The Calumet and Hecla Industrial District is a historic district located in Calumet, Michigan and roughly bounded by Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad tracks, Calumet Avenue, Mine and Depot Streets. The district contains structures associated with the copper mines worked by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, located along a line above the copper lode, where railroad tracks connected separate mine heads. The Historic District is completely contained in the Calumet Historic District (a National Historic Landmark District) and the Keweenaw National Historical Park. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
History
The copper lode underneath the Calumet and Hecla Industrial District was discovered in 1858 by Edwin J. Hulbert, who immediately garnered investors, bought the property, and established the Hulbert Mining Company. The Hulbert Mining Company had two subsidiaries: the Calumet Mining Company and the Hecla Mining Company. Hulbert began mining operations in the area, but his inexperience resulted in low yields. In 1867, his investors replaced him with Alexander Agassiz. Under Agassiz's management, the Calumet and Hecla mines rapidly increased production, and by 1870 were producing over half of the United States' copper. In 1871, the Calumet and Hecla Mining Companies were consolidated, along with the Scott and Portland Mining Companies, to form the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company.
Agassiz was the president of the newly incorporated company, a position he held until his death in 1910. The company prospered under his leadership; in particular it underwent substantial growth between 1880 and 1910, when most of these buildings currently standing in the district were built. However, after a 1913 mining strike, the company gradually declined, and was weakened further by the onset of the Great Depression. Finally, in 1968, the company was purchased by Universal Oil Products, who closed the Keweenaw mines for good.
Buildings
There are ten buildings in the district: the Machine Shop, the "Blacksmith Shop," (misidentified as such; actually the Pipe Shop), the Roundhouse, Warehouse #2, the Superior Boilerhouse, the Gearhouse, the General Office Building, the Library, the Bathhouse, and the Miscowaubik Club. These structures, constructed primarily during the 1880s, represent the second generation of mine buildings constructed at the site; the earliest structures were destroyed by fire or razed. These buildings are part of a larger industrial complex of mine-related buildings, originally built by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, that still stand in the area along Calumet Avenue and Mine Street.
Machine Shop (c. 1882)
The machine shop is a two-story structure, long and wide, made of coursed mine rock with a hipped gable roof covered in corrugated sheet metal. A clerestory window admits light to the interior, which is floored in concrete. The original machine shop was designed around 1882 by Erasmus D. Leavitt Jr., a consulting engineer with Calumet & Hecla; it was used to repair large equipment, including mining skips and trams. A major reconstruction was performed in 1907, and additions were made in 1911; it is likely that the building in its current form dates entirely from these two years.
Blacksmith Shop (Pipe Shop) (1883) The blacksmith shop, built in 1883, is a hipped-roof structure built of rock, measuring by 54 feet and roofed with corrugated metal. It was originally used as a locomotive house for the narrow gauge Calumet & Hecla railroad. It was later used as a smith shop; an addition was constructed in 1904.
Roundhouse (1888) The roundhouse is built of coursed mine rock masonry in the shape of a semicircle with a turntable in the center. The original structure, built in 1888 to service locomotives for the Hecla and Torch Lake Railroad, ran approximately 170 degrees around the turntable, and had twelve train stalls ranging from deep on the south end and deep on the north. The structure is built of random mine rock with brick arches over the windows with a shed roof. Train bay doors are spanned with cast iron lintels.
A later addition from 1902 increased the circumferential span of the building by 55 degrees, adding five train bays. In 1907, three additions were made: a small shed and drying house, and a by machine shop. The machine shop was roofed by a low gable, and the eaves and construction matched that of the original structure. Finally, in 1928 an by storage area.
Warehouse #2
Warehouse number 2 was constructed with rail tracks running through it so that large items could be loaded inside.