To Copper Country locals, “White City” today evokes images of a sandy beach–a rarity in the Keweenaw–with the Huron Mountains’ verdant, distant slopes rising above a glistening Lake Superior. Visitors reach this beach by driving south from Lake Linden toward Jacobsville, following a winding township road that offers glimpses of Torch Lake. A hundred years . . .
Dominic and Mary Vairo were in their kitchen when they heard the commotion upstairs. The voices were loud, insistent, emotional. Had a fight broken out? With tension palpable in town, fisticuffs even at a party would surprise no one. Worse–as Dominic listened closer to the cries–was it a fire? A fire kindling on the second . . .
It was the boss’s house, the boss’s rules, and the boss’s style. Michigan’s copper mines regularly provided housing to their workforces. Indeed, a company who did not offer dwellings felt itself at a disadvantage in trying to attract workers. Thus row after row of homes arose in the shadows of shafthouses, echoing quietly with the . . .
From the earliest days of silent films in nickelodeons to the convenience of Netflix, Americans have embraced movies with a passion reserved for few other entertainments. What date could be more typical than dinner and a movie? How many of us recall in vivid detail our first film or a movie that inspired our first . . .
To this day, organizations fielding questions about Copper Country tourist attractions receive calls from people wanting to know, “Is Arcadian still open?” Visitors to our Keweenaw Peninsula often seek to immerse themselves in the industry that made our area famous. For many of them, this takes the form of a mine tour. Underground, with craggy . . .
When Alfred Nicholls came to Central Mine from his native Cornwall in May 1880, he confessed himself “not very favorably impressed with America,” including Central. Central would prove to be a place of great tragedy, perseverance, and triumph that changed his life in ways he never imagined. In finding Central Mine, Alfred Nicholls found his . . .
The Michigan Tech Archives will continue to operate on a by-appointment basis during the fall 2021 semester (Aug. 30 to Dec. 17) with expanded hours to include appointments on Mondays. Appointments may be scheduled from 1-5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Requests for appointments must be confirmed by staff at least one business day prior to . . .
Jooseppi was born on the eve of great changes for Finland. Finns had been journeying to the New World since the mid-17th century, when a group of them ventured out as settlers to colonize Delaware for Sweden. As Armas K.E. Holmio, writing his seminal history of Michigan Finns, put it, despite the name, New Sweden . . .
Illness and injury are an unavoidable part of life, an unpleasant reality that all must confront at some inevitable point. In a nineteenth-century mining community, the truth of this statement seemed perhaps more palpable than in most societies. Men at work underground, at the surface, or in the mill regularly sustained injuries ranging from painful . . .
Behind every family business are two tales: the story of the business and the story of the family. Thurner Bakery in Calumet offers one such example. This week’s Flashback Friday provides another intimate illustration by visiting the Krackerbarrel. Students at Michigan Tech in the 1960s and 1970s would have known the little store as well . . .