Keweenaw County Courthouse: Eagle River's 1866 Seat
Keweenaw County has about 2,000 residents and its seat is Eagle River, population 65. The courthouse there was built in 1866 for $6,578, dressed...
Ahmeek Streetcar Station: From Interurban Stop to Dairy Bar
The Houghton County Traction Company ran electric streetcars through the Copper Country from 1900 until 1932. Its 1909 Ahmeek station is still in business,...
The Douglass House: Houghton's Hotel and Its Chicago Pedigree
Houghton's Douglass House doubled to 100 rooms in 1899, designed by an Adler and Sullivan draftsman and built by Paul Mueller, who later built...
Old Main: The Finnish College That Outlasted All the Others
Suomi College opened Old Main in Hancock in 1900, one sandstone building holding dormitory, chapel, library and classrooms. It became the longest-surviving Finnish-founded school...
Hanka Homestead: A Finnish Farm Still Set in the 1920s
A Finnish immigrant family homesteaded 40 acres in Baraga County in 1896 and stayed until 1966. The hewn log buildings, sauna included, still stand...
White City: The U.P. Resort You Reached by Steamboat
In 1908 promoters built a dance pavilion, hotel, and roller coaster at Portage Entry near Jacobsville. Visitors came by steamboat for about fifty cents...
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