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Calumet, Michigan
Village
Village of Calumet
Looking north along 5th Street
Looking north along 5th Street
Nickname(s): 
"Coppertown USA"
Location within Houghton County
Location within Houghton County
Calumet, Michigan is located in Michigan
Calumet, Michigan
Calumet, Michigan
Location in Michigan
Country  United States
State  Michigan
County Houghton
Township Calumet
Settled 1864
Area
 • Total 0.20 sq mi (0.52 km2)
 • Land 0.20 sq mi (0.52 km2)
 • Water 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation
1,214 ft (370 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 621
 • Density 3,105/sq mi (1,194.23/km2)
Time zone UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
49913
Area code(s) 906
FIPS code 26-12580
GNIS feature ID 0622468

Calumet (/ˌkæljuˈmɛt/ kal-YUU-met or locally /ˌkæljəˈmɛt/ kal-YƏ-met) is a village in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The village is located within Calumet Township, Houghton County, and had a population of 621 at the 2020 census.

Calumet was once the center of Michigan's copper mining industry. The village is home to a unit of Keweenaw National Historical Park, and also includes the Calumet Downtown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Most of the village itself is also included within the Calumet Historic District, a larger area which is NRHP-listed and which is a National Historic Landmark District.

History

Calumet5thStreet
Fifth Street, looking north, Red Jacket circa 1910
CalumetHecla
View of Calumet & Hecla Company town circa 1910

What is now Calumet was settled in 1864, originally under the name of Red Jacket, for a Native American Chief of the Seneca tribe. Until 1895 the name "Calumet" was used by the nearby town of Laurium, Michigan; present-day Calumet was not legally named so until 1929.

Red Jacket grew due to the copper mines in the area. It was incorporated as a town in 1867. The copper mines were particularly rich; the Boston-based Calumet and Hecla Mining Company produced more than half of the United States' copper from 1871 through 1880. In addition to copper mining and smelting, the region also supported the dairy industry and truck farming. Many immigrants (from Poland and other countries) settled there in the late 19th century.

Calumetvictims-1913
The victims in rough caskets, 1913

By 1900, Red Jacket had a population of 4,668, and Calumet Township, which contained Red Jacket and nearby mining towns, had a population of 25,991. However, in 1913, Red Jacket suffered from the Copper Country Strike of 1913–1914, and the population began to decline. In the same year, the town was the site of the Italian Hall Disaster. Striking miners and their families were gathered on Christmas Eve for a party in Italian Hall, when the cry of "fire" precipitated a stampede that crushed or suffocated seventy-three victims, over half of them children under ten years old. The identity of the person(s) who started the stampede has never been determined. Folk singer Woody Guthrie's 1945 song, "1913 Massacre", is based on this event.

Loss of wartime demand caused the copper price to drop following World War I. With the decreased demand for copper, thousands left Red Jacket in the 1920s, many moving to Detroit, Michigan, where the automobile industry was booming.

During the Great Depression, almost all mines were shut down. As a result, many miners and their families left to find work. In 1950, the population of Calumet was 1,256 people. Small-time mining continued in the area, particularly during World War II, until it was shut down completely by a labor strike in 1968.

In 1984, Calumet's name was borrowed by Hollywood. Calumet was moved from Michigan to Colorado, where it was invaded by Soviet paratroopers in the original Red Dawn film. Producer and screenwriter Kevin Reynolds was seasonal resident in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Calumet, Michigan panorama c1900
Calumet c. 1900 from east (Oak Street in foreground; note the twin steeples of St. Paul's in right center)

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.20 square miles (0.52 km2), all of it land.

Calumet is at an elevation of 1,209 feet (369 m) above sea level. The village of Calumet sits on 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of underground mine shafts, drifts and stopes, empty for many decades. Large portions of the Keweenaw National Historical Park are located inside the village limits, mostly covering the intricate complex of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company's main operations.

Transportation

Major highways

  • US 41 passes just outside village limits, and serves as a primarily southwest–northeast route on Copper Island. The highway can be used to access Hancock and Houghton about 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest, and further on to cities like Marquette and Escanaba. Immediately southeast of Calumet is an intersection with M-26, which can be used to access Laurium and Lake Linden.
  • M-203 passes immediately north of the village. The route is a primarily recreational route, providing access to McLain State Park and the Keweenaw Waterway between Calumet and Hancock.

Airport

Houghton County Memorial Airport (KCMX), largely in nearby Oneco, serves Calumet, Houghton County and the surrounding communities.

Train

Calumet was host to a number of railroad routes, including:

  • The Copper Range Railroad traveled through Calumet and continued northeast to the stamp mills at Gay.
  • The Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad, which carried ore from the mines in the village off to the stamp mills in Lake Linden.
  • The Mineral Range Railroad also operated here.

People and culture

Food

One of the biggest parts of the food culture of not only Calumet, but the entire Copper Country, is the pasty. This was a main part of copper miners' diets. A pasty is a mixture of meat, potatoes, rutabaga, carrots and onions wrapped in a crust made of flour and lard. Traditionally Cornish, they have even sparked local events such as the Pasty Fest, where there are eating contests (with consumption of pasties, of course), games, events, and even a tug of war event where the losers take a dive into an inflatable pool filled with ketchup.

Theatre

CalumetTheatre CalumetMI
The historic Calumet Theatre opened on March 20, 1900.

The Calumet Theatre is a theater and opera house which opened in 1900. In 1898, the copper mining industry was booming, and the town had an enormous surplus in its treasury. The town council decided to spend some of the surplus on a theater. The theater hosted a large number of famous actors, musicians, and opera singers. With the closing of the mines, the theater became a movie theater and fell into general disrepair for many years. In 1975, the town began a large project to repair and restore the theater, which is now used for many local and touring productions. The theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 5, 1971, and is also a Michigan State Historic Site. The Theatre was the original recording venue of the Red Jacket Jamboree, an old-time radio variety show heard on Michigan public radio stations including Interlochen Public Radio and WNMU Public Radio 90.

Summer activities

Every two years there is an all-school reunion for the graduates of Calumet High School. Many activities occur at this time, including a classic car show and parade.

Calumet July 2007 Car Show
Classic cars seen in a parade in Calumet Township

Pasty Fest is a one-day event that takes place every summer downtown Calumet. The event celebrates the pasty, which was brought over by Cornish miners in the mid 1800s. The meat and vegetable "pie" became a staple for miners throughout the Upper Peninsula. The event includes a parade, street fair, live music, a pasty eating contest and a competition among restaurants for the best pasty.

Public education

Public education in Calumet is served by Public Schools of Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw. High school education is served by Calumet High School, whose teams are known as the "Copper Kings".

Churches

St. Paul the Apostle Church

St. Paul the Apostle Church
St. Paul the Apostle Church

St. Paul the Apostle Church, formerly known as St. Joseph's Catholic Church, was formed in 1889 by Slovenian immigrants who came to the Calumet area to work in the booming copper mines. The first church that they built burnt down in 1902, but the church was rebuilt in sandstone by 1908. The church "rises authoritatively over the village like a cathedral of medieval Europe." When the church was completed, the cost of construction was an amazing $100,000. It is constructed of local Jacobsville sandstone, and features beautiful stained glass windows, a custom-built 19’ by 18’ pipe organ, and a beautifully painted interior. The interior of the church remains virtually unchanged architecturally. In 1966, four of the five Catholic churches in the Calumet area were forced to merge because of the low number of parishioners and economic constraints. This included St. Anne's (the French church), St. John's (the Croatian church), St. Mary's (the Italian church), and St. Joseph's. The combined parish is housed in the old St. Joseph's building, and has changed its name to St. Paul the Apostle Church. Today, they have a large and active congregation, which pays for the upkeep of the church.

Protestant churches

The city, at one time, Calumet had six active Lutheran churches (two of which were Laestadian), three Methodist churches, as well as an Episcopal, Congregationalist, Baptist and Presbyterian church.

Today, only one Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopal church remain open. Additionally, another Baptist church has opened. Two of the former Lutheran churches and the Presbyterian church are still standing today but are not in use.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
1880 2,140 —
1890 3,073 43.6%
1900 4,668 51.9%
1910 4,211 −9.8%
1920 2,390 −43.2%
1930 1,557 −34.9%
1940 1,400 −10.1%
1950 1,256 −10.3%
1960 1,139 −9.3%
1970 1,007 −11.6%
1980 1,013 0.6%
1990 830 −18.1%
2000 879 5.9%
2010 726 −17.4%
2020 621 −14.5%
U.S. Decennial Census

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 726 people, 376 households, and 161 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,630.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,401.6/km2). There were 512 housing units at an average density of 2,560.0 per square mile (988.4/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 96.8% White, 0.4% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.5% of the population.

There were 376 households, out of which 21.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.4% were married couples living together, 14.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 57.2% were non-families. 48.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.93 and the average family size was 2.78.

The median age in the village was 40.4 years. 20.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.5% were from 25 to 44; 27.6% were from 45 to 64; and 18.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.

Elections

Presidential election results
Year Republican Democratic Third parties
2016 53.31% 137 36.96% 95 9.73% 25
2012 48.46% 110 49.34% 112 2.2% 5
2008 44% 110 52.8% 132 3.2% 8

Attractions

Some of the notable attractions in the village include:

Notable people

Gallery

  • Fifth Street 2017

    Looking down historic Fifth Street in 2017

  • Calumet Theater P1180054

    The Calumet Theater on 6th Street in 2004

  • CALUMET MICH DOWNTOWN DSC01895

    Downtown Calumet, including one of the historic wooden churches

  • Italian Hall Site 2018 4

    The site of the now-razed Italian Hall. This was the site of the Italian Hall disaster, one of the most tragic events in American labour history and the climax of a bloody, tense strike. The event changed the Keweenaw forever.

  • Calumet in 2016

    The Village of Calumet in 2016

  • Miskatonic Club Calumet MI

    The Miscowaubik Club of Calumet in 2011

  • CalumetColosseumMichigan

    Calumet Colosseum, the world's oldest operating indoor ice arena

  • Keweenaw Storytelling Center

    Christmas window display at the Keweenaw Storytelling Center

  • Kweenaw Storytelling Center, Calumet, Michigan

    Keweenaw Storytelling Center located on 5th Street (2020)

  • Calumet6th Street

    6th Street, looking north

  • Proscenium stage at the Calumet Theatre

    Interior of the Calumet Theatre on 6th Street

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Calumet (Míchigan) para niños

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