kids encyclopedia robot

Iron Mountain, Michigan facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Iron Mountain, Michigan
City of Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain City Hall
Iron Mountain City Hall
Location within Dickinson County
Location within Dickinson County
Iron Mountain, Michigan is located in Michigan
Iron Mountain, Michigan
Iron Mountain, Michigan
Location in Michigan
Iron Mountain, Michigan is located in the United States
Iron Mountain, Michigan
Iron Mountain, Michigan
Location in the United States
Country United States
State Michigan
County Dickinson
Settled 1878; 146 years ago (1878)
Incorporated 1887; 137 years ago (1887)(village)
1889; 135 years ago (1889) (city)
Government
 • Type Council–manager
Area
 • Total 8.21 sq mi (21.27 km2)
 • Land 7.54 sq mi (19.53 km2)
 • Water 0.67 sq mi (1.73 km2)
Elevation
1,138 ft (347 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 7,518
 • Density 997.08/sq mi (384.97/km2)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code(s)
49801, 49802, 49831
Area code(s) 906
FIPS code 26-40960
GNIS feature ID 0629079

Iron Mountain is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Michigan. The population was 7,518 at the 2020 census, down from 7,624 at the 2010 census. In the state's Upper Peninsula, Iron Mountain was named for the valuable iron ore found in the vicinity.

Iron Mountain is the principal city of the Iron Mountain, MI–WI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Dickinson County, Michigan and Florence County in Wisconsin.

Iron Mountain hosts a few points of interest such as the Millie Hill bat cave and the Cornish Pump, and is located adjacent to the Pine Mountain Jump, one of the largest artificial ski jumps in the world. It shares Woodward Avenue with the neighboring town, Kingsford. In addition, Iron Mountain is known for its pasties, bocce ball tournaments, and World Cup ski jumps. Iron Mountain was also named a "Michigan Main Street" community by Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm in 2006. It is one of only thirteen such communities in the state of Michigan in 2008. It is also the hometown of Michigan State University men's basketball coach Tom Izzo and former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci.

Geography

2009-0619-IronMountain-Courthouse
Dickinson County Courthouse and Jail, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.04 square miles (20.82 km2), of which, 7.37 square miles (19.09 km2) of it is land and 0.67 square miles (1.74 km2) is water.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1890 8,599
1900 9,242 7.5%
1910 9,216 −0.3%
1920 8,251 −10.5%
1930 11,652 41.2%
1940 11,080 −4.9%
1950 9,679 −12.6%
1960 9,299 −3.9%
1970 8,702 −6.4%
1980 8,341 −4.1%
1990 8,525 2.2%
2000 8,154 −4.4%
2010 7,624 −6.5%
2020 7,518 −1.4%
U.S. Decennial Census

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 7,624 people, 3,362 households, and 2,025 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,034.5 inhabitants per square mile (399.4/km2). There were 3,784 housing units at an average density of 513.4 per square mile (198.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 96.3% White, 0.5% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.6% of the population.

There were 3,362 households, of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.3% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.8% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.83.

The median age in the city was 42.4 years. 22.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.9% were from 25 to 44; 29.3% were from 45 to 64; and 17.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.2% male and 50.8% female.

Media

Newspaper

The newspaper of record in Dickinson County is The Daily News.

Television

Iron Mountain is included in the Marquette television market, NBC affiliate WLUC operates a local news bureau covering the city and neighboring areas. Due to distance from the transmitters and topography in the region terrestrial television signals are very limited in the area with the strongest signal coming from Wisconsin Public Television translator station W30DZ originating from Fence, WI.

Historically Iron Mountain was served by full power station WDHS which intermittently carried a religious format between long periods of silence, translators of various stations originating from Green Bay, and a handful of encrypted cable channels broadcast over the air.

Radio

Radio stations that are located within listening range of Iron Mountain include:

  • WNMU-FM 90.1 FM Northern Michigan University Marquette, National Public Radio
  • WMVM-FM 90.7 FM Goodman, Wi - Iron Mountain, Mi, Gospel
  • WVCM 91.5 FM VCY America Iron Mountain, Religious
  • WIMK 93.1 FM Iron Mountain, Classic Rock
  • WZNL 94.3 FM Norway, Adult Contemporary
  • WEUL 98.1 FM Gospel Opportunities Radio Network Kingsford, Religious
  • WIKB-FM 99.1 FM Iron River, Oldies
  • WOBE 100.7 FM Crystal Falls, Top 40/CHR
  • WJNR-FM 101.5 FM Iron Mountain, Frog Country
  • WGMV 106.3 FM Stephenson, Classic Country
  • WHTO 106.7 FM Iron Mountain, 80s Rock
  • WFER 1230 AM Iron River, Oldies
  • WMIQ 1450 AM Iron Mountain, Talk

Environmental importance

Iron Mountain's abandoned Millie Hill mine is home to one of the largest bat hibernacula in the Midwest. Roughly 25,000–50,000 bats make their winter home there. However, due to disease of bats in the midwest most of the colony has died.

Menominee Range

Geologic Map of the Iron Mountain area
Geologic map of the Iron Mountain area

Iron Mountain is located within the Menominee Iron-Bearing District, which covers southern Dickinson County and extends westward into Iron County. Iron ore was discovered in Dickinson County in 1849 and Iron County in 1851. Ore is produced from the middle Precambrian Vulcan Iron-Formation around Iron Mountain, and the Riverton Iron-Formation between Iron River, Michigan and Crystal Falls, Michigan. Both formations belong to the Marquette Range Supergroup. The Vulcan is between 300 and 800 feet thick and consists of hematite and magnetite with quartz, while the Riverton is 100–600 feet thick and consists of siderite and chert.

Transportation

Bus service

Indian Trails provides daily intercity bus service between St. Ignace and Ironwood, Michigan.

Major highways

  • US 2 runs east to Escanaba and west to Ironwood.
  • US 141 merges with US 2 just east of the city and heads northward toward Crystal Falls; southbound it continues on to Green Bay, Wisconsin.
  • M-95 connects with Kingsford just to the south and with M-69 east at Randville about 14 miles (23 km) north.

Airport

The Iron Mountain area is served by Ford Airport (airport code: KIMT). Commercial air travel is provided by SkyWest Airlines, providing jet service as Delta Connection. Located three miles west of the city, the airport handles approximately 7,600 operations per year, with roughly 27% commercial service, 57% air taxi and 16% general aviation. The airport has a 6,501 foot asphalt runway with approved ILS, GPS and NDB approaches (Runway 1-19) and a 3,808 foot asphalt crosswind runway (Runway 13-31).

Train

Soon after this area was settled the news of mineral riches brought the railroads. First was Milwaukee Road, then Chicago & Northwestern and Wisconsin and Michigan. The W&M Railroad, after its abandonment was approved ended all service in 1938.

The thriving of automobile usage in the 1950s caused the rail passenger usage to wain, and the Milwaukee Road discontinued the Chippewa passenger train altogether on February 2, 1960. With few riders remaining, the Copper Country Limited made its last runs on March 7, 1968. The C&NW also discontinued its service to Iron Mountain in the early 1960s.

Although there is currently no direct rail passenger service to Iron Mountain, Amtrak Thruway Bus Service connects to Marinette, Wisconsin.

Notable people

  • James L. Adams, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
  • Randy Awrey, 1975 DII National Champion football player at Northern Michigan University and current head football coach at Concordia University Chicago
  • John Biolo, former NFL player for the Green Bay Packers
  • Neno DaPrato, college All-American and professional football player
  • Robert J. Flaherty, filmmaker
  • Walter Samuel Goodland, 31st governor of Wisconsin
  • R. James Harvey, former congressman and federal judge
  • John Hubley, four-time Academy Award-winning animated film director; graduated from Iron Mountain High School
  • Tom Izzo, men's basketball head coach for Michigan State University since 1995
  • Johnny Johnson, baseball player
  • Beau LaFave, member of the Michigan House of Representatives
  • Gordon Lund, baseball player
  • Steve Mariucci, NFL Network analyst and former NFL head coach
  • Thomas Lawrence Noa, Roman Catholic bishop
  • Phillip Rahoi, member of the Michigan Legislature and mayor of Iron Mountain
  • Gene Ronzani, former NFL head coach of the Green Bay Packers
  • Albert J. Wilke, member of the Michigan Senate
  • Delaney Schnell, American Olympic diver.

Climate

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Iron Mountain has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

Climate data for Iron Mountain WWTP, Michigan (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1899–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 57
(14)
62
(17)
82
(28)
94
(34)
100
(38)
100
(38)
104
(40)
101
(38)
98
(37)
88
(31)
77
(25)
64
(18)
104
(40)
Mean maximum °F (°C) 41.4
(5.2)
48.0
(8.9)
61.5
(16.4)
74.8
(23.8)
85.3
(29.6)
90.8
(32.7)
91.3
(32.9)
89.7
(32.1)
85.3
(29.6)
77.2
(25.1)
59.4
(15.2)
46.1
(7.8)
93.7
(34.3)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 24.0
(−4.4)
28.3
(−2.1)
39.2
(4.0)
51.9
(11.1)
66.4
(19.1)
76.0
(24.4)
80.4
(26.9)
78.3
(25.7)
70.1
(21.2)
55.7
(13.2)
40.8
(4.9)
29.0
(−1.7)
53.3
(11.8)
Daily mean °F (°C) 14.2
(−9.9)
17.2
(−8.2)
28.0
(−2.2)
40.5
(4.7)
54.1
(12.3)
64.0
(17.8)
68.5
(20.3)
66.7
(19.3)
58.6
(14.8)
45.3
(7.4)
32.5
(0.3)
20.9
(−6.2)
42.5
(5.8)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 4.4
(−15.3)
6.1
(−14.4)
16.9
(−8.4)
29.0
(−1.7)
41.7
(5.4)
52.0
(11.1)
56.6
(13.7)
55.1
(12.8)
47.0
(8.3)
34.9
(1.6)
24.2
(−4.3)
12.8
(−10.7)
31.7
(−0.2)
Mean minimum °F (°C) −16.9
(−27.2)
−16.1
(−26.7)
−6.9
(−21.6)
14.1
(−9.9)
27.0
(−2.8)
37.0
(2.8)
44.5
(6.9)
42.4
(5.8)
32.0
(0.0)
22.1
(−5.5)
8.0
(−13.3)
−8.4
(−22.4)
−20.8
(−29.3)
Record low °F (°C) −35
(−37)
−39
(−39)
−27
(−33)
−6
(−21)
16
(−9)
24
(−4)
35
(2)
30
(−1)
19
(−7)
8
(−13)
−10
(−23)
−26
(−32)
−39
(−39)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 1.36
(35)
1.15
(29)
1.68
(43)
2.79
(71)
3.48
(88)
3.71
(94)
3.41
(87)
3.38
(86)
3.60
(91)
3.27
(83)
1.90
(48)
1.76
(45)
31.49
(800)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 14.7
(37)
11.2
(28)
8.9
(23)
7.1
(18)
0.2
(0.51)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.4
(1.0)
5.5
(14)
13.0
(33)
61.0
(155)
Average extreme snow depth inches (cm) 14.8
(38)
17.9
(45)
15.1
(38)
6.1
(15)
0.1
(0.25)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.5
(1.3)
3.3
(8.4)
9.2
(23)
19.8
(50)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 10.1 6.9 7.7 10.1 12.0 11.5 11.6 10.6 11.3 11.7 8.9 9.6 122.0
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 9.8 6.3 4.9 2.8 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 3.8 8.0 36.3
Source: NOAA

In popular culture

Iron Mountain is mentioned in the 2000 film Reindeer Games. At the start of the film the main character, Rudy Duncan, is shown serving time in a prison near the city.

See also

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

kids search engine
Iron Mountain, Michigan Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.