Ironwood, Michigan Ironwood is a city in Gogebic County in the U.S. state of Michigan, about 18 miles (29 km) south of Lake Superior. The population was 5,387 at the 2010 census. The city is on US 2 and is situated opposite the Montreal River from Hurley, Wisconsin. It is the westernmost city in Michigan, situated on the same line of longitude (90.2 degrees West) as Clinton, Iowa and St. Louis, Missouri. While originally an iron mining town, the area is now known for its downhill skiing resorts, including Big Powderhorn, Blackjack, Indianhead, Mount Zion and Whitecap as well as its cross country skiing at the Wolverine Nordic Trail System. Ironwood is home of the Worlds Tallest Indian : a 52 ft (15.8 m) fiberglass statue of tribal leader Hiawatha. The town of Ironwood was settled in the spring of 1885. The town was incorporated as a village in 1887 and as a city on April 8, 1889. The township area north of the city was incorporated as Ironwood Township on April 8, 1889. In 1890 the population of Ironwood passed 7500 and in 1900 it reached 10000.[6] Iron ore was found in the area in the 1870s but it wasnt until the mid-1880s when the arrival of the railroad to the area opened it for more extensive exploration of the vast iron ore deposits. Soon several mines were discovered and opened such as the Norrie mine, Aurora mine, Ashland mine, Newport mine, and Pabst mine. The opening of the mines and the lumber works in the area led to a rapid influx of immigrants both from other parts of the USA and directly from Europe (mainly Sweden, Germany, England, Italy, Poland, Finland). On September 17, 1887, a disastrous fire swept over half of the business portion of the town, although the buildings that were lost were quickly rebuilt. In 1926, the Pabst Mine Disaster took place, killing three miners and trapping 43 more for up to five days. Its names origin is usually considered to be from the following: James (Iron) Wood was a mining captain who worked for Fredrick Rhinelander. Arriving on the train to this wilderness camp, Mr. Rhinelander named the town in honor of his captain. Theres a small park at the corner of North Suffolk and Fredrick Streets in honor of James Wood. Fredrick Street was in turn named after Fredrick Rhinelander for whom Rhinelander, Wisconsin was named. The Ironwood Theatre Complex (now The Historic Ironwood Theatre Center for the Performing Arts) is on the National Register of Historic Places In the early 1960s, the U.S. Air Force established a Strategic Air Command (SAC) Radar Bomb Scoring site atop Norrie hill to track and score simulated bomb runs by B-52s and B-47s on targets in the Ironwood area. It was used for both high altitude and treetop level bomb runs. A monument is erected south of Hurley, Wisconsin to remember those crew members killed in two B-47 low level runs. The site was moved to Charlevoix, Mi. in the mid 60s. The religious life among the immigrants of different nationalities was very active. Already in the early 1890s there were twelve different churches in Ironwood. The Methodist Episcopal Church The Jessieville Methodist Episcopal Church St Ambrose Church (Catholic) St Michaels Church (Catholic) First Swedish Baptist Church Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church Swedish Mission Church (Covenant Church) Swedish Lutheran Church First Finnish Lutheran Church The First Presbyterian Church St Pauls Episcopal Church The First Apostolic Lutheran Church cityofironwood.org/ ironwoodmichigan/ ironwoodchamber.org/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood,_Michigan #UPMichigan #UpperPeninsula #LakeEffectSnow #Snow #PureMichigan #Yooper #IronwoodMI
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 22:44:00 +0000
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