Mason, Houghton County, Michigan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mason, Michigan
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 Mason, Houghton County, Michigan
Location in Michigan
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| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| County | Houghton |
| Township | Osceola |
| Elevation | 637 ft (194 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP code(s) | |
| Area code(s) | 906 |
| GNIS feature ID | 631695 |
Mason is a small community in Houghton County, Michigan. It's not an official town, but a group of homes that grew around the old Quincy Mining Company Stamp Mills. These mills were places where copper ore was crushed.
Today, about 23 of the original mining company houses are still standing and lived in. They are all located along M-26. Some local people call Mason "shutter town." This is because each house used to have its own special color of window shutters. Most of the homes are painted white and look very similar.
Contents
History of Mason: A Mining Community
Mason was started in the late 1890s. This was when a new stamp mill was built nearby. The community first had about 40 to 45 homes. From 1892 to 1932, Mason even had its own school. Students could attend classes up to the 9th grade there.
The houses were built by carpenters from the Quincy Mining Company. Many of the "T" plan houses cost around $480 to build. This was a lot of money back then! There was also a boarding house, likely near the school.
Life in Early Mason
Records from 1900 to 1910 show that 14 families lived in Mason for a long time. They continuously rented their homes from the mining company.
In 1915, the main road through Mason became official. It was named Highway M-26. Later, in 1926, the road was improved. It changed from a gravel road to a concrete one.
Life in Mason became more modern over time. Around 1918, a sewer system was put in. This helped with waste removal. Then, around 1920, electricity and lights were added to all the homes. This made life much easier for the residents.
An old newspaper article from 1959 said that 125 people lived in all 25 houses in Mason at that time. Another article from 1981 mentioned that a second mill was built around 1900. More large houses were also built. The first store in Mason was opened by Herman Radther in his home's kitchen. Later, Bertha Chapell ran a store in a separate building. Sadly, this building burned down in 1940.
During World War II, a man named Bernard Zemnick owned a small store in Mason. But it only stayed open for a short time because of the war. Later, in the mid-1950s, Bill and Ken Nelson opened a car lot on the west side of Mason. It closed around 2002 or 2003.
Types of Homes in Mason
The homes in Mason mostly came in two main styles. These were the "saltbox" and the "T-style."
- The T-style house had a two-story part and a one-story part, shaped like the letter "T."
- The Saltbox house was a two-story home with a long, sloping roof at the back. Six new saltbox homes were added to Mason between 1917 and 1918.
Until recently, around 2002-2003, all the homes in Mason were still owned by the Quincy Development Corporation. People rented them from the company. However, since 2003, most of these homes have been sold to private owners. Many of these new owners have been working to fix up and improve the houses.
Mining and Reclamation: Copper Recovery
Near the Quincy Mill, you can see the ruins of the Quincy Mining Company Dredge Number One. A dredge is a machine used to scoop things from the bottom of a lake. This dredge sank in the lake in the mid-1950s. Another one, Quincy Dredge Number Two, partly sank on the shore in the 1960s.
These dredges were used to collect copper tailings from the bottom of the lake. Tailings are leftover materials from mining. The company would reprocess these tailings to get any copper that was missed the first time. This process happened at a place called the reclamation plant.
The reclamation plant is now in ruins. It closed in 1967. The plant was taken apart and sold for scrap metal in 1981. During its 24 years of operation, the plant produced a huge amount of copper. It made over 100 million pounds of refined copper metal! Building this plant originally cost $1.1 million.
Around the same time the reclamation plant was closing, the original stamp mill #1 burned down. It was likely set on fire on purpose, as no one had used the building since 1945. All the electricity had also been turned off. Today, only the concrete foundations of the mill remain.
Mason and the Quincy mill/reclamation area are important historical sites. They are officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means they are recognized for their special history and importance.
