Negaunee Downtown Historic District
NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 expiration date 03/31/2022
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.
1. Name of Property Historic name: __Negaunee Downtown Historic District______Other names/site number: ______Name of related multiple property listing: ______(Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ______2. Location Street & number: _Broadly, Peck Street to Rail Street and Tobin Street to North Teal Lake Avenue_ City or town: _Negaunee___ State: _Michigan___ County: _Marquette__ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ______3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide _X_ local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X_ A ___B _X_ C ___D
Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government
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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018
Negaunee Downtown Historic District Marquette Co., MI Name of Property County and State In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.
Signature of commenting official: Date
Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government
______4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) ______
______Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ______5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: x
Public – Local x
Public – State
Public – Federal x
x x Category of Property (Check only one box.)
Building(s)
District x
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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018
Negaunee Downtown Historic District Marquette Co., MI Name of Property County and State Site
Structure
Object
Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing ____53______16______buildings
______sites
______structures
_____2______objects
____55______16______Total
Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ___4______6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) _Commerce/Trade: Specialty Store _Department Store, Financial Institution, _Restaurant______Social: Meeting Hall______Government: City Hall, Fire Hall, Post Office _Education: School, Library______Religion: Religious Facility, Church School_ _Domestic: Hotel, Single Dwelling_
Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) _Commerce/Trade: Specialty Store, Business _Government: City Hall, Fire Hall, Post Office
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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018
Negaunee Downtown Historic District Marquette Co., MI Name of Property County and State _Education: School, Library _Social: Meeting Hall_ _Religion: Religious Facility _Domestic: Single Dwelling, Multiple Dwelling
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______7. Description
Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) _Late Victorian _Classical Revival____ _Commercial Style _ _Modern Movement______
Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: _Stone, Brick, Concrete, Vinyl, Metal, Asphalt__
Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______Summary Paragraph The Negaunee Downtown Historic District comprises the historic commercial heart of the city. The district attains most of its character from the consistency of the numerous commercial blocks in the central business district and several fine public buildings and churches. The business blocks transition to schools and churches in the north end of the district, and to railroad-related and industrial buildings to the south. Particularly along the three blocks of Iron and Jackson streets and the intersecting Gold and Silver streets and Pioneer Avenue and Division Street is located Negaunee’s traditional downtown, much of it occupied by two-story blocks standing in rows along the sidewalk line. The downtown’s character is framed by its typically brick, Victorian buildings, but the streetscapes provide a variety of styles, materials, and architectural workmanship. Despite the recent demolitions of the national register-listed Sundberg Block in the 500 block of Iron Street in November, 2016, and the Kirkwood Block in the 300 block of Iron Street in September, 2019, the district presents generally cohesive streetscapes. The district is irregular in form and has a maximum north-south length of about 1300 feet (395 meters) and an east-west width of about 1600 feet (485 meters). Its streets are generally in a grid, although Jackson Street forms a break, the blocks north being oriented more northeast-southwest and the blocks south of it east-west. The district contains seventy-three buildings and two objects in total. These date from the early 1870s to the mid 1960s, but include four newer buildings. Landmark buildings include the Negaunee City Hall, the Negaunee Fire Hall, Late Victorian commercial
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blocks built employing to varying degrees the local sandstone, Neoclassical bank buildings, a movie theater, Neoclassical schools, and Neo-Gothic and Romanesque Revival-influenced churches. The seventy-five properties in the district include: four previously listed in the national register, the Negaunee Fire Hall, the Marquette & Western Railroad Depot, the Vista Theater, and the Negaunee State Bank Building; fifty-five buildings and objects that Contribute to the historic district; and sixteen buildings that are evaluated as Non-Contributing.
______Narrative Description Negaunee, in Michigan’s north central Upper Peninsula inland from Lake Superior, is located “in the heart of the Marquette Iron Range” (Western Historical 1883: 452), also known to Geologists as the Negaunee Iron Formation. This is a deposit of hematite ore that extends from near Marquette westward nearly to the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Discovered in the 1840s, it includes the vicinity of the City of Negaunee. Negaunee owes its founding and development to the iron mines. The site of the Jackson Mine, Negaunee’s first producer, is within the city limits in the southeastern portion of the city, and others that opened soon after anchored the economy of the community from its establishment through most of the twentieth century. Development at the location of Negaunee was haphazard until 1865, when J. P. Pendill filed his plat named Iron and the Pioneer Co. filed its plat named Negaunee, together being the blocks upon which the city’s business district grew. These plats resulted in standard size lots and orderly development evident in the downtown today. The mines, which set the tone for the economic life and resulting growth of Negaunee, to varying degrees also provided some of the construction material for the buildings. Mine waste – sandstone rubble was employed in constructing the foundations and rear and often side walls of commercial buildings. The distinctive architectural character of several of the historic commercial district’s buildings is also linked to the region’s red sandstone (Jacobsville and Portage Entry), used as facing and trim in a number of the facades.
The Negaunee Downtown Historic District, once located at the heart of the city, today forms the southwestern part of Negaunee, as residential blocks and the development of a commercial strip along United States Route-41 have grown outward from this core area. The wide right-of-way of the former railroad bed that is today’s Rail Street and the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, creates an obvious physical boundary between the historic district and residential neighborhoods to the south. The educational and religious properties within the north edge of the district provide a distinct transition to the residential neighborhoods to the north. Residential blocks border the district to the east, and to the west is the abrupt change to a landscape devoid of buildings, the “Old Town” district vacated and abandoned in the 1950s, which is partially occupied today by Jackson Mine Park.
The northern part of the historic district is anchored by public and religious buildings from Mitchell Methodist Church on the northeast through the Case Street School and Manual Training School, then the Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church complex and the United States Post Office and City Hall forming the northwest corner. A variety of commercial buildings extend south from these so the south end of the district, which is anchored by the combined Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic (DSS&A) and Chicago & North Western (C&NW) depot and the Marquette & Western depot and several industrial buildings.
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Teal Lake Avenue at the extreme east side of the district is the city’s dividing line between east and west numbered addresses. Thus, all of the addresses in the historic district increase from east to west. The city’s north-south boundary for addresses is formed by Jackson and Main streets, the former west from Pioneer Ave, the latter east from Pioneer Avenue For north-south streets, for South Pioneer and Gold and Silver Streets (all to the south of Jackson Street) the odd- numbered addresses are on the east side of the street and the even numbers on the west side. However, for North Pioneer (north of Main/Jackson divide) the sides are reversed, with the odds on the west side and evens on the east side. For east and west running streets, Peck, Case, Jackson, Main, Iron, and Rail, the even-numbered addresses are all on the north side of the street, and the odd numbers all on the south side.
Two plats are filed that together comprised much of historic Negaunee and all of the historic district. In 1865, J. P. Pendill’s Iron Plat of the Village of Negaunee was recorded, and also in 1865 the Pioneer Iron Company’s Plat of the Village of Negaunee was recorded. These plats are adjacent to one another (LARA 2020b). Pendill’s Iron Plat encompasses almost all of the historic district. It includes a large area south of today’s Rail Street, and the blocks north of Rail from today’s Tobin Street on the west eastward to Division Street, and extending north to Jackson Street. The streets are sixty-six feet wide. The lots along south side of Iron Street were thirty- three-feet wide by eighty-eight feet deep, while those on the north side were thirty-three feet by 130 feet. Lots on the intersecting Gold, Silver and Bay de Noquet and Marquette streets were thirty-three-feet by 105 feet (LARA 2020a). The Pioneer Iron Co.’s Plat extends from Teal Lake Avenue on the east from south of today’s Rail Street, then north along Pioneer Avenue to Jackson and Main Streets, then west along Jackson Street to Tobin Street, and northward to the rear lot lines and alley north of Case Street, which in the plat is named Geer Street. Almost all of the lots are fifty feet wide by 130 feet deep. Main Street east of Pioneer Avenue was one- hundred feet side, Jackson was fifty-nine and one-half feet, Pioneer and Teal Lake avenues were eighty feet, and Case and Peck were seventy feet wide (LARA 2020b).
The Negaunee Downtown Historic District generally extends east-west along both sides of Iron and Jackson streets from Pioneer Avenue west to Tobin Street, Case Street from Teal Lake Avenue to Jackson Street, and a section of Rail Street at the south end of the district. The longest north-south axis is Pioneer Avenue between Rail and Peck streets, while other shorter axes with properties are Gold, Silver and Division streets.
On the north end, the district incorporates blocks along Peck, Division and Case streets to include buildings important in Negaunee history, transitioning to non-commercial and residential uses on the fringe of the business district. These include in the northeast corner, Mitchell Methodist Church on North Teal Lake Avenue Negaunee Manual Training School, the Case Street School and Saint Paul’s Catholic Church on Case, and the associated Saint Paul’s Convent on Pioneer and Saint Paul’s School on Peck. The block west and opposite (south) of these along the 200 block of Case has the district’s only concentration of residential buildings, although the street and district’s east end is anchored by the Erickson Building, an outlying 1890s frame commercial building with Mesker Bros. ironwork, while the west end of the street has the Negaunee Post Office, building constructed during the Depression with federal government assistance.
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The center of the district, and of Negaunee’s historic commercial district, is between Iron and Jackson streets. Here you find the downtown retail anchors and the district’s most notable commercial architecture, the locations of many long-term businesses. Most have renovated and often unsympathetic alterations to the street level, but retain to varying degrees elaborate upper stories and important historic connections to the city’s economic context. Typical of those that may not appear to be architecturally distinguished, in the 200 block is the Star Theater / Rytkonen Block on the corner of Iron and Pioneer at 201, an early theater converted to an automobile service and sales location, representing the early impact of the automobile in the downtown. But even small buildings such as the Pilo Block at 212 proudly display the name of the owner high in the facade. To the west, the 300 block provides a wealth and variety of interesting buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Vista Theater at 300, dating later than most of its neighbors, is a fine well-preserved 1920s movie palace. There are late nineteenth century blocks with dressed sandstone facades and others of brick such as the three at 302-308, with elaborate cornices that may have been produced by the Mesker Bros. The Negaunee National Bank at 318 is one of the most distinctive buildings, anchoring the center of this commercial street, and a fine example of high style architecture, while another financial anchor, the much more restrained Negaunee State Bank at 331, which is virtually across the street, is listed in the National Register. Across from it at 334 is Lowenstein’s, an early twentieth century example of the evolution of retail to local department stores. The west end of the district in the 400 block of Iron is anchored by several fine stone and brick blocks including the Mulvey Block and Mulvey Building at 432, referred to in contemporary accounts as “brownstones” and built in the 1870s and 1880s, as well as other buildings built near the turn of the twentieth century, also the location of some of the downtown’s local fraternal organizations.
Along the paralleling Jackson Street to the north, the density of commercial blocks is less, but opposite its east end is the highly eclectic late nineteenth century Cleveland Cliffs Office Building at 101 South Pioneer Street, the location of one of the most significant companies in Negaunee’s mining history (now occupied and preserved by Negaunee Public Schools). Across West Main Street from it at 126 is, a diminutive well-preserved example of an early twentieth century Cottage-style service station. West of here the most notable buildings are the rear but architecturally welcoming secondary rear entrance of Lowenstein’s Department Store, which extends the full block from Iron, and most notably, the fine Negaunee City Hall located almost in the center of the district at 319 West Case. At the west end of the street is the Russo Bros. Grocery at 401 Jackson Street, but extending through the block to Iron Street, the best example of the Modern Movement in Negaunee, and location of a grocery that was in business for decades.
The southeast corner of the district at Division and Pioneer and Rail streets is anchored by one of the tallest buildings in the city – counting its hose tower, the national register-listed Negaunee Fire Hall at 200 South Division. Further west along the north side of Rail Street - the former Chicago & North Western and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad’s right of way – is the locus of rail-related buildings and an industrial aspect. In the 300 block at 338 and 342 Rail are low-slung brick buildings formerly located along a siding, which were part of a warehouse and feed complex (converted to a micro-brewery retaining and marketing their historic character). South of these is the Silver Street Underpass beneath Rail Street, a Depression-era federal works project. Further west, at the southwest corner of the district, are two well-preserved railroad
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depots, the late nineteenth century frame Marquette & Western Railroad Negaunee Depot at 420 Rail, listed in the national register, and the brick Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Depot at 212 Gold, together illustrating the evolution and importance of rail facilities in the city. In the adjacent blocks of Gold and Silver streets north from Rail are related buildings that are early survivors of nineteenth century railroad hotels, such as the aptly named Railroad Hotel at 217 Gold.
Downtown Development Seen Through Its Buildings The Negaunee Downtown Historic District contains seventy-five buildings, structures and objects that exemplify economic and social trends and architectural styles in the Upper Peninsula from the third quarter of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. The small city feel of the district is emphasized by the scale and setback seen in the buildings comprising the primary commercial corridors along Iron, Jackson and intersecting streets. It represents the development of the city from the early 1870s through 1970, with the greatest number of buildings reflecting its development from the 1880s through 1910. The architecture illustrates both the rapid development during these years and the city’s function as a commercial and retail market and industrial service center encapsulating the area’s growth, prosperity and evolution during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The buildings constructed during this period range from modest to substantial and were constructed of brick, red sandstone and concrete.
The commercial blocks in the historic district provide material expression of the city’s aspirations during this period. The business blocks demonstrate the success and status of its commercial interests. The quality of life is realized through the many buildings housing retail stores, and the City Hall, Fire Hall, and Case Grade School and Manual Training School, which embody public architecture, and the Saint Paul’s Catholic and Mitchell Methodist churches, embodying the residents’ spiritual life in the district. The character of the district is established by the type and style of the buildings. In general, many individual buildings comprising this district retain a degree of their original architectural character, while others have received façade improvements that complement the streetscape. A number of others have experienced insensitive renovations.
Commercial architecture most commonly represents late nineteenth and early twentieth century one-part and two-part commercial blocks referencing the Italianate or Late Victorian commercial style. Over forty-five percent (34 of 75) of the associated district buildings date to the nineteenth century, and another one-quarter (19 of 75) date to the first two decades of the twentieth century, together totaling well over two-thirds that are over a century old in 2020. About one-tenth (7 of 75) of the district’s buildings and structures date to the 1920s, including Saint Paul’s Church and Rectory and the Vista Theater. Over ten percent (9 of 75) were built during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the most notable being Saint Paul’s School and Convent, and the federal Public Works-assisted City Hall, Case Street School, and third-story addition to the Manual Training School. The infusion of federal assistance during the Depression amounted to over one-half of the construction during this period when the Silver Street underpass and Memorial Park work is added. About five percent (4 of 75) of the buildings date from the post-war period through the end of the period of significance in 1970. Four buildings, about five percent (4 of 75), appear to post-date the period of significance.
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The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for Negaunee (Sanborn 1884-1946), reveal that almost all of the lots in the commercial district are already occupied by 1884, and the vast majority are small- scale, two-story, frame buildings. The few brick and stone buildings are a small minority, but include the first brick residence in the city, the Foley House at the northeast corner of the district at Case and Teal Lake, built in 1881. Marquette Street was named Bay de Noquet in the early editions and the C & NW Railroad cuts through the district, as it will for the next century, northwest-southeast through the intersections of Case and Jackson and Iron and Silver streets. Its freight depot was along the track between the 300 and 400 blocks of Iron Street, south of today’s Memorial Park. The highest concentration of brick buildings is near the Iron-Silver Street intersection in the 300 block, with several others in the 400 block. (West of Tobin there were a number of brick blocks, but this portion of the city was vacated in the 1970s when subsidence and instability caused by the old iron mines beneath these blocks led to condemnation and removal for public safety). The First National Bank was in the triangle at the railroad tracks. Jackson Street was less densely developed, but was anchored at the east end by McDonald’s Opera House (demolished). Case Street was already the location of Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches and a public school, as well as a town hall, all in the 100-200 blocks. Most of the lots along Case Street were occupied by frame dwellings.
In the 1890s the east end of the district is now graced by the substantial brick Iron Cliffs Company’s Offices on South Pioneer Street, and the city’s long-time premier hostelry, the Breitung House (demolished) is just south of it. About one-third of the business blocks in the 200-to-300 blocks of Iron are now brick or brick veneer, less commonly stone veneer, including all in the west half of the 300 block, rising to about one-half of the buildings in the 400 block. Jackson Street is anchored at the east end by the City Hall and Jail in the 300 block (replaced by the current building in 1915), and the current location of Memorial Park in front of the City Hall was occupied by the fire department’s Engine House No. 1. By 1892, Bay de Noquet Street had been renamed Marquette.
By the early 1900s, the entire historic district is pretty much built up, and earlier buildings are being replaced by more substantial ones. The 1902 Sanborn map shows that about one-half of the buildings in the 200-300 blocks of Iron Street are brick and brick veneer, or stone veneer, rising to well over one-half in the 400 block. Stylish buildings were going up, such as the Romanesque-inspired Wehmanen Jewelry Store at 220. The commercial buildings that had been built more recently are larger in plan and obviously more substantial and refined. The tasteful Shea Block and the adjacent Oscar Field Building at 302 and 304 Iron are fine examples faced in dressed sandstone, and the brick building next to them at 308 is a good example of the use of native sandstone to enhance a facade, often used during this period. All three have elaborate pressed metal cornices, perhaps produced by Mesker Bros. Iron Works. In the 400 block, a trio of buildings, the Mulvey Block and Mulvey Building with dressed sandstone facades, at 432-442 demonstrate the taste and more refined types of buildings that were being built during this period, including the less common single-story Neely Block built in 1901 at 442. The Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church was constructed on Teal Lake Avenue in 1899, its Gothic references enhancing this corner of the district, but commerce still mattered in the vicinity, albeit on a smaller scale, with a classic “boomtown” frame storefront at 117 West Case that is enhanced by its elaborate storefront cornice from the Mesker Bros. Iron Works.
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The downtown remains little changed through the 1911 Sanborn edition. The economy of the city appears to be thriving and diversifying with disposal income evident. The 1911 Sanborn map reveals that brick and fireproof buildings continued to expand in numbers at the expanse of frame. On the north side of the 200 and 300 blocks of Iron, under five percent were of frame construction, however on the south side of the street in these blocks, nearly three-quarters were frame. Further west, along the north side of the 400 block, two-thirds of the buildings were brick, while all of the commercial blocks on the south side of the street were. The business mix was a continuation of earlier decades with a few twists, such as the construction of the Rytkonen Building at 201-203 Iron, described in the 1911 Sanborn edition as “To Be Electric Theater.”
The period from ca. 1910 through 1925 marked perhaps the city’s climax in terms of number and variety of notable buildings in the historic district. While the commercial streetscape and generally remained fairly consistent relative to earlier decades, construction during this period significantly altered the complexion of the city. In particular, within the five-year period between 1910 and 1915 many public and commercial district landmarks were erected, most designed by the region’s most prominent architects. These include the DSS&A depot at the end of Gold Street, built in 1910, the same year another building was completed, the Negaunee National Bank, designed by Marquette architect John D. Chubb at 318 Iron Street, as well as the Negaunee Fire Hall at 200 South Pioneer, designed by Marquette architects Charlton & Kuenzli. Also of less style but worthy of note is the stone-faced concrete block Star Theater erected in 1911 at 201 Iron. Other landmark buildings are the Negaunee State Bank at 331 Iron, designed by Marquette architect D. Frederick Charlton, built in 1912, the Negaunee Manual Training School at 102 Case, built in 1913, and the Negaunee City Hall, 1914-15, both from plans by locally prolific architect John D. Chubb, and the city’s premier department store, Lowenstein’s, erected in 1915 at 334 Iron. The very similar Kuhlman Block at 405-407 Iron was built the next year, in 1916. Within the next ten years, Saint Paul’s Catholic Church and Rectory were built in 1920 at 202 West Case from plans by St. Louis, Missouri, architects Van Leyen, Schilling & Keogh, (replacing the same that had burned a year earlier), and in 1925, the city’s premier entertainment venue, the Vista Theater, was built at 300 Iron, from plans by Marquette architect David E. Anderson. A new municipal bandstand was also built east of the city hall at the corner of Case and Kanter streets in 1928 (demolished).
The 1928 and later edition Sanborn maps generally continue the previous developmental trends and confirm that the commercial development of the city had basically peaked in the 1910s, with subsequent development is associated with infill on vacant lots and replacing older buildings with new ones because of fire loss or economic considerations. The building streetscapes remained generally unchanged, although some businesses in them evolved. Building slowed during the Great Depression, but still one-half-dozen notable projects were completed in the district, including federal public works-related construction at the Case Street Grad School and Manual Training School Addition, the Silver Street Underpass, and Veteran’s Memorial Park and large-scale building in the Saint Paul’s complex that replaced the high and grade school and convent.
After the Depression, materials and labor shortages during World War II also hindered any construction. After the war, as the mining economy continued to decline, downtown Negaunee
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witnessed little construction activity. In the 1950s a nine-hundred-acre part of the city was deemed to be unsafe due to underground mining activities, generally extending west from Tobin Street, adjacent to the historic district. As a result, all properties were condemned, the residents force to move, and all buildings were moved or demolished. About one-half of the city’s population was forced to move out of this zone, known as “Old Town.” For decades, the land was fenced off and was considered unusable. Today much of this land has been reopened for recreational use and limited housing development. Some areas considered a hazard area are still closed. The city purchased the land from Cleveland-Cliffs, Incorporated in 2003, and portions of this land are now part of the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, a non-motorized trail that extends through Marquette County (CUPPAD 2016: 4-6).
This massive disruption of post-war community life extended into the historic district, where no construction or development changed the streetscapes for nearly two decades. In fact, when the Russo Brothers grocery was built in 1965, it was claimed to be the first new construction in the downtown in four decades (Negaunee Historical Society 2015e). The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie at 311 Iron also appears to date to this period. The largest project in the downtown in the last quarter of the twentieth century was the modern First National Bank Building built in 1975 at 350 Iron Street (today the home of the YMCA). Most other construction consisted of renovation of old buildings, and the streetscape was altered by the demolition of underused and vacant commercial buildings.
The District Buildings Today The Negaunee Downtown Historic District is predominantly commercial in composition, with the exception of the centrally located City Hall on Case Street, the Fire Hall in the southeast corner on South Pioneer Street, and the northern portion of the district on Peck, Case and Pioneer streets having the Saint Paul’s Catholic Church complex, Mitchell United Methodist Church on Teal Lake Avenue, the Case Street School and Negaunee Manual Training School on Case Street, and a block of residential buildings on Case Street south of these. A few commercial buildings in the downtown have been converted to residential apartments and there are a few residential apartments above the commercial storefronts of several buildings.
A large majority, nearly three-quarters (54 of 75) of the historic district’s buildings, are of brick or brick veneer construction, while five have dressed sandstone or limestone facades, and two employ decorative concrete block construction and facades. The rest, under one-fifth (14 of 75) are of frame, of which over one-half (8 of 75) were built as residential occupations rather than built as commercial blocks. The vast majority of the buildings in the district are two-story, two- part brick commercial blocks, restrained in architectural expression, although some examples of Romanesque Revival and Classical Revival or Beaux Arts influences, most attributable to architects, punctuate the district. Style on most commercial buildings, when referenced (or surviving), with few exceptions is confined to elements associated with the cornice, and perhaps window hoods, with motifs revealing vague affinities to the Italianate, Romanesque, Classical or Colonial Revival. Essentially, they are Late Victorian buildings that, at most, confined ornamentation to bracketed metal cornices and window hoods. And some of these were from catalogs of the well-known Mesker Bros. Iron Works.
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Lake Superior Sandstone (including Portage Entry and Jacobsville), a distinctive building material used in many buildings in the Upper Peninsula and nationally during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Eckert 1999), is well represented in the historic district. Also prominent is the use of mine waste rubble stone, which was excavated at the turn of the century as the many mines in the area were extended. Most commonly, this was used as an abundantly available and cheap building medium, most often employed in the construction of non-facade walls of commercial buildings. In the historic district these buildings have brick or dressed stone facades and sandstone rubble foundations and side or end walls. In a few buildings, finished sandstone was used in masonry wall planes and in decorative details. Some buildings use the sandstone prominently, from structural components such as piers and corner quoins through a continuum down to use in details and accents such as column capitals and in window and doors lintels and sills.
Over twenty percent (16 of 75) of properties in the historic district employ Upper Peninsula sandstone or rubble stone as primary construction details or as elements. (However only two are included in Eckert’s The Sandstone Architecture of the Lake Superior Region (Eckert 2000: 249) – 432 (i.e. 432 and 436) Iron Street - the Mulvey Block and Mulvey Building and 304 Iron - the Shea Block.) Four of these buildings have dressed sandstone facades, the others classified as employing sandstone accents have used it in window treatments or banding across the facade or other decorative elements. The buildings with sandstone elements mostly date to the late nineteenth century, with two from the first years of the twentieth century. The following list includes some of the largest and most architecturally distinguished buildings in the district:
1902-11 214 West Case House (sills) Pre-1884 226 West Case Felix Chiabotto Grocery (first story) 1909 208 Gold SH&EFofA Hall (accents) 1890 215 Gold Lobb Block (accents) Pre-1884 217 Gold Beaumont / Railroad Hotel (accents) 1888-92 220 Iron Wehmanen Jewelry Store (accents) 1899 302 Iron, Oscar Field Building (dressed facade) 1901 304 Iron, Shea Block (dressed facade) 1892 308 Iron (accents) Pre-1884 320 Iron (Miller Bros.) (accents) 1912 331 Iron, Negaunee State Bank (rubblestone ground story, accents) 1888-92 340 Iron (accents) 1874 432(436) Iron (Mulvey Block) (dressed facade) 1883 432 Iron (Mulvey Building) (dressed facade) 1888-92 511 Iron (accents) 1887 101 South Pioneer (Cliff Iron Co. Offices) (accents, foundation)
In addition, the Negaunee National Bank at 318 Iron Street, built in 1910, is constructed using dressed limestone.
A Walk Through the District The following paragraphs provide a walk through the district, describing the buildings present today, but behaving as a visitor arriving sometime in the past and then meandering around the
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downtown to “see the sights.” We are therefore entering the district in its southwest corner, at the substantial brick DSS&A depot built in 1910 at 212 Gold Street, a vast improvement to the earlier (1884) smaller national register-listed frame Marquette & Western depot to the east at 420 Rail Street, demonstrating Negaunee was considered important enough at that time for a regional corporation to make such an investment. Continuing along Rail street eastward we cross over the Silver Street underpass, constructed in 1936 with federal public works funding. The excavation for this project required stabilization for the adjacent property to the east, the Winters & Suess complex at 342 Rail Street. These are plain functional buildings built in 1915 and served as a processing, warehouse and cold storage plant, today repurposed and restored as a micro-brewery and restaurant. The adjacent frame building at 338 Rail Street once incorporated the brick buildings as Lafreniere’s Furniture, for many years one of the city’s leading retailers in this line. It is also notable as a ca. 1900 commercial building moved to this location in the 1950s from the area of the city west of Tobin Street that was condemned and vacated due to subsidence caused by early iron mines.
We move eastward past the intersection with Marquette, an area not included in the district, to the triangular property formed by the intersections of Division and South Pioneer Avenue Here at 200 South Pioneer is the 1910 Fire Hall, Negaunee’s tallest building when counting the hose tower, and listed in the national register. Designed by the Marquette architectural firm of Charlton and Kuenzli, it references Classical Revival while still being functional.
Proceeding northward on Pioneer to the intersection with the downtown’s primary commercial artery, Iron Street, on the corner we have the Star Theater (Rytkonen Block), built in 1911 to be an “electric theater” (The Star) and later housing an automobile showroom, showing the evolution of the business district. Proceeding west on Iron Street, on the north side of the block, an unsympathetically renovated, falsefront-gabled, frame building at 208 was built prior to 1884 as the National Hotel, an example of the early city hotels in the district. Next door, the brick block at 212 is one of the few stepped-gable business buildings in the district, and notable for its intact street level facade, built in 1916 and proudly proclaiming “S. Pilo” for its Finn-born owner in its cornice stone. The Romanesque-inspired Wehmanen Jewelry Store at 220 is one of the most attractive in the district in retaining its original architectural details, one of the few single- story buildings in the district. It is next to the national register-listed Vista Theater, built in 1925 from plans by Marquette architect David E. Anderson, in a restrained eclectic style deriving much of its interest from its brickwork. Its setting opposite the end of Marquette Street afforded grand views for residents and it anchored the city’s entertainment sector for seven decades. Next door west of the theater are two fine blocks with dressed sandstone facades at 302 (Oscar Field Building) and 304 (Shea Block), the latter with additional sandstone accents, impressive c. 1900 buildings employing Upper Peninsula sandstone and elaborate pressed-metal cornices that may have been ordered from the Mesker Bros,. Iron Co. catalogs. Next door at 308 is a typical downtown brick business block, dating to 1892, with sandstone accents and a pressed metal cornice. At mid-block at 318 is the finest example of Beaux Arts Classicism in the district, the Negaunee National Bank, designed by Marquette architect John D. Chubb and built by Negaunee contactor L. E. Chaussee in 1910. Past the brick business block next door is a large vacant lot that was the site of the national register-listed Kirkwood Block, which partially collapsed and was demolished in 2019. Next door to this, at 334 Iron, is the Lowenstein’s Department Store, built in 1915 for one of the city’s anchor stores, designed in restrained Commercial Brick style
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by architect W. F. Pagels with owner Samuel Lowenstein. The corner building at 350, was built for First National Bank of Negaunee in 1975, at the location where a bank had been sited since Negaunee’s earliest days (today occupied by the YMCA).
Here is the intersection with North Silver Street, and turning south on this short street the only building of interest we find is a c. 1930s service station. Returning to the north side of the 400 block of Iron, west of the Silver Street intersection is a parking lot, but the south side has 401- 403, Winter & Suess Meat Market, a substantial brick block with corbelled brickwork that was built prior to 1879. Next door is the distinctive yellow brick Kuhlman Building at 405-407, built in 1916, and similar in many respects to Lowenstein’s. Gold Street in the 200 block intersects from the south at the end of the 400 block of Iron. This short street provides interest in requiring its building to be built on a sloping grade. Of note here on the east side is the Lobb Block at 215, built in 1890 with sandstone accents and a cornice apparently ordered from the Mesker Bros. Iron Co. catalog. Next door at 217 is the Railroad Hotel, a brick building dating prior to 1884, and built within sight of the depot. Across the street at 208 is one of the district’s ethnic (Scandinavian) fraternal lodges, the S.H.&E.F. of A. Hall, a brick building with sandstone accents built in 1909.
Returning to Iron Street, buildings on the south side west of here and in the 500 block have experienced a loss of architectural detail, although the brick building at 511, built c. 1890, is notable for its pressed metal cornice and a c. 1950s brick veneer street level complete with glass blocks. Across the street, the north side of Iron’s 400 block is a fine row of commercial blocks at the west end of the district, all currently addressed as 432. The double storefront section historically at 432-436 is one of the finest examples of dressed sandstone facade combined with pressed metal cornice in the district. The west front, the Mulvey Block, is also one of the earlier ones, built prior in 1874, while the east front, the Mulvey Building, was built nearly a decade later in 1883. Next door at 432 (historically 442), the Neely Building is a prime example of the one-part commercial block in the district, proclaiming 1901 in its cornice pediment. And, next to it at the west end of the district at 442 (historically 446) is the I.O.O.F. Hall, built 1907 from plans by John D. Chubb and enlarged and renovated in 1918, morphing the first floor into the Liberty Theater, by plans from the Marquette architectural firm of Charlton & Kuenzli.
Turning north on Tobin Street to Jackson Street and heading east, the 400 block contains a single property, the Russo Bros. Grocery store at 401, the location of a firm that had been based n the downtown for decades prior to their move here. It was built in 1965, associated with a large parking lot to the east, representing mid-1960s commercial architecture in the district, and notable at that time for reputedly being the first new construction in the downtown in forty years (Negaunee Historical Society 2015e).
Continuing east on Jackson, because the block between here and south to Iron is a narrow one, the south side of Jackson from Silver east to the South Pioneer Avenue intersection consists of the rear elevations of buildings along Iron Street. Notable here, however, is the rear entrance to Lowenstein’s (c. 320 Iron) that extends through the block and repeats many of the elements of the Iron Street facade, and was designed to be a public entrance. The north side of the 200 block of Jackson east from Kanter Street has some gaps in the streetscape and is less densely occupied than Iron, with buildings offering varying degrees of integrity. The building at 218 is the best
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example of a post-World War II one-part block, while 214-16, built c. 1920, was greatly enlarged c. 1930s to evolve to an automobile service business, demonstrating the evolution of the district. The next building at 206-208, the City Bakery, is perhaps the most attractive of this stretch, built in 1925, restrained with decoration confined to brick work typical of the Commercial Brick style, and occupied by a bakery for many years.
At the South Pioneer intersection with Jackson, to the southeast is one of the district landmarks, the Iron Cliffs Co. Office Building at 101, built 1880 from plans by Marquette architect, J. B. Sweatt, a well-preserved eclectic Second Empire and Romanesque asset to the street. To the north from here, across West Main Street, at 126 West Main is a classic example of a c. 1930s cottage style filling station, designed to blend in to the residential neighborhood transition from the commercial district to the north and east. Proceeding north on Pioneer to West Case Street, turning east, on the south side at 117 we have the small but well-preserved J. Erickson commercial building constructed between 1888 and 1892. It is one of the best examples of a frame falsefront gable storefront in the district, complete with an ornate cornice ordered from one of the Mesker Bros. Iron Co. catalogs.
On the north side of this block the district transitions from commercial. On the northeast corner Case Street and of North Teal Lake Avenue is the James F. Foley House at 101 East Case, built in 1881 for an early Negaunee mine owner and reputedly the first brick house built in the city. Across the street at 207 North Teal Lake Avenue is the 1899 Mitchell Methodist Church a Neo- Gothic edifice designed by architect Benjamin Price and built by Ishpeming’s E.E. Grip & Co. Next door to the west at 102 West Case and extending over much of the block, we have the Negaunee Manual Training School, designed by Marquette architect John D. Chubb in 1913 with muted classical and Romanesque overtones, and then enlarged by adding a third story when the adjacent Case Street School was built in 1936, both designed by Lansing architect Warren S. Holmes and both undertaken with federal works project assistance. Across Pioneer Avenue to the west is the Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church complex. This is composed of the 1920 Romanesque style church and a rectory at 202 West Case, designed by the Detroit architectural firm of Van Leyen Schilling & Keogh, and behind it at the north edge of the district, the 1932 Saint Paul’s High and Grade School at 209-25 West Peck and the Sisters of Saint Joseph Convent at 225 North Pioneer. Proceeding west to Kanter and turning south and returning to West Case, at the northeast corner of the intersection is the c. 1880 Chiabotto Grocery, an attractive vernacular commercial building that is distinguished by its stone first story.
East of here on the north side of the 200 block of West Case are several residences built in the late nineteenth century, of which 222 had a ground level storefront. On the south side of the 200 block are a half-dozen residences, some insensitively renovated, but which include a fine rusticated concrete block Foursquare built at 215 in 1910 with Craftsman style details. Proceeding west to the Kanter Street intersection, the northwest corner of the 300 block at 304 is the location of the United States Post Office, built in 1937, assisted by federal Works Projects Administration funds and designed by federal architect Louis A. Simon. Directly across the street at 319 is the exuberant, polychromatic banded, and “highly eclectic” Negaunee City Hall, which also contains the city library, built in 1915 from designs by John D. Chubb. In front of the city hall on the small triangle of land where Case and Jackson streets meet is Veterans Memorial Park, two stone memorial objects, the first erected in 1938 with assistance by the federal public
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works National Youth Administration, to remember those who fought in service to their country through World War I, and the other erected in 1949 for those who served in World War II. This seems a fitting end to our historic district tour.
District Inventory
For this nomination, streets in the district are listed in alphabetical order by primary street name and then street directions. Thus, for the first street alphabetically, Case Street, Gold, Iron, Jackson, Main, Peck, Pioneer, Rail, Silver, and Teal Lake. For the only street having north and south addresses, Pioneer Street, buildings on North Pioneer are presented before those on South Pioneer. Buildings on all streets are listed in numerical order by block, east side followed by west side on north-south streets (Gold, Silver, Pioneer and Teal Lake), and north side followed by south side on east-west streets (Case, Iron, Jackson, Main, Peck and Rail). When historic addresses differ from the current ones, they are presented in parentheses behind the present address.
The date of construction and occupation history for each building employs a number of sources. For the current project, the Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. maps, which were published between 1884 and 1946 (Sanborn 1884, 1888, 1892, 1902, 1911, 1928 and 1946) can bracket a building’s construction date or the periods of alteration by noting changes between editions. These are included in the inventory below, because in addition to providing data on the date built, they also document changes in those buildings as well as occupancy, which may be responsible for those changes. There may be some variation between addresses in this source in relation to those in county and city directories. These directories were used not only to provide insights into possible construction dates, with the appearance of an address indicating a building present at that time, but also for the occupation history. Earlier directories did not organize entries by street address, but by individual names. They do include a business directory section providing names by address under subject headings as well as advertisements. Thus for directories, the type of occupation for addresses provided by Sanborn editions, such as general store, saloon, etc. were checked against bracketing years in the directories under the corresponding business classifications These were supplemented by research into other primary sources such as on-line newspapers and county histories, atlases and vanity biographies published around the turn of the twentieth century. When evaluating a resource as Contributing or Non-Contributing, it must be significant under one of the themes discussed in Section 8 of this registration form. Contributing resources must also have been constructed during the Period of Significance and must retain historic integrity. Architectural integrity was evaluated by comparing the building today with any available vintage photographs from other sources and publications, Superior View images, and vintage post cards. Resources evaluated as Non-Contributing lack historic or architectural significance, were not present during the period of significance or have been altered to such an extent that the resource no longer retains historic integrity.
The information provided by these sources was augmented through use of state gazetteers, other publications and on-line research. The date built of a building is based on data from all of these sources. When Sanborn maps are the primary reference for dating, the “Pre-“ prefix before a date indicates the earliest coverage of that block, building and lot in the series, and in some cases
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the building may have been constructed well before that time. City directories and other references are cross checked to narrow the bracket date. Lacking other references, an estimated age based on architectural attributes is sometimes added after a “/” (i.e. Pre-1902 / 1880s).
EAST CASE STREET, NORTH SIDE (east from North Teal Lake Avenue)
101 East Case. James F. Foley House (1881). William Medlin, Contractor, Negaunee. Contributing. Sanborn maps reveal this house was here before the publication of the 1884 edition, when it is described as a brick (not veneer) building with a stone basement and had a single-story frame porch within the facade ell. Other than the single-story, square section on the west elevation behind the side gable, the footprint is unchanged from today, although the detached garage at the rear of the lot apparently was added in the 1940s. This house occupies the northeast corner of the North Teal Lake Avenue intersection. Although the facade of this two-and-one-half story, white-painted brick building presents a gabled ell profile, it is actually a squared plan. The entrance is in the facade’s ell, shielded by a shed-roof porch supported on metal columns with scroll brackets linked by an iron balustrade with alternating, spear-point, balusters. The porch has a cross-gabled pediment above the entry. The entry door is next to the junction with the front- gabled section and is flanked to its left by two wide double-hung sash windows on robust masonry sills, which are supported near each end by two slightly corbelled bricks that reference brackets. Stacked above these in the second story are three double-hung sash windows replicating those below. The front-gabled section has paired double-hung sash in each story that share a continuous robust masonry sill, each window supported beneath by two pairs of corbelled bricks identical to the treatment described for the other windows. Between the first and second stories centered between the windows is a masonry plaque with block letters reading, “J. F. FOLEY/ A. D. 1881.” Above the second story within the gable is a single, smaller, double-hung sash window with a masonry sill. The facade, and the entire house, displays a wide frieze with elaborate scrolled eave brackets, between which are stylized shield motifs. A round-arch metal dormer breaks the roof line in the center of the cross-gabled section. The west side elevation of the ell has a bay window on the first story with a roof supported by brackets identical to the facade, but reduced in scale. The second story has paired windows in the second story and a single window in the third, repeating the attributes of the windows of the facade. Behind the ell the first-story has a single story, square-plan section with a flat roof, containing an entrance and glass-block window, behind which the main body of the house rises two-and-one-half stories to a windowless section that has a rear-facing gable. A single-story shed-roof porch extends along the rear elevation from the northeast corner. A single-story, rectangular plan, detached frame garage clad in wide-lap siding and having a pyramidal roof is located at the rear of the property along the mid-block alley. The proportions of this house indicate it was not designed by a trained architect, and the eave brackets appear to reference the Italianate style.
WEST CASE STREET, NORTH SIDE (west from North Teal Lake Avenue)
102 (116) West Case. Case Street Grade School (Negaunee Middle School) (1936; 1995; 2010). Warren S. Holmes, Lansing, Architect; James Leck & Co., Minneapolis, Contractor. Contributing.
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The facade of this school presents a broad three-story vaguely Romanesque symmetrical front to West Case Street. The red-brick school stands on a low limestone base that rises to the window sill level, a slightly projecting course creating a water table. The symmetrical fenestration consists of broad double-hung sash windows with individual limestone sills in the second story and a continuous limestone course serving as a sill on the third. Narrow wood panels are placed beneath each first-story window. The lintels vary from narrow, dentilled masonry in the first story, to flat-arch brick lintels with limestone keystones in the second, while the third story lacks any treatment. A broad limestone band course is placed above the windows beneath a course of brick dentils at the top of the facade’s parapet.
The lower two stories of the central section containing the entrance of the building project slightly. Broad masonry steps rise to a narrow, open plaza bordered by low masonry walls, whose corners flanking the steps each contain a tall masonry urn. The entry is placed behind an arcade formed by a triple masonry arch constructed with limestone voussoirs. In each of these, the intrados is embellished with square, recessed panels displaying alternating symbols representing school life, education, and enlightenment in the form of open books, the earth (geography), music, tools (manual training) and athletics. Recessed behind the arcade, set within wall planes faced in limestone, are paired entry doors beneath a broad fanlight. On either side are large windows beneath a round-arch transom filled with masonry symbolism connoting education – each has an open book centered between lamps of knowledge. A broad band of contrasting color yellow brick extends the full width of this projecting central section, linking the continuous lintels of the second-story windows with the continuous sills of the third story. On this background are secured large metal letters stating “NEGAUNEE MIDDLE SCHOOL.” The building’s west two-bay-wide projecting corner section joins this building to the rear northeast corner of Manual Training School building that faces Pioneer Avenue. This linking section references the style of the main building but is of more recent vintage. The large, northern, brick portion of this building houses the gymnasium, which extends the north elevation of the adjoining Manual Training Center (see next entry).
The Sanborn maps show that in 1911 the Negaunee Grade School on the south portion of this parcel south of a mid-block alley facing Case Street, and the Negaunee High School faces Peck Street on the north side of the alley. By 1928 the Manual Training Center (see following entry) had been constructed on the west, facing Pioneer Avenue and replacing the First Presbyterian Church formerly on the site. In the 1946 edition, the “Case Street Grade School,” labeled “Built 1936,” occupied the former location of the Negaunee Grade School, and is connected to the rear northeast corner of the Manual Training School by a heating plant at its northwest corner.
In 1935 the federal Public Works Administration assisted in the construction of this twenty-four- room grade school building on the site of the Case Street School (Ironwood Daily Globe 1935a). In 2019 the original interior doors in the school were removed and replaced by solid doors meeting new security standards. The original doors were auctioned off to the public (WLUC 2019c).
102 West Case (206 North Pioneer). Negaunee Manual Training School (1913 to 1914; 1936; 1995; 2010). John D. Chubb, Architect, Marquette; Hinkley & Lambeau, Green Bay,
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WI., Contractor. Warren S. Holmes, Lansing, Architect; James Leck & Co., Minneapolis, Contractor (1936 third story addition). Contributing. This building occupies the northeast corner of the North Pioneer Street intersection. (Although originally addressed on North Pioneer Avenue, it is today part of the Negaunee Middle School complex, which is addressed as 102 West Case.) The Negaunee Manual Training School facade presents a three-story, vaguely Neoclassical, broad symmetrical front. The red-brown brick school stands on a low limestone base that rises to window sill level. The symmetrical fenestration consists of paired windows defining seven bays, except for the central entrance at the street level. A broad, corbelled cornice separates the third story from the two lower stories. The central bay projects slightly and contains the entrance, which is recessed between paneled pilasters. These support a classical lintel with a flat-topped, two-part entablature containing the label, “MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.” The main cornice is a simply detailed classical one, completed in metal. Limestone is employed in all window sills and in a band course atop the corbelled cornice above the second story, and extending across the projecting central bay from either side of the cornice above the entrance. The building’s south elevation, which is linked at its corner to the Case Street Grade School (Negaunee Middle School) to the east (102 West Case, see entry), continues the style elements of the facade. These are expressed in a slightly projecting central section composed of three stories of double-hung sash windows, which is centered between narrower sections having two windows in each story identical to the center section. The northern section of the facade extending to Peck Street is composed of five broad, windowless sections of brick wall that are defined at regular intervals by plain brick pilasters with minimal masonry plinths and caps. The north elevation continues in four bays of brick walls and pilasters, with each of the bays containing a set of paired windows high up in the wall, which appears to be of much more recent vintage than the rest of the school building, and contains the gymnasium.
In 1935 the federal Public Works Administration approved a loan and grant for the addition of a third story to the Manual Training Building (Ironwood Daily Globe 1935a). The Sanborn maps show that by 1928, the Manual Training Center had been constructed facing Pioneer Avenue. In the 1946 edition, the “Case Street Grade School,” labeled “Built 1936,” occupies the former location of the Negaunee Grade School east of the Manual Training School, and the Training School is connected to the Grade School by a heating plant at its rear northeast corner. The northern portion of this building, which houses the gymnasium, was constructed in 2010, and renovations to the school had also been undertaken in 1995 (Negaunee Public Schools 2020)
202 West Case. Saint Paul's Catholic Church (1920). Van Leyen Schilling & Keogh, Detroit, Architect. Foster Construction Co. Milwaukee, Contractor. Contributing. This Neo-Romanesque, basilica-type church is faced in red brick over concrete block and trimmed with Bedford, Indiana limestone. Rising from a wide masonry base, the church is a symmetrical-front building with a steep gable-roofed nave, between two corner towers that extend above the nave. Its front is enhanced by the corner square-plan towers, each of which has three round-arch windows with a continuous masonry sill and a continuous masonry lintel on the ground floor, above which is a single, narrow, vertical window. On each, an expanse of brick wall rises to a wide masonry belt course that serves as a base to the belfry, which has round- arched, balustrade, louvered voids. Alternating sections of brick and masonry extend between chamfered corner piers that are capped by masonry finials. These support a copper dome that is
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capped by a Latin cross. Between the corner towers the street level of the gabled section contains three sets of paired wood entry doors with large hinges that are recessed within broad, round arches, producing an arcade effect. These incorporate masonry columns and voussoirs and tabbing between the doors. A shed-roof protects the entrance. Above this, a tall Palladian window featuring classically-inspired pilasters and dentils occupies much of the facade. To either side are brick pilasters extending to a gable that has masonry fractables with a Latin cross at the apex, while the piers are punctuated by shield devices and are capped by urns. Centered above the window is a masonry niche enframing a statue of Jesus. Decorative brickwork with projecting headers in an X-pattern bond distinguishes this central portion of the nave. The roof of the church appears to be synthetic or metal imitation tile.
The sides of the church have wide bays, which are defined by brick wall piers with masonry caps, each of which contains a broad, round-arch window with a masonry sill and triple rows of arched brick. A masonry band course runs the length of this side elevation, extending at the level of the masonry sill of the facade’s corner tower. A single-story section at the rear of the church extends east to the rear of the Rectory. It runs from the northeast corner of the church, its cross- gable extending from the eave of the nave roof. It has four broad, segmental-arch windows on masonry sills and a small, two-pane window near the opposite corner. The end facing Pioneer Avenue rises to a shaped gable with masonry coping. This is reproduced in smaller scale on the slightly projecting corner entry vestibule that contains paired wood doors with large ornamental hinges. The center of this end bay has a triple round-arch window with masonry lintel and imposts, and the gable above contains a louvered bulls-eye window with a wide decorative masonry surround.
In 1919 trade journals reported that the new 150,000 dollar, fifty-five-by-one-hundred- twenty- five-foot church was designed by the Detroit architectural firm of Van Leyen Schilling & Keogh (American Contractor 1919). Foster Construction Co. was the general contractor for both the church and the rectory buildings, as related in an article lamenting delays caused by the difficulty in having the church limestone transported from Indiana (Negaunee Iron Herald 1920).
202 West Case. Saint Paul's Parish Rectory (1920; 1960(?). Van Leyen Schilling & Keogh, Detroit Architect(?). Foster Construction Co. Milwaukee, Contractor. Contributing. This building occupies the northwest corner of the North Pioneer Street Intersection and is separated from Saint Paul’s Church by a small courtyard. It is a rectangular plan, two-story, hip- roof brownish-red brick foursquare variant, with a symmetrical front. A full-width, hipped roof entry porch has broad round arches, the three on the front forming an arcade, and one on each side for depth. The face of the center arch, which leads to the Rectory’s entrance, extends through the eave to a shaped gable with masonry coping. An inset masonry Latin cross is placed above the center of the arch. The porch’s end arches also extend above the roof line, end in masonry-coped parapets. The second story has five double-hung sash windows with robust masonry sills. The side elevation has a broad, shouldered wall chimney and a variety of single, paired, and triple-windows. The rear corner section projects slightly from the main body of the building. The hipped roof has a round-headed dormer window capped by a Latin cross, and two similar windows on the side elevation roof, which have no crosses. All the dormers are faced and roofed in copper. A single-story, hipped roof, two-bay garage is located off the west side.
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See 209-215 West Peck for the related Saint Paul’s School and 225 North Pioneer for Saint Paul’s Convent.
214 West Case. House (Between 1902 and 1911). Contributing. This two-story brick house has a tall, pyramidal-roof with gabled sections on all sides. Its most notable feature is the use of contrasting colors in its brickwork, the buff of the body walls offset by the use of red brick in all window and door surrounds and at the dwelling’s corners, in a way mimicking quoins. The facade has a hipped-roof porch with a pediment over the right-side entrance. The porch wraps around to the right side ell. It is supported on Tuscan columns with classical references that are reinforced by its dentilled frieze. Beneath it, an entry door is in the right corner ell, and a picture window is in the front-gabled section to the left. A single, double- hung sash window is placed both above the picture window and above the door in the ell. Each has a segmental-arch, red-brick lintel and red-brick sides, and each has a sandstone sill. In the pedimented gable above the second-story, which is clad in fishscale shingle, is a round-arch window set within a frame surround having a keystone. The west side elevation has a two-story projecting bay with cant sides having contrasting-color brick margins and double-hung sash windows in both stories. The opposite side elevation has functionally-positioned fenestration set within contrasting color brick, and the cross-gables above the second story in both side elevations are pedimented and duplicate the elements of the one on the facade. A detached single-story, front-gabled, two-bay-wide, concrete-block garage is located behind the house on the mid-block alley. The house appears most strongly influenced by the Colonial Revival style.
Sanborn maps reveal this brick veneered house was built between 1902 and 1911, when it was built on a vacant lot formerly occupied by the Town Hall (through the 1880s). The garage behind the house was constructed between 1928 and 1946.
218 West Case. John Truran House (c. 1890). Non-Contributing. This is a two-story, wood-frame, L-plan house that is clad in vinyl siding. The gable-front section has an entrance at the east corner and a picture window to its left, above which and slightly offset in the second story is a large sliding window. In the ell to the right is a shed- roofed single-story section. This house has been renovated, and although its basic form is intact, it retains no architectural features from the original construction, and is considered to be Non- Contributing to the historic district.
222 West Case. House (c. 1880). Contributing. Sanborn maps reveal that this house was built prior to the 1884 edition, when it is a dwelling described as two stories with a stone basement, which continues in 1888. Between 1888 and 1892 the single-story rear section present today was added to the rear, which is described as veneered. The footprint remains unchanged on subsequent Sanborn maps. This is a two-story, wood-frame, front-gabled house with a rear ell. It is clad in vinyl siding and rises nearly another full story on its raised, gray-painted, masonry basement. The front-gabled section has two double-hung sash windows in each story, stacked above one another. Beneath these, the full- height masonry ground story facing Case Street has an entry between two small casement windows and another wood door at the right corner. The entrance in the east side ell is beneath a hipped-roof porch supported by wood columns. A small window is the only fenestration above the porch in the main body of the house, while a larger window is in the rear ell section near the
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building’s corner. A single-story, brick, end-gabled section with a single, segmental-arch double- hung sash window extends from the rear of the house. A single-story, wood frame, hipped-roof garage clad in vinyl siding is located behind the house on the mid-block alley. Its east side long axis has two, wide, openings with hinged doors on the north end, and then two sets of alternating small, fixed-pane windows and wood entry doors southward to the opposite corner. The hipped- roof garage behind the house was constructed between 1911 and 1928.
224 West Case. Felix Chiabotto Grocery / Twin City Bakery (1880; Between 1928 and 1946). Contributing This building occupies the northeast corner of the Kanter Street intersection. It is two stories, composed of a gabled-ell with a front-gabled facade and flat-roofed section with a stepped parapet facade. The core of the building is the two story, L-plan, front-gabled west section, which has a random ashlar, stone first story and a frame, vinyl-clad, second story. Its street level presents a slant-sided entrance between two large display windows on cement-skinned bulkheads, above which the storefront cornice is a narrow projecting metal canopy. The left corner pier is brick. Three double-hung sash windows are in the second story, and a tall brick chimney breaks the center of the roof’s ridge line. To the right of this gabled section is a cement- skinned brick bay with a stepped parapet. The cement skin is continuous onto the bulkheads of the gabled section to its left. It has a right-corner entry door that is flanked by a set of paired double-hung sash, which is stacked beneath an identical pair in the second story. The gabled section’s west side fenestration is set well back from the facade corner. It consists of three segmental-arched windows and an entry door in the stone first story, while the frame second story has seven double-hung sash windows. The rear corner section has a ground-level constructed of concrete block with another entry door and window, which is beneath a vinyl-clad frame section with a double-hung sash window. This rear section has a rear-oriented shed-roof. The east side elevation has spalling cement veneer exposing concrete block, with fenestration composed of single and paired double-hung sash windows. The rear of this building has a broad, gabled, full-with porch containing two entry doors, each with an adjacent double-hung sash window. To the east of this is recessed gabled section with a double-hung sash window. At the rear of the lot, oriented perpendicular to the axis of the house, is a rectangular-plan, one-and-and- one-half story, brick building or garage, with a broad, front-facing gable. The street level of this is composed entirely of three wide openings containing three wood doors, each having four square windows that are stacked two-over-two, now sealed by wood panels. Each door has a broad masonry lintel. Stacked above the center door are two segmental-arch windows that are sealed with wood panels. This building’s rear (east), gabled, elevation has two large windows with broad masonry lintels at the ground level, the southern one occupied by a two-over-two window. Stacked above these are two segmental-arch windows, the northern one having a six- pane window and the southern one a tow-over-two pane window. Between the two sets of windows at the level of the upper windows are two wood panel doors in segmental-arch openings.
Sanborn maps reveal that this building was present before the earliest available 1884 edition, when it is labeled as a Dwelling, single story with a stone basement, which in 1892 is labeled as a two story, with a stone first story, with a vacant store on the first and a dwelling on the second. In 1928 a one-story section was added to the rear of the east side. By 1946 the two-story, brick- faced, concrete block section present today was constructed, which extended the right facade,
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while the one-and-one-half story brick building at the rear of the lot has also been constructed, and is labeled as a garage.
304 West Case. United States Post Office (1937). Architect Louis A. Simon, Supervising Engineer Neal A. Melick, Washington, D.C.; F. E. Wester, Marquette, Contractor. Contributing. This building occupies the northwest corner of the Kanter Street intersection. It is a single-story, broad-fronted, flat-roof building faced in reddish brick, with limestone trim It appears to reference restrained or more stylized classically-derived style elements, and perhaps a tinge of Art Deco. A broad staircase between masonry parapets leads to the small concrete terrace in front of the main entry (a concrete ramp now also leads to the terrace’s east side), and the building rises above a projecting limestone-capped brick base. The five-bay-wide symmetrical facade has the main entry set within limestone panels, flanked by broad brick piers, which separate it from broad, three-over-three, double-hung sash windows that are also set within limestone panels. Smaller sash windows occupy the corner bays of the facade. All windows have masonry sills, and the smaller ones have soldier-bond brick lintels above header-bond panels. Above these is a limestone band course that extends from the facade around to the side elevations. On the upper facade centered over the entrance are metal letters stating, “UNITED STATES POST OFFICE / NEGAUNEE, MICHIGAN. A masonry panel in the lower left corner of the facade states “HENRY MORGENTHAU, JR. / SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY / JAMES A FARLEY / POSTMASTER GENERAL / LOUIS A. SIMON / SUPERVISING ARCHITECT / NEAL L. MELNICK / SUPERVISING ENGINEER / 1937.” The side elevations are formed of six windows identical to the smaller ones at the facade corners, but only the widows nearest the facade corner repeat the header-bond panels below the sills. A single-story, flat-roofed, two-bay garage with loading dock that is recessed from the facade plane extends from the west side.
WEST CASE STREET, SOUTH SIDE
117 (117-119) West Case. J. Erickson Building (Between 1888 and 1902). Mesker Bros. (Ironwork). Contributing This is a two-story, gable-front, wood-frame store building with a falsefront gable. The front is faced in wide-exposure, brown-painted, horizontal lap, asbestos siding. The storefront has a slant-sided center entrance centered between display windows on plain and paneled bulkheads. A secondary entrance to the second story is at the right facade corner. The doors and windows all have transoms above. Slender iron columns are between the slant-sides and the display windows. The facade corners have fluted iron pilasters that rise to enclosed brackets anchoring each end of the pressed-metal storefront cornice. The brackets have anthemion and geometric motifs, while the dentilled frieze between them has modillions. The second story has four evenly-spaced, double-hung sash windows in plain surrounds. Centered in the upper facade is a pair of square, fixed pane, Queen Anne windows. The building’s pressed-metal cornice has large end brackets with anthemion and fleur-de-lis motifs that are capped by finials, and a frieze with festoon and fleur-de-lis motifs that are beneath a modillioned cornice. A cornice pediment centered and extending above this has ornamental margins and a center panel labeled, “J. ERICKSON,” which appears to post-date the original installation. The east side elevation has functionally-placed double-hung sash windows in the second story.
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The upper cornice for this building appears to be illustrated on the cover, and the brackets and frieze motifs in, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s Mesker identification guide (IHPA 2020: cover, 4, 6). The cornice pediment is similar to several in the Mesker Bros. 1898 catalog and appears nearly identical to Design No. 685, complete with festooned frieze and finials (Mesker Brothers 1898: 23, 24). These stamped cornices are much less common on frame buildings than brick ones, and the cornice pediment is uncommon, “being prone to damage in strong winds, these do not always survive” (IHPA 2020: 8). An old photograph of this building apparently dating to the early 1900s, shows this building is unchanged except for the siding (Superiorview 2020a).
205 West Case. Building (Post-1948). Non-Contributing. This building is located on the southwest corner of the North Pioneer Avenue intersection. Between 1911 and 1928, this two-story commercial building replaced a dwelling, when it was occupied by a bakery with a Bake Shop and Oven.
207 West Case. House (Pre-1884). Non-Contributing. This is a rectangular-plan, one-and-one-half story, front-gabled house that is clad in vinyl siding. The facade has a full-width entry porch with a shallow-pitched hipped roof, with a cross-gable pediment above the entrance, all supported on decorative steel posts. The enclosed west bay of the porch contains the entry door and a small sliding window. To the east of the door is a large picture window between two fixed-pane windows. Two small double-hung sash windows are within the gable above the porch. A small octagonal vent is within the gable peak. The east side elevation has three double-hung sash windows and an entry door in a shed roof extension near the house’s rear corner. Because the original architectural details of this house have been severely altered, it is considered to be Non-contributing to the historic district. Sanborn maps reveal that the dwelling here was built before the earliest, 1884 edition.
209 West Case. City Bakery (Pre-1884). Non-Contributing. This is a two-story, rectangular-plan, front-gabled house that is clad in vinyl siding. The gabled section has an off-center, triple-sliding window in the first story, two small double hung sash in the second story, and a single double hung sash window above these within the gable peak. The west side elevation has the entrance to the house, in the north corner beneath a shed-roof porch supported by decorative steel posts. To its right are two, large, sliding windows, and in the second story above are three double-hung sash windows. A flat-roof, single-bay garage with entry door and sash window extends from the southwest corner of the house. Because the fenestration has been significantly altered and no original architectural details are visible, this house is considered to be Non-contributing to the historic district. Sanborn maps reveal that this building predates the 1884 edition, when it is labeled “City Bakery” with a stone basement, and a brick oven at its rear that is described as “Below Ground,” In 1892 the two-story building with the single-story rear section here is now labeled a Dwelling, and the rear brick bake oven is no longer indicated.
215 (213-215) West Case. House (1910). Contributing. This is a large, square-plan, two-story, Foursquare-type house built with rusticated concrete block and shielded by a pyramidal roof. The facade’s full-width, hipped-roof porch is supported
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on Tuscan columns and has a shallow cross-gabled pediment above the centered entrance. Beneath the porch is a wood frame entry door centered between two paired windows with transoms. The second story above the porch has symmetrical fenestration composed of five double-hung sash windows. All windows have plain masonry lintels and sills, with the second story’s created by a band forming a lintel course that extends around the entire house. A hipped- roof dormer with triple double-hung sash windows is centered in the roof above. The side elevations provide more functionally-positioned fenestration, including an entry door in the west side, facing a separate, flat-roofed, two-bay, concrete block garage. A real estate listing says this house was built in 1910, and that the interior features original woodwork throughout, hardwood floors, a formal dining room with a built-in china cabinet, a butler's pantry, and an oak archway with leaded glass book cases (Trulia 2020a).
219 West Case. House (Pre-1884 / 1880) Contributing. This is a rectangular-plan, one-and-one-half story, front-gabled house that is clad in wide-lap asbestos siding. The facade has an entry door in the east corner that is flanked to its right by a large fixed-pane window with transom. Centered above these is a paired, double-hung, window, and centered above the window is a small louvered vent within the gable peak. Sanborn maps reveal that the dwelling here was built before the earliest, 1884 edition.
This house appears to pre-date the earliest 1884 Sanborn map, although the height changed between one-and-one-half to two stories depending on the estimator behind the map. A portion of the single-story rear section was removed between 1911 and 1928.
221 West Case. Vacant Parcel. Non-Contributing. This property is vacant parcel that does not contributing to the historical or architectural significance of the historic district.
223 West Case. Vacant Parcel. Non-Contributing. This property is vacant parcel that does not contributing to the historical or architectural significance of the historic district.
319 West Case. Negaunee City Hall (1914 to 1915). John D. Chubb, Architect Marquette; Ford E. King, Contractor Hancock. Contributing. This building occupies the trapezoidal block bounded by West Case, Kanter, Jackson and Silver streets. The two-story building, which is constructed of alternating bands of brown brick and white dressed stone, rests on a tall limestone block base. The facade is a symmetrical composition, with its entrance centered in a projecting bay that extends from the central section of the facade, which itself projects from the core of the building. Paired doors behind a masonry balustrade are placed above the entrance in the second story. Centered on the parapet over the entrance two stories below is a masonry plaque proudly proclaiming, “CITY HALL.” Tall single- and paired-windows are set within white stone surrounds, with entablature lintels in the first story and keystone lintels on the second. These treatments continue in the fenestration of the side and rear elevations, the latter also having a large wall chimney, constructed in the same alternating bands of stone and brick as the rest of the building. The masonry-coped building parapet and the soaring clock tower centered on the facade are constructed of brown brick, rising atop a broad, dentilled, dressed limestone entablature. This square-plan tower extends up to a
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massive copper-sheathed, mansard-like roof, which is supported at each corner by large masonry consoles. All four faces of the tower, centered under round arches in the sloping sides of the copper mansard, are occupied by huge clock faces that mark the hours with Roman numerals. This building is a stylistically eclectic composition that alludes perhaps most strongly to the Beaux Arts style in use of light-hued stone, while also referencing Neo-classical elements in its columned entrance and upper facade entablature. This building was distinctive enough to warrant an entry in the Buildings of Michigan:
This two-story highly eclectic city hall and public library building occupies one full city block and overlooks a small park to the west. A 94-foot-high clock tower rises over the main entrance as an aggressive symbol of its civic authority. Alternate courses of white pressed brick and grayish white limestone with terra cotta detailing from the contrasting pattern of its busy walls… This flamboyant government building was planned at the time when the population of Negaunee was on the rise and production from Negaunee mines was approaching its peak. It makes a statement about the optimism of a small frontier city (Eckert 1993: 496- 497).
The building currently houses all the City offices, except public works, water, fire, and wastewater. It is also the location of the Negaunee Public Library. The building was placed on the State Register of Historic Sites in 1979.
319 West Case. Veteran’s Memorial Park (1938; 1949). Contributing. This park, on a small triangular parcel bounded by Silver, West Case and Jackson streets, is essentially a westward extension of the grounds in front of City Hall. The park contains two stone monuments. The larger of the two is accessed by a sidewalk north from Jackson Street. It is a large, c. fifteen-foot-wide by twelve-foot-high, rock frame composed of polygonal, rough- cut, stone with beaded bevels, which is capped by masonry coping. It surrounds a wood-frame display case with three Plexiglas-fronted panels containing sign boards. The display case is capped by a broken pediment containing a molded eagle. The top of the central panel states, “IN GRATITUDE TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY DURING WORLD WAR II,” and also denotes those who “DIED IN SERVICE.” West of this monument, near the point of the triangular park, is a second stone monument, constructed of random uncut fieldstone. It is gently curved in plan, and in profile steps up on both sides to a round-arch pinnacle capped by a globed light fixture. The lower horizontal surfaces of the steps have a concave bowl-shaped depression, while a third similar depression is on a shelf that projects from the concave side on a perpendicular below the globed light fixture. On the opposite convex side of this monument facing the intersection is a bronze plaque stating, “ERECTED BY / CITY OF NEGAUNEE / WITH COOPERATION OF / NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION / 1938.” A painted temporary wood sign facing Jackson Street states, “Veterans Memorial Park / Adopted By V. A. Romo Post #3165 / Veterans of Foreign Wars.”
The smaller stone monument was erected in 1938 with the assistance of Depression-era public works programs, while the larger soldiers’ memorial board was raised in 1949. Silver Street originally ran between the park and City Hall, but has been removed and its former location was
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sodded (WLUC 2019a). Historical photographs reveal that the beaded board upper portion of the memorial board originally had the words “Roll of Honor” flanked by stars (Patronicity 2020).
GOLD STREET, EAST SIDE (south from Iron Street Intersection)
209 Gold. Christian Johnson Building(?) (1880). Theodore Kruse, Designer / Builder. Non- Contributing. This two-story brick building occupies a sloping lot paralleling the grade of Gold Street. The facade has been totally encased in a thick skin of concrete stucco, through which the outlines of the street level’s commercial facade and the segmental arches of the four second-story windows are still partially observable. The fenestration of the first story consists of replacement doors and windows. The visible north side elevation is light brown brick, with segmental arched windows and a parapet that steps to the rear. Because none of the original facade fabric and its architectural details are visible, this building lacks historic integrity and is considered to be a non-contributing resource to the historic district.
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215 Gold. E. Lobb Block (1890). Contributing. This two-story, red-painted brick, two-part commercial block occupies a sloping lot paralleling the grade of Gold Street. At the street level, it appears that the original facade that was set beneath courses of corbelled brick at the level of the storefront cornice has been replaced. The brick wall plane here now contains a triple double-hung sash window with a soldier-bond brick lintel and masonry sill, and two entry doors between the windows and the building’s left corner. The opposite corner has a large, open passage that extends through to the rear of the lot. Above a course of slanting rowlock brick, the second story has four double-hung sash windows with sandstone sills, each of which is set within an opening reduced from above by brick infill. A band course of rough-faced, red-painted sandstone that runs across the top of the original openings served as a lintel course. In the upper facade is centered a masonry plaque stating “E. LOBB / 1890.” The building has an elaborate projecting pressed-metal cornice that has modillions, paterae, rosettes and vertical tubular motifs.
Sanborn maps reveal that the brick building was constructed between 1888 and 1892, which appears to confirm the cornice date, when it was occupied by a saloon with offices on the second floor. Between 1888 and 1892 a narrow, brick two-story section was added to the south side, apparently the section above the open space at the street level present today.
217 Gold. Beaumont Hotel / Railroad Hotel (Pre-1873). Contributing. This two-story, trapezoidal-shaped, red-painted brick, two-part commercial block occupies a sloping lot paralleling the grade of Gold Street. At the facade’s lower left is a second-story entry. The original first-story storefront has been replaced by a vinyl-framed, glass entry door with sidelights, which is centered between metal panels. The second story has segmental-arched windows with corbelled brick hoods and sandstone sills. Brick piers extend up the corners of the building, transitioning to brick quoins at the second story. These continue up to the upper facade, which projects slightly above a course of dentilled brick. The upper facade is composed of four large, recessed, nearly square panels of herringbone bond brick. These panels corbel up to a course of indented- or sawtooth-brick beneath a plain parapet. An 1875 edition of the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that E. Lobb, formerly of the Miners’ Arms on Iron Street, has taken possession of the Beaumont House on Gold Street,” a hotel listed in Negaunee, in Beard’s 1873 Marquette County directory, so the hotel must pre-date that year (Negaunee Iron Herald 1875; Walker 1873: 106). (For Lobb, see also listing for 215 Gold Street.)
GOLD STREET, WEST SIDE (south from Iron Street Intersection)
208 Gold. S. H. & E. F. of A. Hall (Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall) (1909). Contributing This two-story, brick, two-part commercial block occupies a sloping lot paralleling the grade of Gold Street. The facade’s first story is a replacement, consisting of synthetic stone siding pierced centrally by a vinyl-and-glass entry door, all placed beneath a full-width, pent-roof porch supported on thin metal posts linked by wood balustrades. The brown brick second story has three sliding replacement windows in frame panels that downsized the original openings. These openings are not symmetrically positioned, but all have wide, dressed sandstone lintels and simple dressed sandstone sills. A neon sign perpendicular to the building face states, “V F W / 3165.” Centered in the upper facade is a dressed sandstone plaque that states, “No. 8 / S. H. & E.
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F. / of A.” The projecting metal cornice above has a dentilled frieze and block modillions. The sides of the building are of a lesser-grade, buff-red brick.
Sanborn maps reveal this brick building replaced a smaller frame one and was constructed between 1902 and 1911.
In May 1909 the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that the Scandinavian Society was going to erect a thirty-four-by-ninety-five-foot building on the west side of Gold Street just south of the alley, leasing the first floor for business with its hall on the second floor (Negaunee Iron Herald 1909a). In October 1909, the newspaper reported that Negaunee’s mayor assisted in the laying of the cornerstone for the group’s “substantial” and “handsome” new lodge hall building, a “solid brick block” that was “across the street” from their old hall (Negaunee Iron Herald 1909b).
212 (222) Gold. Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic and Chicago & Northwestern Negaunee Depot (Union Station Depot). (David) Hood Contracting Company, Duluth, MN. (1910). Contributing. This building is located nearly opposite the Rail Street intersection and adjacent to the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, both of which follow the former railroad bed along which this depot was constructed. It is a rectangular-plan, single-story, brown brick building that rests on a concrete foundation and is shielded by a flared, hipped-roof with wide eaves. The eaves are supported by long, concave, wood brackets attached to the wall by masonry cyma reversa anchors. Each corner of the building has broad, brick, engaged piers that are linked by a masonry band course, which also function as a sill course for all the windows in the building. The windows are all single and paired double-hung sash, generally positioned in a functional manner. On the south elevation, facing the former railroad grade, a projecting section of the building contains a band of six windows. Two six-panel, single, wood doors are west of this section, and two to the east, all beneath wide transoms. Two sets of paired, wood, six-panel doors are near the east end of this side. The opposite elevation has a similar configuration. A long, rectangular-plan, frame, hipped roof cupola is centered on the roof ridge, and a brown brick ridge chimney is near the east roof hip. All areas of the roof are sheathed in red corrugated metal. The interior held the general waiting room of fifty-three-feet-by-fifteen-feet, a baggage room of twenty-one-feet-by-twenty- feet, Western Express and American Express offices that were each seventeen-feet-by-eleven- feet, and a women's waiting room of fifteen-feet-by-twenty-one-feet (Daily Mining Journal Dec. 23, 1910, and Jul. 16, 1965, cited in Hyde 1978: 160). A historical photograph indicates that this depot is unchanged from the time of construction. Although a joint project of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic (DSS&A) and Chicago & Northwestern railroads, its construction was primarily the responsibility of the DSS&A staff.
IRON STREET, NORTH SIDE (west from South Pioneer Avenue intersections)
202 (204) Iron. Bernard Building (Pre-1884; Between 1911 and 1928). Non-Contributing. This building occupies the northwest corner of the South Pioneer Avenue intersection. It is a three-story, flat-roofed, wood-frame, commercial building that is clad in a cement stucco skin. The fenestration is all replacement, with the street level consisting of a recessed steel door centered between two small, vinyl, double-hung sash windows, which is flanked to the left by small, sliding window and a steel corner entry door, both set within a panel of board-and-batten
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wood siding. The center of the second story has paired windows centered between two single windows, all vinyl, double-hung sash set in downsized openings. The third story has three openings sealed with wood panels, and two small windows sealed with panels are in the upper facade above. A single-story, end-gabled, frame addition with brick kneewalls extends from the rear elevation. Because this building does not retain any original architectural fabric, it is considered to be Non-Contributing.
Sanborn maps reveal that this building was here before the 1884 edition, which shows this was a frame building with two-stories and a “stone basement.” The 1911 edition shows this same footprint but described as three stories (considering the former “basement” a story), and is tinted as “Stone 1st” floor. The 1928 edition reveals that it became a corner building when the one next door to the east was removed and this building, still labeled “Stone 1st” had a narrow bay added to its west side creating the footprint evident today.
208 Iron. National Hotel / Sporley Hotel. (Pre-1884; Between 1888 and 1892). Contributing?. This is a two-story, gable-front, wood-frame store building with a falsefront. The facade is mostly sheathed in a skin of concrete stucco, although the street level at the entrance and beneath the flanking windows is clad in synthetics mimicking ashlar, square-cut stone in irregular courses. The recessed, slant-sided center entrance has a solid wood door and is centered between fixed-pane windows. The second story has three window openings sealed with particleboard. The falsefront above has a center gable peak and a wide-board frieze. Although the architecture of this building has been somewhat compromised, enough remains to identify it as a rare frame commercial storefront survivor complete with a “boomtown” front. For these reasons, it is considered to be Contributing. In 1892, while functioning as a saloon & boarding house, a single-story section was extended across the entire rear of the building. The building remains in this configuration today.
212 Iron. S. Pilo Block (1916). G. L. Mesker & Co. (cast iron); Contributing. The facade of this two-story, two-part, gray-painted commercial block has a distinctive stepped gable. The street level has a cant-corner entrance with a wood-frame glass door. A brick pier to its right separates it from two large display windows with transoms, which rest on a narrow wood-paneled bulkhead. The right corner’s brick pier supports the metal storefront cornice, which is anchored at the top of the pillar and at the corner of the building above the cant-sided entrance by flat, stamped iron, bracket ornaments displaying floral and “morning glory” motifs that are the product of George L. Mesker & Company (IHPA 2020: 4). The center iron column between the display windows, which has an ornamental capital, confirms this, having a stamped nameplate on its base- “G. L. Mesker / & Co. / Evansville / Ind.” The second story has three double-hung sash windows with plain, black-painted, dressed limestone(?) lintels and sills. Centered within the upper facade and its masonry-coped, stepped-gable, is a masonry plaque stating, “S. PILO / 1916.” The side elevation has functional fenestration composed of, in the first story, a display window near the cant corner and a smaller one mid-building, and in the second story, four double-hung sash windows that appear identical in form to those of the facade. The facade was restored with an MEDC grant in 2018 (Mining Journal 2018).
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220 Iron. Wehmanen Jewelry Store No. 1 (Tino’s Bar). (Between 1888 and 1892). Contributing. This two-story, flat-roofed, red brick building has a slant-sided entrance centered between large display windows resting on paneled wood bulkheads. The narrow cast iron columns on either side of the entrance have pedestals with floral scroll motifs and elongated capitals embellished with a stack of eight beveled squares. The street level of the facade is anchored at its corners by brick piers whose shafts have recessed centers. These extend up to large bracket ornaments anchoring the storefront cornice, which have bead, fluted modillion, and cross-pattern morning glory motifs, the later within a triangular head. These corners are linked by a wide metal frieze with alternating plain and fluted panels. The eye-catching second story has a nearly full-width round-arch triple window that appears to rest on the storefront cornice. The spandrel between this window and the cornice on each side has a large triangular carved sandstone panel with anthemion and vine motifs. The second story margins have a continuation of the recessed center brick corner piers of the first story, while the lower portion of the entablature above repeats on a larger scale the elements of the storefront cornice. However, above the morning glory cross at each of the building corners, a beveled shaft extends up through the parapet. Between these is a field of metal, cove-pattern shingles, centered within which is a broad pediment filled with a sunburst motif. The facade was restored in 2018 with the secondary building materials removed revealing the original façade materials. The façade, storefront, and upper story window was rehabilitated using historic photo documentation and following the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties. (Mining Journal 2018).
300 Iron. Vista Theater (1925). David E. Anderson, Marquette/Iron River, MI., Architect. Pfeffer Construction Company, Duluth, and John Kielinen, Ishpeming, Contractor. NRHP-Listed. This building is located at the head of the “T” formed by the Marquette Street intersection, and extends though the block to Jackson Street. It is a broad-fronted, two-story building with a limestone-trimmed, buff-brick façade that combines Commercial Brick design with Neoclassical style flourishes. The building has a three-part symmetrical upper façade with a projecting slant- sided marquee, which is suspended by chains anchored to the building face by figural lion heads. The building’s front contains in the center the theater entry, a run of six wood- framed entry doors with large glass panels, which are flanked on each side by a large, glass, poster panel and a double-hung sash window and an entry door at each corner, identical to the main theater entry doors. All are set within polychromatic enameled steel panels. These panels are composed of a broad, light tan band at the sidewalk level extending up to bases of the windows and poster panels, and from their tops up through the level of the marquee, between which is a wide section of dark red panels. Two narrow, parallel, horizontal strips of light tan extend across the mid- point of the dark red panels, and two parallel, dark red strips extend across near the top margin of the light tan panels. The broad center portion of the theater above the marquee has two sets of triple windows, each stacked above the other but widely separated vertically. Both are composed of nine-over-nine double-hung sash windows. The sets of windows just above the marquis are flat-arched with a continuous soldier bond lintel and masonry sill and the one above in the upper facade form a broad continuous arch, and duplicate the lintel and sill treatment of the ones below.
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The theater’s architectural interest is largely provided by its brick and masonry work. In the central facade a vertical course of stack bond brick frames both sets of windows. The wall plane between the windows is stack bond header brick, centered in which is a masonry plaque inscribed, “J. J. RYTKONEN / 1925.” A beveled masonry block anchors each end of the broad brick arch in the upper facade. On either side of this central section, extending to the theater corners, are tall brick panels lateral to and extending the full height of the two sets of windows. These panels are framed by soldier and stack bond brick and are filled with basketweave-bond brick. The panel corners are anchored by beveled masonry blocks. The upper facade has a band course of masonry that parallels the top of the panels and the broad arch top of the windows between them. A masonry cornice surmounts and parallels the band course, above which, in each of the facade’s lateral sections, is a masonry panel composed of geometric elements – a beveled block between two inverted triangles. The facade terminates in a flat masonry-coped parapet. The street level of rear elevation on Jackson Street has single- and paired- steel entry doors at the corners. Above these, the broad brick wall pane is divided into three sections by brick panels outlined by soldier-bond and stack-bond brick. The central panel occupies most of this space, and is created using contrasting color, buff brick, and has masonry corner blocks. On either side is a narrower brick panel with contrasting brick of a darker red tint, each having small, paired, double-hung sash windows in their lower sections.
302 (300-302) Iron. Oscar Field Building (1899). Mesker Bros. Iron Works. Contributing. This is a two-story, two-part commercial block constructed of dressed reddish sandstone with rough-faced sandstone accents. The street level has a recessed entrance in each corner, the left of wood beneath a large transom, and the right of aluminum-framed glass. Between these are display windows, the left mounted above brick veneer and below wide-lap siding, and the right above wide-lap siding and below a steeply-pitched shed-roof. The slightly wider right front is divided from the left by a stone pillar of dressed sandstone, which has rough-faced sandstone bands at the base and cap and dividing the shaft into three equal segments. Identical pillars are at the facade corners and on each side of the recessed corner entrances (although to the right the pillar is sheathed in lap siding). The elaborate pressed-metal storefront cornice has closed brackets on each end with geometric and anthemion motifs, which anchor a wide frieze embellished with swag / festoon and fleur-de-lis motifs. The second story has a picture window beneath a stained glass transom, which is centered between two double-hung sash windows, all with rough-faced sandstone sills. The upper facade’s elaborate pressed-metal projecting entablature has closed brackets on each end with lotus(?), anthemion(?) and fleur-de-lis motifs, which anchor a wide frieze embellished with fleur-de-lis motifs and a cornice with rosette and bead motifs below ribbon motifs separated by fluting.
The elements of the storefront and facade cornices appear to be those produced by the Mesker Bros. Iron Works (IHPA 2020: 4, 6). A old photograph of this building, apparently dating to the early 1900s, shows the two storefronts with corner entrances and large display windows, the one to the west with an awning lettered “Shoes” and “Hats,” the one to the right having a painted window – “Oscar Field’s Place (Superiorview 2020c). In June 1899 the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that the building was underway, was to be sixty feet in depth, two stores on the ground floor, finished basement, and built of “solid walls of brick and cut stone” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1899b; Negaunee Iron Herald 1899c).
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304 (304-306) Iron. Shea Block (1901). Andrew Lindquist, Negaunee, Designer / Contractor. Mesker Bros. Iron Works(?). Contributing. This is a two-story, two-part commercial block constructed of dressed reddish sandstone with rough-faced sandstone accents. The street level has a recessed entrance beneath a dome awning which is centered between two slider windows, all mounted in panels of T-111 siding. This siding is used in a tall panel above a secondary steel entry door at the facade’s left corner. At the facade corners and to the right of the corner entry, are red-painted dressed stone piers that have rough-faced stone at the bases and caps and a third one placed mid-shaft. These rise to a plain steel beam above the level of the storefront cornice. Above this the facade is dressed reddish sandstone block, between piers that are a continuation of those from the first story (but not painted). A band course of rough-faced sandstone extends between the bases of the piers to form a sill course for the three second story windows, while another identical band forms a lintel course above them. Replacement windows are set in wood frames in downsized openings, but the original transom windows are still in place. Centered in the upper facade is a deeply incised stone plaque stating, “SHEA / BLOCK.” The facade terminates in an elaborate, widely overhanging, stamped-metal cornice. The upper facade’s elaborate pressed-metal projecting entablature has four large brackets with anthemion and tablet flower motifs, which are separated by series of modillions, and linked by a wide frieze with swag / festoon motifs and a cornice having bead-and-reel molding. The elements of the storefront and facade cornices may be among those produced by the Mesker Bros. Iron Works (IHPA 2020: 4, 6).
308 (308-310) Iron (1892). Contributing. This is a brick, two-story, two-part commercial block that employs red sandstone accents. The street level has an aluminum-framed glass entry door centered between two small display windows. The windows are in larger openings downsized with synthetic stucco panels, while the bulkheads beneath the openings are smoothed masonry. The central bay with the door is clad in wood panels. Above these are five tall transom windows at the level of the storefront cornice, which has a steel beam punctuated by rosette devices. The second story has three tall windows in slightly downsized openings, which rest on a band of rough-faced sandstone that forms a sill course. A broader band of rough-faced sandstone forms a lintel course. The deteriorating pressed-metal cornice has a large end bracket with geometric motifs and plain frieze with anthemion modillions.
318 Iron. Negaunee National Bank (1910). John D. Chubb, Architect, Marquette; L. E. Chaussee, Contractor, Negaunee. Contributing. This tall, two-story, brick building is one of the most distinctive in the business district. The symmetry, light, smooth limestone, massive columns and associated cornice and elaborate decorative treatment of windows and doors affiliate it strongly with Beaux Arts Classicism. Monumental columns with massive Corinthian capitals divide the recessed central portion of the facade into thirds. The centered entrance has paired doors beneath a radiating transom widow. It is recessed within an oversized segmental arch masonry pediment supported by massive consoles and capped by a central shield device flanked by figural cornucopia. The flanking bays lateral to the columns each have two stacked narrow windows rising to a hood that replicates that of the door on a reduced scale. The slightly project end bays at the building corners each contains an entry door beneath paired radiating transom windows, and have segmental arch masonry pediments identical to the central door, but lack any capping. The second story windows, a
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paired one stacked over the entrance and singles in the bays flanking it, are all flat-arch with large central lintel keystones with projecting sills resting on a single central modillion bracket. Above these windows, seemingly supported by the massive Corinthian capped columns, is an entablature composed of a cornice supported by large block modillions, beneath which is a frieze embossed with large letters, “NEGAUNEE NATIONAL BANK.” The building terminates in a shaped parapet formed of a horizontal center and sloping sides that extend to horizontal sections stacked over the corner bays of the facade. The visible east side of the building is brick, with functional fenestration consisting of four windows in the second story. There is a tall brick stack at the corner of this elevation and the rear of the building.
A 2020 real estate listing for "The Negaunee National Bank" provides additional details:
This historical building has been meticulously renovated with incredible attention to detail. African mahogany woodwork, Italian mosaic architecture, daunting pillars and green marble. The main floor features an open layout with many possibilities. There are His and Hers bathrooms, office spaces, partitioned areas and the vault (yes, we have the combination). The second floor has not been renovated yet features a front & rear staircase, hardwood floors throughout, multiple private office spaces, two bathrooms (Trulia.com 2020b).
320 (320-322) Iron. Miller Bros. Grocers Building. (Pre-1884; Between 1884 and 1888; Between 1888 and 1892). Contributing. Sanborn maps reveal that a two-story brick-veneered portion of this building was constructed prior to the earliest available 1884 edition, when it was occupied by a Saloon. By 1888, the long single-story frame section has been added to the rear and is labeled Corrugated Iron Clad, with the brick front portion labeled Grocery and this new rear section Warehouse. This continues in 1892, when a narrow brick veneer two-story bay has been added to the west side, which may explain the asymmetry of the current façade.
This building is east of a vacant lot, formerly occupied by the Kirkwood Building (324-330 Iron) that was demolished in 2019 after it partially collapsed. It is a two-story, brick, two-part commercial block. The renovated street level has a recessed left corner entrance divided by a brick pier from vinyl cladding that extends to another brick pier at the facade’s right corner pier. This vinyl section has two sets of paired, vinyl, fixed-pane windows. A wide, steeply pitched section of asphalt-clad pent-roof occupies the area of the storefront cornice. The red brick second story has four double-hung sash windows set beneath contrasting color, buff brick segmental- arched hoods, and rest on sandstone sills. The pressed-metal cornice above extends between end brackets that have widely spaced flutes, as does the slant-front facing between them. A historic photograph of this building showing a partial view of the storefront reveals the street level originally had a recessed entry between display windows on the right and a narrower storefront on the left with a right-side door flanked by a display window on its left (Superiorview 2020f).
324 Iron. Vacant Parcel. Non-Contributing. This parcel previously held the Kirkwood Building. It is a vacant parcel and does not contribute to the historical or architectural significance of the historic district.
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334 (324-330) Iron. Lowenstein’s Department Store (Lowenstein Antiques) (1915). W. F. Pagels, Architect, Chicago, Samuel Lowenstein, Designer, Negaunee. Contributing. This large, buff brick, three-story building, west of the vacant lot created by the demolition of the Kirkwood Building, extends the full block between Iron and Jackson streets, with its primary (south) commercial face on Iron and a well-designed secondary public (north) facade on Jackson. The Iron Street side has two recessed entrances, with a large display window extending from each to the building’s corner pier, and two other large display windows centered between the entrances, all resting on wood-paneled bulkheads. Above a copper strip, eight large transom windows occupy the area of the storefront cornice. Above these, a masonry course extends across the facade from the bases of brick corner piers that extend up to the facade’s parapet. Between them, the second story has six tall windows extending up from a corbelled masonry sill course. The narrow space lateral to and between the windows resemble brick pillars and have masonry bases and caps. Just above these is a molded masonry band. Centered in the upper facade is a masonry plaque with embossed capital letters stating, “J. LOWENSTEIN.” A coped masonry parapet extends between the corner piers, which have two parallel vertical masonry devices extending up to the coping. The central portion of the parapet steps up, generally paralleling the Lowenstein plaque below. In form the parapet appears to reference a broadly crenellated battlement.
The opposite public elevation on Jackson Street has an entrance at each corner, each with a segmental arch transom, set within slightly projecting piers supporting a segmental masonry arch. The central portion of the street elevation has paired entry doors centered between sets of two large display windows resting on wood-framed bulkheads with glass panels. A soldier-bond brick string course extends the width of the building at the top of the windows. The second story is divided into three sections by piers that extend up from this course. A masonry sill course links the paired windows in the corner bays and the two sets of triple windows in the center section. The corner windows have broad masonry lintels. Those in the center have soldier-bond lintels with masonry corner blocks, a treatment that is repeated in the third story windows stacked above, but in a slightly reduced scale. Flanking these, the corner bays have no windows but each has two stacked, slightly recessed, brick panels with masonry corner blocks. The horizontal masonry-coped parapet steps up slightly in the corner bays, whose upper margins have vertical masonry elements with triangular pendants and corbelled brick quoins. A paint ghost on the east side of the building visible from Jackson Street states, “Lowenstein’s / Department Store / Where Good Things Come From.” The building has been renovated into shops and apartments, retaining all the original hardwood flooring, oak trim, skylights, tin ceilings, and other beautiful historic details (LRM 2020).
Trade journals from 1915 reported that “Joseph Lowenstein will erect a store building, 2-story,” designed by architect W. F. Pagels, described as a department store, club rooms and two flats, a 25,000 dollar building of brick, pressed brick, enamel, and stone (Improvement Bulletin 1915; Construction News 1915a).
340 Iron. Store. (Between 1888 and 1892). Contributing. This is a red brick, two-story, two-part commercial block with sandstone accents. The street level has a recessed entrance with an aluminum-frame glass door that is centered between tall
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triple casement windows, all set within panels of synthetic textured stucco. The street level is divided into three sections by cast iron pillars flanking the entrance. These have molded bases with fluted shafts and rosette motifs beneath anthemion(?) caps. The facade corners have piers with tall rock-faced sandstone bases and brick shafts with rock-faced block caps. These, and the cast iron pillars between, support a molded pressed-metal storefront cornice that has end brackets whose caps have vertical fluting beneath a curving floral band. Resting on this cornice is a band of rock-faced sandstone. The two sets of paired, double-hung sash windows in the second-story are framed within downsized openings. Above these openings is a wide band of rock-faced sandstone, and another thinner sandstone course is placed above at the base of the cornice. The cornice is composed of a brick corbel table divided into thirds by alternating stubby piers having a square base, molded curved brick shaft and square cap. A pressed-metal band above is surmounted by the parapet, which has squared corners on which a pyramidal metal cap is crowned by a pommel.
350 Iron. 1st National Bank of Negaunee (YMCA / The Y) (c. 1975). Non-Contributing. This large, two-story, brown brick building extends the full width of the block to Jackson Street and to the sidewall along North Silver Street. The Iron Street face has double entry door between bands of tall, fixed-pane windows, all beneath a wide section of seamed metal panels that extend on a sharp pitch to the roof. The North Silver Street side is similar, but has five sets of paired windows beneath the wide metal panels. This building was constructed in 1975, does not appear to possess exceptional architectural attributes, and therefore is considered to be Non-contributing to the historic district.
400 Iron. Building (Between 1902 and 1911). Contributing This single-story, flat-roofed, brick one-part commercial block occupies a triangular lot nearly opposite the North Silver Street intersection, surrounded by extensive parking areas that include a former railroad right-of-way to the east. This building’s most distinguishing characteristic is its triangular footprint. The facade has an off-center slant-sided entrance between display windows on brick bulkheads. A horizontal metal canopy extends across the facade, supported by metal rods anchored into the upper facade. Above this, the building is clad in asbestos tile siding. The building’s corners have projecting brick piers that extend up to a widely projecting simple wood cornice. The building’s side elevations are coated in textured cement stucco and lack fenestration.
426 Iron. (ca. 1980s?). Non-Contributing. This is a single-story, concrete block building with a shallow-pitch, front-gabled, asphalt shingle roof. The facade presents a west corner entry with an aluminum-framed glass door, and a plain, brown-painted, block wall, with an off-center, double course of glass block in the upper facade. A suspended lighted business sign extends from the T-111-clad gable above. This building is architecturally undistinguished and less than fifty years old, so it is considered to be Non- contributing to the historic district.
428 Iron. Vacant Parcel. Non-Contributing.
432 Iron. (432-436) Iron (Chapper’s Pub).
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Although this impressive property appears to be a single building, it is actually two buildings built years apart. The original decorative components of these two storefronts, while nearly identical, differ slightly. These buildings are discussed separately below as the Mulvey Building and the Mulvey Block.
432 (432) Iron. Mulvey Building (1883). Contributing. In 1879, the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that John Mulvey would commence construction of “a new building on the next lot east of his brownstone” (which is 436 Iron, see below) (Negaunee Iron Herald 1879c). Apparently construction was delayed, but in 1882 the newspaper reported that the block would be “similar in size and style to his brownstone front, and adjoining it on the east,” later reported to be “the same size and style of the brownstone front adjoining” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1882a, 1882b). In August, 1882, excavation for the building foundation was commenced, but it was uncertain if the building would be completed that building season or the next (Negaunee Iron Herald 1882c).
This large, impressive, two-story, two-part commercial block is constructed of brick with a dressed sandstone facade. The storefront is divided from the building to the west by a dressed sandstone pier that has a rock-faced base and cap, which is identical to pier set at the east corner of the building. The storefront has a recessed entrance centered between full-height double-hung sash windows. Cast iron columns flank the recessed entrance, with fluted shafts and acanthus capitals. There is a secondary entrance to the second floor at the left corner, which is separated from the rest of the storefront by a cast iron pillar that duplicates the components of the columns. The metal storefront cornice has large brackets capping the three stone piers, each adorned with acanthus leaves and quatrefoil and foliate motifs, capped by a stilted-arch metal hood. The second story has three replacement windows enframed in downsized openings, with massive stamped-metal hoods. These have true segmental arches rising from foliate motif pedestals and have keystone elements. (The keystones on these windows are smaller than those on the nearly identical storefront to the west.) The corners of the second story have dressed sandstone piers that are stacked above those that are below the storefront cornice of the first story. These extend up to an elaborate, projecting, pressed-metal cornice that is anchored by large brackets at the building’s corners. The elements of these brackets repeat all those described for the storefront cornice but are larger in scale. Between these three large brackets is a paneled frieze anchored by two smaller acanthus leaf brackets, and above the frieze, a series of modillions extends the length of the facade. A real estate listing that combines this building with the one to the west for a total of 8,300 square feet, states that there are three apartments on the second floor, the garage at the rear of the building opening to Jackson Street was added in 2006, and the patio on the east side of the building probably dates to about that time also (ReMax 2020b).
432 (436) Iron. Mulvey Block (1874). Alfred Green, Marquette Contractor. Contributing. In 1874, John Mulvey gave the contract to erect his new building here to Alfred Green of Marquette (Negaunee Iron Herald 1874a). In June 1874 the cornerstone was laid for the building, and by September and October businesses had moved into the new building. On November 12, 1874, the newspaper reported “Mulvey’s block is at last completed, and “the building is an elegant one and reflects much credit upon the enterprise and public spirit of the Proprietor” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1874d).
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This large, impressive, two-story, two-part commercial block is constructed of brick with a dressed sandstone facade. The storefront is divided from the one to the east by a dressed sandstone pier that has a rock-faced base and cap, which is identical to pier set at the west corner of the building. The storefront has a recessed entrance centered between square, fixed pane windows mounted in T-111 siding. Cast iron columns with fluted shafts and acanthus capitals flank the recessed entrance. The metal storefront cornice has large brackets capping the stone piers, each adorned with acanthus leaves and quatrefoil and foliate motifs, capped by a stilted- arch metal hood. The second story has three replacement windows enframed in downsized openings, with massive stamped-metal hoods. These have elliptical arches with keystone elements rising from acanthus leaf pedestals. (The keystones on these windows are larger than those on the storefront to the east.) The center window opening is wider than the others, and has the remnants of a paired round-arch mullion. The corners of the second story have dressed sandstone piers that are stacked above those below the storefront cornice of the first story. These extend up to an elaborate projecting pressed-metal cornice that is anchored by corner brackets. The elements of these brackets repeat all those described for the storefront cornice but are larger in scale. In addition, between these large brackets is a paneled frieze anchored by two smaller acanthus leaf brackets between each of the larger ones, and above the frieze a series of modillions extends the length of the facade. A real estate listing that combines this building with the one to the east for a total of 8,300 square feet, states that there are three apartments on the second floor, the garage at the rear of the building opening to Jackson Street was added in 2006, and the patio on the east side of the building probably dates to about that time also (ReMax 2020b).
432 (442) Iron. Neely Building (Chapper’s Club) (1901). Contributing. This single story, one-part commercial block is constructed of brick and masonry and has a largely wood (or cement broad?) facade. The deeply recessed off-center entrance is placed between tall fixed pane windows on masonry bulkheads, one to its right and four to its left. A ribbon of a dozen windows provides a transom-like effect at the level of the storefront cornice. The building’s cornice has a frieze with square and figural panels embellished with rosettes. This supports a cornice with a wide rectangular projecting central section capped by Anthemion centrally and at the ends, on are two rosettes between which is a central panel stating, “1901.” The projecting cornice corners have rosettes and are capped by pyramid roofs with pommels.
In April 1901 the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that Benjamin Neely was going to have a frame building removed and would build a brick block here that would extent the full depth of the lot to Jackson Street, to house his hardware store (Negaunee Iron Herald 1901c). In 1902, when he moved his hardware store into the new building, it was described as “one of the prettiest and most convenient sales rooms in the county” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1902c). “Since 1901 he had conducted his business in its present building, erected especially for it” (Hardware Dealers 1914). In 1928 it is labeled as “Garage, Capacity 15 Cars.”
440 Iron. (Post-1970) Commercial Building. Non-Contributing This one-story, triangular in plan, concrete-block building was constructed post-1970 (outside of the period of significance) with an aluminum, single-door entrance that is currently vacant.
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442 (446) Iron. I.O.O.F. Hall / Liberty Theater (Buster’s Ice Cream) (1907; 1918). John D. Chubb, Marquette, Architect, Thomas Solar, Antigo, WI, Contractor; Charlton & Kuenzli Marquette Architect, and A. H. Proksch Iron River, Contractor (1918 Addition and Renovation). Contributing. This building is located at the northeast corner of the Tobin Street intersection. It is a red brick, two-story, two-part commercial block. In July 1903, the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that the new building for Iron Mountain Lodge I.O.O.F. at the corner of Iron and Tobin streets would not be erected that year because it had been delayed when the architects had proposed a building costing between seventeen thousand and twenty thousand dollars when instructed to present a building costing fifteen thousand dollars. The new plans had been submitted by architect John D. Chubb and it was proposed at a minimum to partially complete the building and have it enclosed before winter (Negaunee Iron Herald 1903c, 1903d). The article further stated the building “would add greatly to the appearance of Iron Street, as it will fill the only unsightly gap along the business portion of that otherwise handsome thoroughfare.” The final plans and construction were delayed for several years over disagreements about the building’s cost until were resolved in May 1907. The Odd Fellows and Chubb finalized plans for a twenty-six-by-one hundred- thirty-foot, two-story, brick building with a ground floor store and second story lodge room, the contract to be put out to bid and to be completed by autumn.
In 1917 and 1918, trade journals reported that the I.O.O.F. had let a five-thousand-dollar addition and renovation project to the building here, which included installation of a motion picture theater (remodel from first floor store). The addition was designed by the Marquette architectural firm of Charlton & Kuenzli and completed by general contractor A. K. (sic., A. H.) Proksch of Iron River (American Contractor 1917a; American Contractor 1917b; American Contractor 1918). In April 1918, the Liberty Theater opened in the first floor of the Odd Fellows Building. The building was enlarged by thirty-two feet to the rear, including a second story that increased the lodge facilities. A stucco front was added to the Iron Street theater entrance and the lobby floor was laid in tile. A “roomy” stage was added on the first floor and the interior redecorated, with “comfortable chairs” providing a capacity of four-hundred-fifty. The second floor had five theater dressing rooms, and for the Odd Fellows, a smoking and reading room was added and the kitchen and dining room enlarged. The tile floor added to the lodge entrance was completed with the I.O.O.F. monogram (Negaunee Iron Herald 1918a). The Sanborn map for 1928 shows that a two-story section had been added to the rear of the building, labeled Office, while the remainder of the second story is labeled Lodge Hall, and the first story is labeled Movies. The 1946 map shows the same building footprint, though the first floor was vacant on the first floor and the rear section was listed as a dwelling.
The renovated street level facade has a deeply recessed central section that contains paired wood- frame glass entry doors, which are centered between display windows mounted in T-111 panels. The wall of the facade above and to the sides of this section is sheathed in textured cement stucco, the upper portion of which has two small eight-light fixed pane windows. Brick corner piers extend up to the storefront cornice, which has a paneled frieze containing four iron eye- anchors beneath a projecting, dentilled, wood cornice. Resting and centered on this is a clock face in a panel with a Queen Anne-arched cornice, which is flanked by scroll brackets. In the second story stacked above the clock is a recessed, square panel containing a masonry plaque embossed with “IOOF” and “Triple Links,” a figural triple chain link that refers to the three
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principles of Friendship, Love, and Truth. This panel is centered between two tall openings with single-light, fixed-pane windows and replicates them in composition. All three have flat-arch masonry lintels with keystones and voussoirs, while the windows have masonry sills. The upper facade has a course of dentils beneath a brick corbel table supporting a simple projecting cornice. The metal-coped parapet above has a central Queen Anne-arch enframing a recessed panel, which steps down to horizontal sections that extend to merlons at the building corners. The visible side walls are laid in common-bond brick.
IRON STREET, SOUTH SIDE (west from South Pioneer Avenue intersections)
201 (201-203) Iron. Star Theater / Rytkonen Block (1911; 1931). Contributing. This building is located on the southwest corner of the North Pioneer Avenue intersection. It is a two-story, two-part commercial block constructed of concrete block. The first story facade has a corner entry flanked to its left by a tall, metal-framed window, both enframed by wide-lap aluminum siding. The second story facade and the side wall facing North Pioneer are rock-faced concrete block, but smoothed rusticated blocks are used as corner quoins. The second story has four sets of paired double-hung sash windows in slightly downsized openings that have plain masonry lintels and sills. The upper facade has a masonry plaque inscribed “RYTKONEN / BLOCK 1911,” which is centered between two small, rectangular, fixed-pane windows with plain masonry lintels and sills. On the side elevation, the aluminum siding wraps around to the bay hear the corner, and the rest of this concrete block wall has a functional fenestration pattern of paired, single, and double vinyl replacement windows, with an entrance at the rear corner.
The 1911 Sanborn shows this concrete block building apparently just completed or under construction at that time, labeled “To Be Electric Theater.” By 1928 and through the 1946 edition, it is labeled in the front as “Display Room” and the rear as “Garage, Capacity 20 Cars.”
In 1911, a trade journal reported that Jafet Rytkonen was erecting “a new business block” where August Allen would open a “moving picture theater” (Motography 1911). The May 8, 1931 Negaunee Iron Herald reported that the Northern Motors Company of Ishpeming, having recently established a branch in Negaunee, had purchased the former Star Theater building, and was going to ”make extensive improvements, adding to the display facilities as well as enlarging the facilities of the workshop” for the Ford dealership (Negaunee Iron Herald 1931b).
301 Iron. Store (post-1946 / 1980s?). Non-Contributing. This single-story, flat-roofed, concrete block building is located at the southwest corner of the Marquette Street intersection. The building’s lower wall has brick veneer above which is wood board-and-batten siding, and the building’s upper walls are clad in mansard-like, raised seam metal panels. The Iron Street elevation has two evenly-spaced slider windows that rest on the brick veneer’s masonry cap, but has no entry doors. The east side elevation, which is actually the building’s facade facing Marquette Street, has a steel entry door with sidelight near the north building corner, then three evenly-spaced slider windows, another steel entry door with sidelight, and then three additional evenly-spaced slider windows to the south building corner From a corner entrance, a series of regularly spaced, vinyl, slider windows resting on top of the brick veneer extends across the entire facade. Because this building is less than fifty years old, it is considered to be a Non-Contributing resource in the historic district.
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305 (305-307) Iron. Store (Pre-1884; Between 1888 and 1892). Contributing. This is a two-story, two-part, commercial block of wood-frame construction. The gray-painted brick at the street level has an asymmetrical front, composed of a slant-sided entrance between display windows to the left, and to the right another display window and a secondary corner entry. The left front fenestration is placed within wide-lap siding that downsizes the window openings, which have brick bulkheads, all beneath a paneled storefront cornice. The right front window, also downsized, rests on a brick bulkhead but it and the adjacent door have large transom windows. Brick piers separate the left and right facade sections and the corner entry from the flanking window, and are placed at the building corners, as well. The second story is sheathed in corrugated metal siding and has three double-hung sash windows over the left front and another centered over the right front. Cement board enframes the siding and also is employed to create a simple cornice. The visible east side is clad in vertical metal panels and has functional fenestration with a small window in each story. Although the architectural integrity of this building has been somewhat compromised, because the as-built form and fenestration is still evident, it is considered to be Contributing.
Sanborn maps indicate this two-story frame building was erected prior to the earliest available 1884 edition. In 1892 a small, single-story section at the rear was replaced by a larger two-story one. The right corner section appears to have been added or enclosed between 1928 and 1946.
309 Iron. Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 1944 (post-1946 / 1960s?). Contributing This single-story, flat-roofed building is constructed of concrete block with a buff brick veneer facade. The asymmetrical facade slants inward from the center to an entrance with paired aluminum-frame glass doors near the right corner. Left from center is a recessed entry with another aluminum-framed glass door that is flanked to its left by a square, fixed-pane window. A wide section of red-painted vertical boards extends from above the corner entrance across the facade to above the left window, and also rises above the brick wall parapet. A lighted sign extending perpendicular to the wall plane over the entrance states, “NEGAUNEE / EAGLES / AERIE 1944.” In 1945 the Eagles met in the Kirkwood Block in the 300 block of Iron Street (demolished) and this building was built some time after the 1946 edition Sanborn map (Negaunee Historical Society 2020).
317 (319) Iron. Store (Midtown Bakery) (Between 1902 and 1911). Non-Contributing. This two-story, gable-front, wood-frame building is entirely covered in blue-painted slabwood siding. The asymmetrical street level storefront has a slant-sided entrance between large display windows, and to the right, a second recessed bay and a third bay at the facade corner, each with a small single double-hung window. Above these, a simple shelf cornice extends across the entire facade. The second story includes paired windows above the entrance and a single one centered over the display windows; all are modern vinyl, and double-hung. In the upper facade is a small double-hung window with triple craftsman lights, and a small louvered vent is within the gable peak. The visible building sides are also clad in slabwood siding. Because this building’s original architectural attributes are no longer apparent due to insensitive renovations, it is considered to be Non-Contributing to the historic district.
323 & 327 Iron. Store (Pre-1884; Between 1911 and 1928; post-1946). Contributing?.
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This is a two-story, wood-frame store building with falsefront (boomtown) gable. The street level of the front is faced a c. 1950s red brick veneer, while the rest of the facade and sides is clad in asbestos shingle siding. The storefront has a left corner entrance with transom that is separated by a brick pier from two large display windows on a brick bulkhead. A secondary entrance with transom is at the right corner. Because the ground story’s brick veneer projects out slightly from the building envelope, these bays are sheltered by a narrow, tiled, pent-roof. A single-story shed-roof addition with a left corner entry and two fixed-pane windows extends the west elevation. The second story has two double-hung sash windows. The visible side elevations reveal the building has a complex roof line, cross-gabled behind the front portion of the building, and then to a shed-roof middle section, which drops down to a single-story shed-roof extending to the rear elevation. Fenestration is functionally placed, with a second story bay that projects outward having a band of windows, perhaps indicating a sleeping porch. Although the architectural integrity of this building is somewhat compromised, because it is one of the few nineteenth century early frame falsefront commercial buildings in the downtown, it is considered to be Contributing to the historic district.
Sanborn maps reveal that this frame building was erected before the 1884 earliest Sanborn available. At that time it had a one-story front porch. Between 1928 and 1946 the footprint remains unchanged, except for the removal of the front porch between 1911 and 1928. The single-story addition on the west elevation post-dates the 1946 Sanborn.
331 Iron. Negaunee State Bank Building (1912). Demetrius Frederick Charlton, Marquette Architect. NRHP-Listed. This building faces the North Silver Street intersection across a small park and parking lot located on a former railroad right-of-way. It is a two-story, brick-faced, commercial block distinguished by its triangular footprint, with a cant corner bay. The raised basement level is constructed of rubble sandstone, and above a rough-faced sandstone water table, the building has blue-painted brick. The walls are divided into equal sections by brick piers, in which most of the windows are arranged in pairs, and have plain masonry lintels and sills. The projecting metal cornice has a dentilled frieze and block modillions. The national register nomination (Mulligan 1995) for this building states,
The footprint measures 62 feet along the north (Iron Street) side, 102 feet along the southwest (Kanter Street) side, and 84 feet along the east wall side. The building consists of two stories, plus a basement intended for commercial space. The structure is framed of wood, with brick facing, sitting atop a stone foundation. The exterior walls are painted; this may be original to the design of the building. Some portions of the walls of the original 1873 Old Bank Building were incorporated into the structure of the current building. The main entrance is located on the Iron Street facade, and gives access to both the bank area on the first floor and the offices on the second floor. A separate basement entrance is located at the corner of the building. On the interior, the first floor contains the white tile floor lobby and the banking area, a private office for the cashier, a directors' room, and two office suites. The first floor also contains the main bank vault and two small vaults in the offices. The second floor has
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nine office rooms, a store room, and two vaults which are directly above those on the first floor. The basement contains a large commercial space, a storage area, and another large vault. The building has retained the original floor plan, floor coverings, woodwork and other ornamental building features.
Chiri Park. Non-Contributing West of 331 Iron Street, at the southeast corner of the North Silver Street intersection, is a small (0.25 acre) landscaped mini-park with a circular sidewalk and a single bench, recently established on the open space created by an abandoned former railroad right-of-way (CUPPAD 2016: 59).
401-403 Iron. Winter & Suess Market, Winter’s Hall (Pre-1879). L. E. Chaussee, Negaunee, Contractor (1897 and 1901 Renovations). Contributing. This red-painted brick, two-story, two-part commercial block occupies the southwest corner of the North Silver Street intersection. The Iron Street facade has a display window next to the brick pier at the left corner and then large panels of diagonally-framed lumber that extend across a narrow bulkhead to the opposite corner pier, all clad in mosaic tile. Above this at the level of the storefront cornice is a wide section of wood panels. This treatment extends around the corner to the first bay on the Silver Street side, which differs in that it has a synthetic stone panel resting on a narrow brick bulkhead, and the display window set within it is smaller than the one on the facade. In the second story, brick corner piers extend up to a cornice created by elaborate brickwork. A brick corbel table is beneath two brick sawtooth-bond courses that are surmounted by a recessed panel. Above this, a course of soldier-bond brick laid in a sawtooth pattern is beneath dentils formed by alternating sailor bond brick. The east / North Silver Street side is divided into five bays by brick piers, two windows in the third bay back, another in the fourth and a door in the end corner bay. The second story of the four broader bays back from the facade corner each has two window openings now sealed by wood panels, while the narrow end bay has no windows.
Sanborn maps reveal that this brick-veneer building had already been built at the time of the earliest available 1884 edition. In 1897, a portion of the building was renovated by installing a “new office room” in the market, followed in 1901 by the installation of plate glass and a “new front” resulting in “one of the neatest store fronts in Marquette County, barring none,” both projects completed by Negaunee contractor, L. E. Chaussee (Negaunee Iron Herald 1897; Negaunee Iron Herald 1901d). In 1902 the extreme southeast corner of the building, which formerly was one-story was shown as two-stories.
405-407 Iron. Kuhlman Building (Irontown Antiques) (1916). Contributing. This is a buff brick, two-story, two-part commercial block. On the street level the right-side angles in gradually to the central entrance that holds a single aluminum-framed glass door with transom. It is recessed at a right angle from the left bay of the building. To either side of the entry are large panels of diagonally-framed lumber that extend across narrow mosaic-tiled bulkheads to the corner piers. These piers are also clad in identical tile, but are topped by masonry caps with shield motifs. Above this at the level of the storefront cornice, is a wide section of wood panels, which is capped by a course of soldier-bond brick. The second story is
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mostly occupied by three large window openings that have been downsized to contain picture windows, flanked on each side by narrow casement windows. Plain masonry bands extending the full width of the facade also serve as a sill course and a slightly broader lintel course. The upper facade has a projecting masonry entablature with a plain frieze punctuated by four flat masonry brackets supporting a beveled cornice. The building has a masonry-coped parapet formed by a broad, sloping, center pediment and merlons at the building corners. Centered beneath the pediment is an embossed masonry plaque with large embossed capital letters stating “KUHLMAN.”
415 & 419 Iron. Store (Washtown USA) (Pre-1884?). Non-Contributing. This two-story, front-gabled, wood-frame building is clad in vinyl siding, installed on a diagonal in the first story and horizontal lap on the second. The street level has a recessed entrance centered between display windows on textured cement stucco bulkheads, sheltered by a half- round awning, and there is also a secondary entrance at the right corner. The second story has two pairs of casement windows, and there is an octagonal louvered vent in the diagonal vinyl siding applied beneath the gable peak. A broad, single-story garage with a front-gabled, shallow- pitched roof, which is clad in board-and-batten siding, is attached to the west side elevation. The garage is set back as an ell to create allow an asphalt parking area and drive access in front.
It is possible this frame building dates prior to 1884, because a building with a similar footprint has been here since that date, if so, two sections at the rear of the building, one-and-one-half and one-story, have been removed.
Because no elements of the original architectural fabric are evident, this building is considered to be Non-Contributing to the historic district.
501 Iron. Morse Brothers Dry Goods Store (Pre-1884). Non-Contributing. This building occupies the southwest corner of the Gold Street intersection. Sanborn maps reveal that this brick building was here prior to the earliest 1884 edition. It is a brick, two-story, two- part commercial block that is largely encased in textured synthetic stucco. The lower sections of the facade and side elevation have painted synthetic stone in an uncoursed square-cut pattern, which extends up to enframe the two small, vinyl, slider windows that are to the right of the recessed left corner entry. The storefront cornice has been enclosed with stucco panels, although a scroll bracket at the right corner is still visible. The second-story’s double-hung sash replacement windows are set within synthetic stone panels similar to those in the first story. These have plain masonry sills. The east side elevation has six bays of functionally-placed fenestration, primarily glass block in the first story and small, double-hung sash in the second story, with two steel entry doors near the rear of the building. Because the original architectural fabric of this building is no longer evident, it is considered Non-contributing to the historic district.
511 Iron. Store. (Barr’s Bar) (Between 1888 and 1892). Contributing. This is a two-story, two-part commercial block built of brick with sandstone accents. The facade’s first story is faced in light beige brick, perhaps dating to the 1950s, while the second story is of red brick. The recessed entry is at the right corner, while two large, double-hung sash windows to its left are mounted in vinyl-sided lap panels that downsize the original openings.
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Two sections of horizontal, corrugated metal panels occur above the door and windows, from which large glass block windows with central fixed panes occupy the level of the storefront cornice. The beige brick extends upward from these to just beneath the second-story windows, and a lighted sign extends perpendicular from it suspended on a bracket offset over the entrance. Extending between the second story’s brick corner piers is a rough-faced sandstone band course that also serves as a sill course for the four equally-spaced, double-hung sash windows. Above these, a wider sandstone band course forms the lintels for the windows, which is embellished with a daisy-like motif centered above each of the windows. The facade terminates in an elaborate projecting pressed-metal cornice. Its large end brackets combine triangular, round, and panel motifs, with much of the face occupied by anthemion, cornucopia(?), and tablet flower(?) motifs. Between these, the frieze rises from a sawtooth or repeated-triangle patterned base to anchor smaller closed brackets that alternate with tablet flowers. At the top of the cornice the parapet is faced with a slanting section faced with a series of half-round tubular elements. The west side elevation is constructed of utilitarian red brick and has an enclosed frame stairway to the second story. The few windows have segmental-arch openings with masonry sills, and a wall chimney occurs near the rear corner. The opposite side elevation is clad in vinyl siding.
JACKSON STREET, NORTH SIDE (west from North Pioneer Street intersection)
206-208 Jackson. Torreano City Bakery Building (Expressions Hair Studio) (1925; 1928). Contributing. This brick, two-story, commercial block has a buff brick facade with corbelled brick corner quoins and utilitarian red brick sidewalls. The right corner has a storefront with a slant-sided entry centered between display windows on concrete bulkheads that have narrow, triple-pane, horizontal windows. The paneled section above these occur beneath a traditional awning. To the west is an off-center secondary entrance to the second story, and then a Chicago window with masonry sill in the corner section. The latter has a flat-arch lintel of gauged brick with a projecting keystone. A band course formed by consecutive courses of soldier-, rowlock- and header-bond brick marks the transition from the first to the second story. In the second story, sets of paired, double-hung, sash windows are stacked above each of the display windows, while a single double-hung sash is above the secondary entrance, and a Chicago window above the one below. All have flat arched-lintels and masonry sills duplicating the one in the first story. The masonry-coped parapet lacks decoration. A single-story end-gabled wing extends from the rear of the building, and the side elevations, constructed using red utilitarian brick, have functionally- positioned fenestration. This building is one of the better examples in the historic district of the Commercial Brick style favored in the early twentieth century.
216 (214-216) Jackson. Central Taxi (1911-28; Between 1928 and 1946). Contributing. This is a two-story, red brick-faced, concrete block, two-part commercial block that has a single- story section on its east side. The two-story section has a recessed entrance with transom at its left corner. To its right, synthetic shake shingle-clad panels extend across the facade to its corner, and then resume on the one-story section. In the main building, these panels rest on brick bulkheads and contain a large, double window above a filled-in break in the bulkhead, appearing to indicate this may be the location of an original, slightly off-center, entrance. At the left corner of the single-story section is an aluminum-framed glass entry door, and to its right is a brick corner bay with a second recessed entry. A pent-roof extends across the entire facade above the
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shingled panels to the right corner of the single-story section. The second story has two, broad, double-hung sash windows with masonry sills. Centered between them in the upper facade is a masonry-silled opening now containing a wood panel. The center of the masonry-coped parapet has a crowstep treatment. The visible side elevations are concrete block. The rear of the east side has a concrete block-sided ramp that leads up to a wood overhead door, which is between two steel-framed windows.
Sanborn maps reveal that the brick-veneered front portion of this building aligned to the street replaced one that was not so aligned between 1911 and 1928. However, most of this building behind and to the right of the two-story left front was added between 1928 and 1946, when the large addition extending to mid-block is labeled “Auto Service.”
218 Jackson. Store (post-1946). Contributing. This is a single-story, concrete block, one-part commercial block. The facade is clad in painted metal panels. An aluminum-frame glass door is near the right corner, and it is flanked to the west by a ribbon of four tall display windows. The store’s cornice contains painted-over sign boards beneath a plain masonry-coped parapet. The visible west side wall is concrete block and windowless. The street address differs from the parcel address which is Xx Jackson Street.
Sanborn maps indicate that this is a vacant lot in the 1946 edition. The design of the building suggests it must have been built shortly after that publication date.
224 Jackson. Store (Between 1888 and 1892). Non-Contributing. This building is located between vacant lots near the northeast corner of Kanter Street. It is a two-story, brick veneer, commercial block that has been stripped of architectural detail and sheathed in textured synthetic stucco, except for the lower portion of the facade, which has synthetic stone. The first story has a recessed entry between two large, fixed-pane, windows. A triple double-hung sash window is centered in the second story. This building does not appear to retain any of its original architectural elements and is considered to be a non-contributing resource within the historic district.
JACKSON STREET, SOUTH SIDE (west from North Pioneer Street intersection)
209 Jackson. Wehmanen Jewelry Store No. 2 (Hakala Well & Pump). (Pre-1884; Between 1928 and 1946). Contributing. This is a one-and-one-half-story, front-gabled, frame building that is clad in vinyl siding. The street level has an entry in the cant-sided east corner, and adjacent on its left is a display window. Two double-hung sash windows are in the second story. To the right of the entrance on the side elevation is a single-story, hipped-roof, enclosed porch with another display window. The rear of this building steps up to a two-story end -gabled section. Built as a residence, this building was converted to commercial use. Although its architectural integrity has been somewhat compromised, the massing and general components of the original building are evident. A photograph showing the front of this building, apparently from the 1930s when it was occupied by Wehmanen Jewelry, illustrates that other than covering the display windows on the right-side elevation, it is little changed from that time (Tadgerson 2019). As an example of the evolution of
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residential to commercial use in the business district, it is considered to be a Contributing property.
Sanborn maps reveal that the front portion of this frame building was built before the 1884 edition, and it remains unchanged in footprint through 1928, although variously described as one-and-one-half- or two-stories in height (depending on the estimator). Between 1928 and 1946 the single-story rear section is increased to two stories in height.
213 Jackson. Garage. (c. 1960s?). Contributing This building is a frame two-bay garage with wide-lap siding that has a shallow-pitched, front- gabled roof clad in asphalt shingle. The closed gable presents a kind of pediment. There is a pedestrian entry in the right corner next to the metal overhead vehicle door. Because this building appears to be over fifty years old, it is considered to be Contributing to the historic district. The street address is 213 Jackson Street; however, the parcel address is 215 Jackson Street.
401 Jackson. Russo Bros. Grocery Building (1965). Contributing. This building extends between Jackson and Iron streets and has an associated asphalt parking lot to its east, together comprising about an acre of land (Beckett & Raeder 2018: 19). This is a large, rectangular-plan, single-story, flat-roofed building constructed of concrete block and buff brick. The entrance is recessed in a cut-out behind a corner post at the northeast building corner. A masonry plaque set low in the wall to the right of the entrance states “RUSSO BROS. / 1965.” West of this, the Jackson Street facade is nearly a continuous band of windows resting on a waist-high lower section of brick, which has a masonry cap that functions as a sill course. The ribbon of windows is interrupted near the east corner by a brick pier, and then further to the west when the building juts out slightly towards the street. A broad masonry band extends from the east corner door across the entire facade to the west building corner. Above this extending to the top of the building is a section of vertically-seamed metal panels. The side elevation towards the parking lot on the east has bevel-molded, squared, concrete block, providing a decorative element to this functional wall. This large building is the best example in the historic district of mid-twentieth century commercial style. When the Russo Grocery built this building and moved their business here in 1965, the supermarket was claimed to be the first major construction in the Iron Street business district in four decades (Negaunee Historical Society 2015e).
MAIN STREET WEST, NORTH SIDE (west from N Teal Lake Avenue intersection)
126 West Main. Texaco Service Station (1930s). Contributing. This diminutive building occupies the northeast corner of the North Pioneer Avenue intersection. It is a rectangular-plan, single story building with a steeply-pitched, hipped-roof in metal designed to mimic tile. The facade of this concrete block building has a single door centered between two large display windows. These rest on brick-veneer kneewalls with masonry coping, which extend around to the side elevations and support additional display windows adjacent to the facade corners. The west side elevation has a door beneath a transom at the rear building corner, and the east side is a mirror image. The steeply-pitched roof has a hipped-roof dormer centered above the entrance. This is an example of what has been called the “House” type service station built in the 1930s on main street corners where the commercial and residential
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district merged, designed to resemble a small stylish house, to blend in with a neighborhood (Jakle and Sculle 1994: 137-139).
Sanborn maps reveal this building was constructed sometime between 1928 and 1946.
PECK STREET WEST, SOUTH SIDE 209-215 West Peck. Saint Paul’s High and Grade School (1932). O’Meara & Hills, Saint Louis, Architect, Hutter Construction Company, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Contractor. Contributing. This is a rectangular-plan, flat-roofed, school building of functional design, with red brick walls and limestone trimming. The Peck Street facade contains the main entrances, one in each three- story corner bay, separated by a central, two-story section containing five tall, paired windows separated by brick piers with limestone caps. Each of the entrances consists of paired doors recessed within a limestone surround composed of shallow, fluted, pilasters supporting a broad lintel, on which are centered a cross, on a shield, resting in a sunburst pattern (faith). A lantern is suspended above each set of doors. Above the entrances, the two upper stories are marked by paired windows (in downsized openings). To either side, the pilasters are capped with devices resembling open books (education). The upper portion of the two-story center section of the building is enhanced by brickwork in a modified chevron pattern. The side elevations are attractive in their repetition, created by seven bays containing tall, triple (downsized opening) windows in each, and the use of string courses of corbelled brick. On the broad corner piers, every sixth course is corbelled, while in the panels beneath the windows, every third course projects. The spacing in the corbels in the facade above the third story is four courses, terminating in a limestone-coped parapet. A brick, single-story ell extending from the east side near the facade corner contains an enclosed passage connecting this building to the former Saint Paul’s Convent at 225 North Pioneer Avenue (see entry). An asphalt parking lot extends west of the building to Kanter Street. The 1946 Sanborn map shows that this building and the adjacent Saint Paul’s Convent were both of “Fireproof Construction – Built 1932.”
When built in 1932, this school was described as “modern in all respects,” would have a kindergarten, eight grade rooms, a high school study hall, a library, four high school departments and a combined gymnasium and auditorium with a seating capacity of five hundred. The fireproof building would be 165-feet-by-135-feet. A convent building to house sixteen sisters was included in the cost, which would contain “a chapel linked to the school by an enclosed passage.” The convent, which would house the Sisters of Saint Joseph, would be ninety-feet-by- thirty-two-feet. Contracts specified that “a considerable portion of the brick and woodwork in the present structure can be utilized in some portions of the new building, but much cannot be used” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1932b). The O’Meara & Hills sketch of the new buildings appeared on the front page of the March 25, 1932 Negaunee Iron Herald (Negaunee Iron Herald 1932b, 1932c, 1932d; Detroit Free Press 1932).
See 202 West Case for Saint Paul’s Church and Rectory and 225 North Pioneer for Saint Paul’s Convent.
PIONEER STREET NORTH, EAST SIDE (north from Jackson Street intersection) No resources present.
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PIONEER STREET NORTH, WEST SIDE (north from Jackson Street intersection)
107 North Pioneer. Elks Lodge #1116 Building (1980s?). Non-Contributing. This building occupies the northwest corner of the Jackson Street intersection. It is a rectangular- plan, single-story, metal-frame building, which is clad in vertical metal panels and has a shallow- pitched, front-gabled roof. The Pioneer Avenue entry is within a short, projecting, gabled vestibule, and another entry is to the north in the rear section of the building that juts out towards the curb line. Two other doors are in the south gable end facing Jackson Street. Because this building is less than fifty years old it is considered to be Non-contributing to the historic district.
113 North Pioneer. Building (Between 1928 and 1946; 1980s). Non-Contributing. This is a two-story, concrete block and frame building with a shallow-pitched, front-gabled roof. The first story of this building is concrete block and the second story is frame that is clad in wide-reveal lap siding. Facing Pioneer, the street level has a vehicle entry door in the south corner and a pedestrian entry in the other. The second story has a variety of fenestration, a mix of sliding and sash windows on all elevations. The street address is 113 North Pioneer Street; however, the parcel address is 111 and 115 North Pioneer Street.
The 1946 Sanborn has a single-story building here numbered as 113-113½, labeled Blacksmith & Auto Body Repair, steel beams, with a residence area to the rear. This building partially replaced and merged two separate buildings here on the 1928 map, a single-story Blacksmith shop on the corner and a single-story Auto Repair shop diagonally northwest off its rear. Based on the Sanborn map, it appears that the frame second-story on the current building, now used for what appears to be residential space, was added to the concrete block first-story after 1946, probably during the 1980s, based on its attributes. As a significantly altered building, this property is considered to be Non-contributing to the historic district.
225 North Pioneer. Saint Paul’s Sisters of Saint Joseph Convent (1932). O’Meara & Hills, Saint Louis, Architect; Hutter Construction Company, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Contractor. Contributing. This building occupies the southwest corner of the West Peck Street intersection. It is a U-plan, flat-roofed, school building with red brick walls that rests on a low, uncoursed, rough-cut stone foundation. The front facing Pioneer Street has symmetrical fenestration, with an entrance centered between four bays of double-hung sash windows in the first story, and nine identical windows stacked above these in the second story, all with masonry sills. The entrance is accessed by broad masonry steps bordered by low, stepped, brick masonry walls with concrete coping, and is sheltered beneath a copper, domed, hood.
The facade is attractive in the repetitive nature of its composition, created by header-bond brickwork that creates broad, round, arches that frame each of the first story windows. This is augmented by the use of string courses of corbelled brick rising vertically between these arches and in broad corner piers. Every fifth course is corbelled for the full two-story building height at the corners and framing the three central bays associated with the entrance, while the others between the windows are a single-story high. The spacing in the corbel courses in the facade
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above the second story, which vaguely reference a cornice, is two courses, terminating in a sawtooth brick course at the coped parapet.
The north side elevation has two double-hung sash windows in each story, while the second story near the facade corner also has a tall, round-arched window with a metal balustrade. The opposite side facing the mid-block alley, has three broad, round-arch, openings with recent vintage overhead garage doors in the first story, three double-hung sash stacked above these in the second story, while a single story corner has recessed, round-arch, panels containing small sash windows and a door. A brick single-story ell extending west from the rear near the corner of the Peck Street side contains an enclosed passage connecting this building to the former Saint Mary’s School at 209-215 West Peck (see entry). It is arcade-like in that there are five broad, round, arches of brick stretchers in which there are slightly recessed brick wall panels, having a steel frame paired entry door within the center arch, which is flanked by two arches having central steel-framed windows. A large asphalt parking lot is located west of the school building, and a small area of lawn with some small trees backs up to the passage between the school and convent. A real estate listing states this 9,500-square-foot building has been converted into two commercial and three residential units (ReMax 2020c).
The 1946 Sanborn map shows that this building was constructed on the site of the original Saint Paul’s School and is addressed as 115 North Pioneer. Further, that it was built at the same time as the adjacent Saint Paul’s School, with the description, “Fireproof Construction – Built 1932” written across both buildings.
Newspapers reported in 1932 that this convent building to house sixteen sisters would contain “a chapel linked to the school by an enclosed passage.” The convent, housing the Sisters of Saint Joseph would be ninety-feet-by-thirty-two-feet and connected to the school by a cloister. The O’Meara & Hills sketch of the new buildings appeared on the front page of the March 25, 1932 Negaunee Iron Herald (Negaunee Iron Herald 1932b, 1932c; Detroit Free Press 1932).
See 202 West Case for Saint Paul’s Church and Rectory and 209-215 West Peck for Saint Paul’s School
PIONEER STREET SOUTH, EAST SIDE (south from Cleveland Street intersection)
101 (105) South Pioneer. Iron Cliffs Company Offices / Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company Office (Negaunee Public Schools Administration Building) (1887). J. B. Sweatt, Architect, Marquette. Wahlman & Grip, Contractor, Ishpeming. Contributing. This building occupies the southeast corner of the West Main Street intersection, and is eclectic in architectural inspiration, referencing Second Empire and Romanesque influences. It is a picturesque, three-story, orange-red brick building with sandstone accents that rests on a rough- cut random stone foundation and is shielded by a mansard roof. Its verticality is enhanced by its hexagonal, engaged, corner tower with its tall, octagonal roof and finial, as well as its wide mansard roof with iron cresting. Its entrance is in a projecting corner section, with a recessed door beneath a round-arch of rough-faced sandstone voussoirs. This sandstone continues as a band course around the entire building, linking round-arch voussoirs on all windows as a lintel course, an approach repeated on the second story windows. The fenestration is regular and
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repetitive, with the windows in the first story all round-arched, while those in the second story have segmental arches, but all have simple, dressed stone sills. An additional band course of rough-faced sandstone occurs at the level dividing the first and second stories. Above the second story is a pressed-metal entablature having a frieze with small consoles separated by scrolled floral motifs with rosettes. The third story in the projecting corner section is gabled and has a large, round window enframed within robust sandstone voussoirs. To its left centered between it and the corner tower, the mansard contains a hipped-roof dormer with paired, round-arch windows having fanlights. This dormer is duplicated by two identical ones in the south side mansard, and another single dormer in the north mansard facing Main Street. The roof treatment of this building references Second Empire, but the arches are more Romanesque, and the total stylistic package is eclectic in inspiration.
Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company office (left) and the Breitung Hotel (right, burned 1988), circa 1900. Photograph courtesy of the Upper Peninsula Regional Digitalization Center.
A Negaunee Iron Herald article provided descriptive details:
The building’s foundation wall is three feet thick, laid in cement mortar, and from this to the roof, the wall is of red Buffalo brick and Portage stone with Marquette brownstone for a combination of color. The frame and the ceilings are of iron and lath, with a slate roof. The structure is practically fireproof. The rooms have circular corrugated iron ceilings and hardwood floors, plastered walls, Norway wainscoting finished with oil. The first floor has a spacious vault, elegant fireplace with a marble mantel and tile hearth. The second floor also has a vault and fireplace. The exterior is of English and French style architecture with a
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mansard roof and a gable over the front entrance. It is without a doubt the most elegant in the Peninsula. It will be finished off with a handsome wrought iron fence. It will stand as a monument to the company whose money built it. It is an ornament that will long endure (Negaunee Iron Herald 1887).
Today, virtually all of these architectural details remain and have been preserved (Negaunee Historical Society 2019c). Additionally, Sanborn maps reveal that the building footprint today remains unchanged from the time if its construction.
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PIONEER STREET SOUTH, WEST SIDE
200 South Pioneer. Negaunee Fire Hall (Negaunee Fire Station) (1910; 1917); Charlton & Kuenzli, Marquette Architects. John D. Chubb, Marquette, Architect (1917 addition). NRHP-Listed. This building occupies a triangular parcel bounded by South Pioneer, Division and Rail streets. This two-story, hipped-roof, brown brick building is eclectic in architectural inspiration, demonstrating Renaissance Revival, and to a lesser extent, Romanesque influences. It rests on a random, rough-cut, stone foundation with a dressed limestone water table. The building’s most notable component is the five-story (seventy-six-foot), pyramid-roofed, tower rising from its east, Pioneer Street side. The primary elevation faces a triangular concrete pad where Pioneer and Division streets merge opposite the West Lincoln Street intersection. The street level of this side contains the overhead steel vehicle doors, and a steel pedestrian door in a single-story section to their left. Above these, two band courses of dressed limestone, separated by a course of soldier-bond brick, extend across the building onto the side elevations. The second story has three broad, round-arch, windows with fanlights, each with an oversize masonry keystone and limestone sill. Above these is a wide entablature with an overhanging cornice supported by block modillions on a frieze that references triglyphs and metopes.
The east side elevation’s tower has a single, narrow, window with a broad, dressed limestone, lintel and plain stone sill in the second story. Above this, all sides of the tower have the same fenestration and treatment. The third and fourth stories repeat the narrow window. A door with an entablature lintel opening to an elaborate balconet is in the fifth story, which is beneath a large, round, open void that has a masonry lintel with keystone. Above this, the tower has a dentilled cornice beneath the open rake of the pyramid roof. A tall flag pole rises from the peak of the roof. The rest of the east side elevation is functional in arrangement, stepping down from the three-story section in the main body of the building to two stories, and again slightly more to the rear section of the building. The most notable components are the off-center pedestrian entrance and its stoop with wide pressed-metal entablature, a projecting bay to its left that has a cant-cornered section, and a large, steel, overhead vehicle door at the building’s rear corner. The third-story cornice is carried on block modillions, while the second-story has a simple entablature. The west side facing Division Street has symmetrical fenestration formed of three sets of tall, paired, double-hung sash windows in the first story, stacked beneath three sets of paired, segmental-arch windows with fanlights in the second. The rear section of the building steps down slightly and has a steel overhead vehicle door in the first story and three windows in the second.
The National Register nomination on file at the State Historic Preservation Office in Lansing states that the seventy-six-foot-tall tower was originally used for hanging hose to dry. A belfry with a large bell sits atop the tower, originally used as a fire alarm signal. The four large, round openings in the belfry originally housed a clock. The large doors in the front of the building were originally swinging wooden doors modified to allow for the passage of larger equipment, and currently have modern overhead sectional doors. On the interior, the first floor originally housed an equipment bay on one end of the building, and stables on the other end. The interior is finished with plaster and lath with wood wainscoting and some wood paneling between the
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equipment bay and the stables. The original flooring was cork pine, but was replaced with terrazzo early in the life of the building. The terrazzo includes red colored inlays outlining vehicle tires tracks and an 'NFD' badge in the center. In the 1930s, interior stables were removed and a concrete slab installed to create another equipment bay. The second floor originally had a large hall on one end and dormitory space on the other end. Two staircases, one large grand one and a smaller circular one connected the two stories. The second floor was originally finished in lath and plaster with maple strip flooring (national register nomination; CUPPAD 2016: 9).
Shortly after the construction of the station, a vestibule entrance was added on one corner of the building, reported in trade journals in 1917 as “additional room and repairs,” with John Chubb the architect (American Contractor 1917c). Soon afterwards, the wood floor in the equipment bay was replaced with terrazzo. The clock faces originally in the tower were removed in 1914 and placed in the city hall. However, the fire station has continuously served the city, and the building is still used as the headquarters of Negaunee's Volunteer Fire Department.
RAIL STREET, NORTH SIDE (west from east of Silver Street intersection)
338 (342) Rail. (LaFreniere’s Furniture) (1900; c. 1950s; 2019). Contributing. This two-story, front-gabled, rectangular-plan, frame building is clad in gray-painted, brick pattern, asphalt siding. The facade has a recessed entry at the south corner and continuous display windows that extend to the opposite corner on a narrow brick bulkhead. Transom lights above these form the base of the storefront cornice, now clad in corrugated-metal siding. The second story has two pairs of large, double-hung sash windows, between which are two suspended industrial-type lights. A pentagonal device is within the gable peak. A secondary entrance at the left corner of the facade leads to an enclosed stairway on the exterior of the north side elevation. Functionally-placed fenestration of various types defines the rest of this side. The south side is similar, but also has an exposed concrete block foundation containing a vehicle entrance with a vinyl overhead door. The first story of the rear elevation is clad in recent-vintage metal siding, while the second story retains the brick-pattern asphalt siding and contains two large, slider windows. The pentagonal device in the gable peak duplicates that of the facade.
A real estate listing states this 4,380-sqare-foot building is of conventional frame construction, built in1900, has an apartment upstairs, and recently received new windows, drywall and refinished hemlock floors (Remax 2020d).
LaFreniere’s Furniture was originally located along Iron Street west of Tobin, and was in an area of the city condemned and abandoned due to mine subsidence. During the 1950s, all properties in this area were condemned and the occupants forced to move, and all buildings were moved or demolished (CUPPAD 2016: 4-6). The LaFreniere’s Furniture building was one of those buildings moved, to its current location along Rail Street (Paulsen 2020a). Apparently, about that time, the adjacent brick buildings were joined to it when they were converted to warehouses and storage for the business. Old GoogleEarth Streetview images from 2016 show that the gabled, frame building currently addressed as 338 Rail and the two brick buildings addressed as 342 Rail (see entry) were a single complex for LaFreniere’s Furniture. Intervening frame buildings linking the frame and brick buildings have been demolished / removed, and the properties are separate today, as shown on the current (c. 2020) GoogleEarth images.
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342 Rail. Winter & Suess Meat Processing, Warehouse, and Cold Storage Plant (UP Brewing Company) (1915; 1936; 2019). Contributing. This two-building property occupies the northeast corner of the Silver Street intersection. The first building is set back from and faces Rail Street, with its west side elevation adjacent to North Silver Street. It is a shallow-pitched, front-gabled building, two-stories tall above the original surface grade, constructed of utilitarian red brick. Its paired entry door is centered between small fixed-pane windows, the smaller one to the left high in the wall, and the larger one to the right set low in the wall. Above these, a brick corbel table extends between the eaves and around to the side elevations at the eave level. The west, North Silver side, rises three stories above the sidewalk level. The ground story is constructed of concrete block with a cement skin that gradually extends upward to the building’s southwest corner, and lacks any windows. The masonry sills of the three windows in the story above rise from this sloping cement and are progressively smaller as a result. The story above has three double-hung sash windows stacked above the ones below, and a door at the building’s southwest corner near the facade, high above the street below. A single-story, shallow pitched, end-gabled section extends from the rear of the building, its north side having a stepped gable and no fenestration. The second building is to the east of the first and north, and behind and adjacent to the south wall of the building at 338 Rail Street. Its appearance is similar to the first in being two stories in height, constructed of the same reddish, utilitarian brick, and having a shallow-pitched end gable with a corbel table at the eaves of all elevations. A door is at its left corner of the south elevation near the first building. The sloping surface grade along the east side exposes a masonry water table above which are five awning windows extending from this building’s southeast corner, the only fenestration in this wall.
The “orphaned” placement of the west side’s door and angled axis of the windows below in relation to the building’s cement skin suggests that these once paralleled the original ground surface level of Silver Street before a viaduct was excavated under the railroad tracks to extend the street southward. Indeed, in 1936, a Depression-era federal public works program assisted in the construction of the Silver Street Underpass (see entry for 200 Block North Silver Street) (Kalish 2017b). This appears to have required a reconstruction or reinforcement of the foundation of this building’s west wall that is adjacent to the underpass.
There are no buildings at this location through the 1911 Sanborn map. In 1928, the two, two- story, buildings here are shown, with the larger, eastern building, apparently addressed as 217- 219 Silver Street, labeled Grocery & Produce Warehouse, joined by a single-story section labeled Coal to the smaller building to the east, which is labeled Feed. By 1946 the two large building footprints are unchanged, as is the identification of the western building. However, the single-story section between them has been removed, and the eastern building is now labeled “Hay Storage 2nd and Auto 1st.”
In July 1915, trade journals reported that Winter & Suess, “meat dealers,” were “building a warehouse forty-by-sixty-five-feet in dimension, two stories and basement high, to be equipped with a refrigerating plant, a freezer in basement, cold storage rooms on first floor, and general storage on second floor” (Ice and Refrigeration 1915a: 42). This is apparently the larger building here. The smaller building appears to be described in another entry from October of that year in
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the same trade journal reporting that Winter & Suess, “ice dealers” were going to tear down an old ice house and barn and replace them with “much larger fireproof or fire-resistant structures. The barn, to be brick and concrete, will have stabling for 12 horses; the ice house, it is stated, room for about 3,000 tons” (Ice and Refrigeration 1915b: 205). One year later, in October, 1916, trade journals reported that work had started on a “new addition to Winter & Suess ‘s warehouse and cold storage plant” that would be used for the manufacture of sausage (National Provisioner 1916). This almost certainly relates to a northern addition to this warehouse that is present on the 1928 Sanborn and labeled “Sausage Factory,” which has been replaced in the 1946 edition by the filling station present today, as 207 North Silver Street (see entry).
Articles about the opening of the Upper Peninsula Brewing Co brew here stated it was renovating two buildings and was in the “old LaFreniere’s Furniture building” that dates to the 1880s (Cabell 2019; WLUC 2019b). The articles stated the building received a new roof, new windows and new stairs and has two floors. The company website states one of the buildings was built as a slaughterhouse and had been vacant for many years before the firm acquired it to renovate into a brew pub (UPBC 2020). GoogleEarth Streetview images from 2016 show that the two brick buildings here, addressed as 342 Rail, and the gabled, frame building, currently addressed as 338 Rail, (see entry) were a single complex for LaFreniere’s Furniture. Intervening frame buildings linking the brick buildings have been demolished or removed, and the properties are separate today, as shown on the current (ca. 2020) Google Earth images.
420 Rail. Marquette & Western Railroad Negaunee Depot. (1880). F. W. Read & Company, Marquette, Contractor. NRHP-Listed. This building occupies the northeast corner of the Gold Street intersection. The depot is a one- story, rectangular-plan, frame building that is clad in vertical board-and-batten wood siding with sawtooth butt-siding in the upper wall to the eaves. Large brackets support the widely- overhanging roof’s end gables. The south side, facing Rail Street, has an entry between a double-hung sash window at the southwest corner and a bay window. The right section of the building has two large, sealed, openings beneath transom windows. The west gable end side has a double-hung sash window with a Queen Anne transom and a large opening at the northwest corner now sealed with wood panels. This depot appears to share affinities with the Stick or Eastlake style.
Local newspapers reporting the opening of the Marquette & Western Negaunee station on Gold Street relate that it was a rectangular frame building twenty-two-feet-wide by ninety-feet-long, with a gabled roof and wide overhanging eaves. This combination passenger and freight facility contained an American Express office, an agent's office as well as a passenger waiting room and freight storage area (Marquette Weekly Mining Journal 11/22/1879 and 1/03/1880 cited in Hyde 1978: 152). A floor plan for the new depot in the October 30, 1879 edition of the Negaunee Iron Herald shows a M.H.&O.RR (Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon) ticket office and American Express Office in the northwest corner, the C&NWRW (Chicago & North Western Railway) ticket office in the northeast corner, a large full-width waiting room south of them, a small dining room and kitchen south of this, and a freight room in the southern one-third of the building, with a small baggage room in its northeast corner (Negaunee Iron Herald 1879a).
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(The Marquette and Western Railroad Negaunee Freight Depot was listed in the National Register in 2008. Note that this National Register nomination provides a construction date of 1884 for this depot and credits the Ishpeming contracting firm of Wahlman & Grip as the builder. However, it seems very unlikely that the city would tolerate a four-year delay between destruction of the original depot and replacement by a new depot, as important as such a facility was for Negaunee. An 1880 construction date seems more logical.)
SILVER STREET NORTH (at Rail Street)
200 Block North Silver, Silver Street Underpass / Rail Street Bridge (1936). Jutton-Kelly Company, Detroit, Dearborn and Milwaukee, Contractor. Contributing. This structure carries North Silver Street under the former railroad grade now converted to Rail Street. It is a steel stringer bridge constructed of monolithic reinforced concrete. It dimensions are forty-nine-and-nine-tenths-feet long with a maximum span of forty-seven-and-nine-tenths feet and a deck width of twenty-seven –and-nine-tenths feet (Bridgehunter 2012). The bridge deck is carried on steel beams clad in concrete. On either side of the two-lane-wide through passage are concrete buttresses and wing walls perpendicular to the bridge access that support the span, which hold back the surface grades. Beneath the span on either side of Silver Street is a pedestrian portal occupied by a concrete sidewalk beneath the span, separated from the street by a series of ten huge, rectangular-plan, concrete piers that support the span above. Lateral and parallel to the sidewalks beneath the span are concrete retaining walls. Above these, the sides of the bridge span along Rail Street have solid, waist-high walls resembling parapets. A utilitarian, steel guard rail extends between these along each side of the axis of Rail Street. A brass plaque is mounted on the south east pier, which states:
U. S. Works Program / Grade Crossing Project / X6 of 52-9-2 / WPGM 374 A / Built Jointly by Federal Government and State Highway Department / with cooperation of / Duluth South Short & Atlantic RR / Chicago & Northwestern RR. / City of Negaunee / under supervision of / Murray O. Van Wagoner / State Highway Commissioner / Jutton-Kelly Company / Contractor / 1936
The 1928 Sanborn shows Silver Street on both sides of the railroad tracks, which is altered in the 1946 edition that has added “Concrete Viaduct” across the railroad tracks along the axis of Silver Street. A photograph apparently taken shortly after this structure opened, showing a steam locomotive, illustrates that the bridge has not been altered in any way since that time (Superiorview 2020d).
SILVER STREET NORTH, EAST SIDE (north from Rail Street)
207 North Silver. Pascoe Standard Oil Station (U.P. Detailing) (1930s / Between 1928 and 1946). Contributing. This building occupies a triangular lot between North Silver Street and a former railroad grade now serving as a parking lot. It is a single-story, flat-roofed, concrete block building that is clad in a cement stucco skin. The right portion of the facade is angled, facing Silver Street. It has an off-center entrance between three square, fixed-pane, windows, one to its right and two to its left.
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A steel replacement door occupies the original entrance position, but it is enframed and the windows are all set within T-111 siding, which rests on a low, concrete bulkhead and downsizes the facade’s original large openings. A flat, metal canopy extends across the facade above these, and wraps around to the short, windowless, right side elevation. To the left of the angled section is two-bay-wide garage unit whose facade is perpendicular to North Silver Street. A flat parapet extends across the building’s entire facade.
SILVER STREET NORTH, WEST SIDE (north from Rail Street)
210 North Silver. Garfield Hotel / Negaunee Hotel (Knights of Columbus John Chiri Hall) (pre-1884; 1950s?; 1980s?). Non-Contributing. This is a brick-veneer, two-story building with a broad, single-story section extending along the south side elevation. The facade’s sidewalk level is faced in textured concrete block, and has entrances beneath the corners of the taller portion of the building, and another entrance in the single story to the south. A short, pent-roof of vinyl shakes extends across the top of this first story. The taller north portion of the building is brick veneer according to Sanborn maps, but is now clad in vinyl siding. Above the concrete block, the second story of the facade projects outward to a broad, shallow-pitched, front-gabled section having four large slider windows. Recessed to the rear behind this, the building’s upper story is mainly vinyl-clad wall plane, broken only by paired, double-hung sash at the building corners. The parapet has a slight pediment and occurs above a simple cornice. The concrete block, single-story section extends along the south side, above which the vinyl-clad wall is interrupted by a single double-hung sash in the second story near the facade corner. Because of extensive additions and renovations that are unsympathetic to its architectural character, this building is considered to be Non- contributing to the historic district. The street address indicated is 210 North Silver Street; however, the parcel address is 208 and 214 North Silver Street.
214 North Silver. (see 210 North Silver).
TEAL LAKE STREET NORTH, WEST SIDE (north from West Case Street intersection)
207 North Teal Lake. Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church (1899). Benjamin Price, Highlands, New Jersey, Architect; E.E. Grip & Company, Ishpeming, Michigan, Contractor. Contributing. The Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church occupies the northwest corner of the intersection with West Case Street. It is a multi-storied, red-painted brick building with a corner tower and small gable protrusions attached to its basic cross-gable nave floor plan. The auditorium-type church rests on a low, random ashlar, stone foundation. A painted masonry or dressed stone belt course caps this stone on all elevations below the first story. The church employs lancet arches in its belfry and in its grouped and single windows, many of which also have Gothic tracery. Complimented by its broad roof and smaller gables attached to the main building and tower, this edifice appears to be most accurately described as Neo-Gothic in inspiration. The narrower, gabled, nave end facing North Teal Lake Avenue has two tall, stained glass windows set beneath white-painted, lancet-arched, stone voussoirs, and rest on dressed stone sills. Centered above these, is a large, round, stained glass window with hexagram tracery enframed in white-painted stone voussoirs. The gable peak is clad in fish-scale shingle. Extending out from the south corner
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and wrapping around to the Case Street side is the church tower. Its first story, facing North Teal Lake Avenue, has a lancet window identical to the others previously described, while the Case Street side contains the church’s primary entrance, a double door on a small landing reached by several masonry steps, all sheltered beneath a gabled porch supported on substantial brick piers. Above this entrance is a masonry plaque inscribed, “MITCHELL / M. E. CHURCH / 1899.” Above the brick and below the belfry is a section clad in fishscale shingle in which is centered on each side a stained glass rose window. The fishscale shingle continues up through the belfry, which has engaged buttresses at each corner, quatrefoil and trefoil elements, and culminates in a tall, pyramidal roof with a copper finial. This building replaced an earlier Methodist church on the same site, and a Pastor’s Residence that was north of the church has been removed and the site is now part of the church’s a parking lot.
Discussion of Integrity
The Negaunee Downtown Historic District is a consistent assemblage of commercial buildings that are significant in the city’s commercial, social, and architectural evolution from the 1870s through the 1960s. This period of significance represents the era of prosperity and growth, as well as decline in the district during the period that the contributing structures were constructed. The district retains a notable degree of original appearance and uses and is able to convey Ishpeming’s history as the local central business district from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. Most of the storefronts continue in commercial use. Most buildings retain character-defining details, including upper facades, window surrounds, cornices, and other design details from the period of significance. Notable examples include the “brownstone” Mulvey Block and the Mulvey Building at 432 Iron Street, the I.O.O.F. Hall at 442 Iron Street, the J. Erickson Building at 117 West Case Street with its distinctive Mesker Bros. stamped iron cornice, the restrained for its genre Vista Theater at 300 Iron Street, the Second Empire Iron Cliffs Company Offices at 101 South Pioneer Street, the Moderne and classically-influenced Negaunee Post Office at 304 West Case Street, Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic and Chicago & Northwestern Depot at 212 Gold Street, the classically-influenced Negaunee Manual Training School and Case Street Grade School at 102 West Case Street, the eclectic Negaunee City Hall at 319 West Case Street and the Negaunee Fire Hall at 200 South Pioneer Street, the Romanesque- influenced Saint Paul’s Church, Rectory, School and Convent in the 200 block of West Case Street, and the Neo-Gothic plan-book Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church at 207 Teal Lake Avenue. In addition, the district as a whole contains few modern intrusions and retains integrity of setting, location, association, and feeling. A few of the buildings within the district boundaries have undergone considerable alterations, such as the removal of architectural details or the concealment of the facade by modern materials, and no longer convey cohesiveness with the rest of the district. A few buildings have been demolished within the historic district boundaries, most notably the national-register-listed Sundberg Block and the Kirkwood Block that have been replaced by open space, while other lots have become parking lots or small parks.
______8. Statement of Significance
Applicable National Register Criteria
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(Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.)
x A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.
x B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
x C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.
D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
Criteria Considerations (Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)
x A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes
x B. Removed from its original location x
C. A birthplace or grave
D. A cemetery
E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure
F. A commemorative property
G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years
Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) _Commerce______
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_Government______Social History ______Education ______Architecture ______
Period of Significance __1874-1970______
Significant Dates __1874______1910______
Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) ______
Cultural Affiliation ______
Architect/Builder Architects: Demetrius F. (D. Fred) Charlton (Charlton & Kuenzli); Warren S. Holmes; William G. Pagels; Benjamin Price; Van Leyen, Schilling & Keogh; O’Meara & Hills; Louis A. Simon; David E. Anderson Contractors: E. E. Grip & Co., Foster Construction Co., Hinkley & Lambeau; James Leck & Co.; Hutter Construction Co.; David Hood Contracting Co.; F. E. Wester; Pfeffer Construction Co; L. E. Chaussee; Thomas Solar; Andrew Linquist; A. H. Proksch; Jutton- Kelly Co.______
Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations.)
The Negaunee Downtown Historic District is a locally significant historic district that meets National Register Criterion A under the themes of Commerce, Social History, Education, and Government. The historic district is significant under Commerce as the center of commercial
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activity in the city since the mid-nineteenth century and as a cohesive collection of buildings that illustrate the commercial and architectural development of the city. The district is significant under the theme of Social History because of the number of contributing buildings connected to an important period of social history in Negaunee. The district contains several buildings that contained meeting halls for numerous social organizations.
Under Transportation, there are the railroad-related 1910 Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic and the 1879 Marquette & Western depots, and the surface route-related 1936 Silver Street Underpass.
Under Education, the district has the 1913 Manual Training School, enlarged in 1936, the 1936 Case Street Grade School, the 1932 Saint Paul’s High School and Grade School, as well as the city library, located in the 1915 City Hall since its construction.
The district is significant under the theme of Government as the center of civic functions in the city. The 1910 Fire Hall, the 1915 City Hall, and the 1936 United States Post Office collectively illustrate the civic history of Negaunee and demonstrate the currents of civic architecture between 1910 and 1936. In addition, the district meets Criterion C for its many commercial and governmental and church buildings that illustrate and represent high style and vernacular late nineteenth and early twentieth-century currents in American architecture. The district includes surviving examples of Romanesque Revival, brick and stone Italianate and Late Victorian two- story commercial blocks, and early twentieth century Neo-Classical and Beaux Arts-influenced and Commercial Brick blocks. The district is also notable for its Lake Superior red sandstone buildings that represent a distinctive product of the Upper Peninsula at the turn-of-the-twentieth century, as well as examples of Mesker Brothers Iron Company facade elements. The period of significance begins in 1874, when the oldest documented building was constructed, and ends in 1970 after the last contributing building was constructed in the district. Of the seventy-five proprieties described in this nomination, four are individually listed in the National Register, fifty-five are considered Contributing to the historic district, and sixteen are considered to be Non-Contributing, resulting in well over three-quarters (fifty-eight of seventy-five) of the Negaunee Downtown Historic District being considered to be historic properties. ______Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Historical Overview
The Setting and Early History Archaeological evidence from Michigan’s north-central Upper Peninsula shows that the Negaunee area's first visitors came at least ten thousand years ago. Spear points and other artifacts have been found at Teal Lake, the Silver Lake area, the bed of Deer Lake. At European Contact and through the historic period, the Negaunee vicinity was not inhabited by any Native American tribe. Although there were a number of streams and lakes in the area of what became settled as Negaunee, the actual town site was unoccupied.
The deposits of iron ore found in the Negaunee area were the magnet that attracted historic period settlers. The Marquette Iron Range first became known in 1844 when government surveyors reported the presence of the ore during their initial fieldwork. Also known to
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Geologists as the Negaunee Iron Formation, it is a deposit of hematite ore that extends across the north central Upper Peninsula south of Lake Superior from near Marquette westward nearly to the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Discovered in the 1840s, it includes the vicinity of the City of Negaunee. Exploitation commenced with mines active in the 1840s, beginning with the Jackson Mine, described as “the oldest mine of the district” (Swineland 1876: 143). In 1845 a group of businessmen organized the Jackson Company with the intent of locating and exploiting mineral resources near Lake Superior. A party led by Philo M. Everett ventured to the vicinity of what is now Negaunee and discovered “Jackson Mountain,” a mountain of solid iron ore, 150 feet high. It was located on a one-mile square claim that was mined by the Jackson Mine of the Jackson Company, whose location is in the southeast portion of Negaunee. Primitive attempts at forging iron began as early as 1847, but the first iron consistently forged from Jackson was produced in 1848, the same year the Jackson Mining Company was officially incorporated, two years before the first iron was actually shipped from the region.
Marquette County was laid out in 1843, but was not formally organized until 1851. As initial efforts at extracting the area’s iron deposits commenced, the Carp River Forge was opened in 1847 near Negaunee, processing ore from the Jackson Mine. In 1858, the Pioneer Iron Company constructed a blast furnace at Negaunee, near the Jackson Mine (Kaas 2018: 1, 3). Other claims in the vicinity were developed in the Negaunee Hematite Range in the early 1870s (Swineford 1876: 188-92). The surface mines were eventually forced to go underground, including the Jackson Mine and the Negaunee Mine.
To be fully exploited, the rich ores of Marquette County required adequate transportation to the furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania. A bottleneck to shipping via the Great Lakes was created by the Rapids of the Saint Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie. A canal and locks constructed there in 1855 facilitated shipping and would unleash the potential of the Marquette Iron Range if the iron could be transported to the lakeshore at Marquette. In 1851 a survey was made for a railroad between the mines and Marquette, and a plank-road was built by the Jackson and Cleveland mining companies jointly, using strap-rail tracks on which horse-cars were run. The road was short-lived because of the passage of the General Railroad Law of Michigan, in 1855. In response, the Iron Mountain Railroad was organized, and in 1857 the road was completed and put into operation. The Iron Mountain Railroad replaced the privately owned, horse-powered Iron Mountain Railway, and was the first common carrier railroad in the Upper Peninsula (MDOT 2014). The Iron Mountain Railroad became, subsequently, a part of the Bay de Noquette and Marquette Railroad, by consolidation, the Marquette and Ontonagon Road, and still later, by further consolidation, a part of the through line of the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon Railroad.
Through Negaunee’s history, its location in the Marquette Iron Range attracted activity through the abundant natural resources and its prime location along the region’s railroad grid. Developing rapidly into a commercial center in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the city’s fortunes have been closely linked with the ebb and flow of the mining industry. By 1861, the output for the Marquette Range was 120,000 tons, and as the Civil War increased the need for Lake Superior iron, the volume of shipment began a steady increase, with additional mines opening on the range. By 1868, annual ore production figures had reached one-half million tons;
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and, by 1873, the range produced over one million tons of ore, a figure that steadily increased through the turn of the century (Schaetzl 2020).
Near the iron mines, the founding and development of Negaunee was a gradual process. The 1856 and 1859 Michigan state gazetteers do not list settlement at Negaunee, while the 1863 edition notes that Negaunee had a post office and that the Pioneer Furnace was in operation “at Negaunee,” although the 1867 gazetteer does not mention the town (Sutherland 1856; Hawes 1859; Clark 1863: 108-109; Chapin & Brother 1867). During the early 1860s, the village was described as ”a few struggling log houses around the Jackson Mine and Pioneer Furnace,” but after the location was platted that year and the Peninsular Division of the Chicago & North Western Railroad linked the area to Escanaba, “the growth of the village has been steady and rapid” (Scripps & Polk 1873: 486). Development was haphazard until J. P. Pendill filed his plat named Iron and the Pioneer Company filed its plat named Negaunee both in 1865, together being the blocks upon which the city’s business district grew. These plats resulted in standard size lots and orderly development of the village. The Peninsula Division of the Chicago & North Western Railway was laid out in 1865 and soon reached Negaunee, providing connections to Escanaba, and in 1872, to Wisconsin (Swineford 1876: 122-124). These railroads linked the Negaunee iron mines to ore docks constructed in Marquette and Escanaba, Michigan, and in Ashland, Wisconsin, serving as vital links in the iron ore transportation network.
After Negaunee was established as a village in 1869, development accelerated dramatically. A town hall and jail were erected at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and a schoolhouse built, replaced by an eight-thousand-dollar Union school the next year (Western Historical 1883: 452- 453; Sawyer 1911a: 427). As the number of mines increased, so too did the population of Negaunee and the number of businesses in the city. In addition to typical commercial activities, these businesses also supported mining, the mines, logging, and related concerns. As the settlement grew, Negaunee was incorporated as a city in 1873, named from the Chippewa term meaning “Go Ahead” or “Pioneer” or “The First” (Koski 2015d). At that time established mines based in Negaunee produced record amounts and new mines were being opened, some owned by Negaunee residents as opposed to the early mines that were established by absentee owners. It was at this time that the present-day commercial district began to take shape. The 1873 state gazetteer states there were two banks and “a large number of stores” servicing a population of about 3,200, and the business directory had over 125 entries (Scripps & Polk 1873: 485-489). Another directory from the period stated the population was 2,560 in 1870 and claimed “more than double that number” by 1873, and described the town as “extensive stores in all lines of trade and all apparently doing a profitable business, two or three banks, a number of good hotels crowded with guests, churches, schools and private residences of neat appearance, but none of architectural pretensions” (Beard 1873: IX).
The burgeoning population had spiritual needs that were met by early churches. Methodists were active in Negaunee since the first itinerant pastor, Rev. William Benson, arrived in 1851, and returned periodically into 1853. The first regular Methodist Episcopal preacher in the village dates to 1864, when the Rev. A. A. Watkins arrived. Services were held in the Union Church, erected in 1868 at the corner of Main Street and Teal Lake Avenue. The first solely Methodist church was erected and dedicated in 1869 on a parcel donated by the Iron Cliffs Company (Western Historical 1883: 454). When the Rev. Fred E. York arrived in Negaunee to take charge
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of the church, he discovered that the congregation was 2,000 dollars in debt, and that Negaunee had 101 places where liquor was sold (Western Historical 1883: 455). The current church was erected in 1899 and occupies the same location in the city.
The Catholic Church of Saint Paul was established in 1861 and met in a church built near the Jackson Mine (Western Historical 1883: 455). The church cornerstone was laid in 1867, was constructed at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, and was consecrated by Bishop Baraga in 1870. Between 1881 and 1882 a new parochial school and rectory were built. In the late nineteenth century the church was supported by a congregation of about 1,800, and the school by 500 school-age children (Western Historical 1883: 454). This original church and rectory burned in 1919 (Negaunee Centennial History 1965) and were replaced by the current buildings in 1920. (The Parochial school and an adjacent convent were constructed in 1932.)
As existing iron mines expanded and others were developed, and the associated railroad links increased, the city benefited. It is believed that no frame commercial buildings survive from this early period. During this time, Iron Street attained its ascendancy as the core of the central business district, with well over two dozen business blocks in the 100 and 200 blocks. By 1873 the state gazetteer business directory for Negaunee had more than 125 entries (Scripps & Polk 1873: 485-489).
The worldwide financial panic that began in 1873 severely hindered the town’s growth and prospects, as major employers ceased operations and its two banks closed (Koski 2015d). Iron ore was a commodity vulnerable to these economic cycles. The reduced need for steel weakened the demand for iron ore, and as miners were laid off; some sought work elsewhere. Still, in 1873, the Negaunee Iron Herald began publication, always proclaiming, “The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Darn About Negaunee” (and remained the city’s newspaper until 1968) (Koski 2015d). In 1874 the Pioneer Furnace was destroyed by fire, and the town’s future appeared in doubt, but the mining companies responded and bolstered production, led by concerns that grew into the Cleveland Cliffs and Oliver companies (Sawyer 1911a: 427). The Negaunee Iron Herald was optimistic, and asserted in 1874:
Not withstanding the panic and depression of the iron business of the country, the coming season promises to be one of unusual prosperity for Negaunee. We hear of many new buildings to be erected and of several new enterprises of importance to be located in our rapidly growing city (Negaunee Iron Herald 1874e).
The city experienced a true boomtown phase: between 1873 and 1880 the city’s population increased by two-thirds, from about three thousand to five thousand residents (CUPPAD 2016: 11). In the 1870s and 1880s dozens of brick buildings were erected. Symbolic perhaps, of the type of businessman behind Negaunee’s energy during this period is John Mulvey, who in later years was described as a “capitalist” (Polk 1895: 400). He was “a contractor by occupation, and owner of improved real estate in Negaunee” (Michigan Historical Commission 1924: 130). Born in Ireland in 1835, he came to America in 1852, arriving in the Upper Peninsula where he worked on construction of the coal docks and then as a coaler on the furnaces in Marquette. He moved to Detroit for a year and returned to Marquette in 1857. He then worked at the Pioneer iron furnaces in Negaunee and then in the iron and copper mines across the Upper Peninsula for
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a number of years. He eventually opened up a meat market in Negaunee and began investing in the city’s real estate and remained active until he retired in 1880, although he still owned “large quantities of real estate and business property in Negaunee” (Evening News Association 1900: 174). He held a number of public offices beginning in 1864, including township clerk, president of Negaunee village, member of the city council, city assessor, and as mayor. He served as a Democrat in the state legislature in 1881-1882, and later as a Republican from 1887 to 1888 and 1895 to 1896 (Evening News Association 1900: 174; MHRS 1940: 34). He built two of the most substantial business blocks in Negaunee during this period, in which he also resided, the Mulvey Block in 1874 and the adjacent Mulvey Building in 1883 (432 Iron Street).
Fraternal organizations assumed increasing importance in the lives of city residents during this period. Those that had begun meeting in the late 1860s, such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Ancient Order of Hibernians, were joined by others that established lodges during the 1870s and 1880s. The 1884 and 1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps illustrate that in the historic district the most common business was the saloon, with around twenty in total, some in the more substantial brick blocks, and about a half-dozen grocers and dry goods / general merchandise stores. There were as many cigar factories, two, as meat markets. The First National Bank was in the triangle at the railroad tracks. Jackson Street was less densely developed but was anchored at the east end by McDonald’s Opera House (demolished). Near the depot, Gold and Silver streets had several hotels (including the aptly named Railroad Hotel) and a couple saloons. Case Street was already the location of Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches and a public school, as well as a town hall, all in the 100-200 blocks.
The pace of building in the city quickened noticeably during this period, and more buildings survive from this period than any other similar timeframe. Nearly thirty percent (21/75) of the properties in the downtown date prior to 1884, three definitely from the 1870s and eighteen others built some time prior to 1884, some of which may be much older. These buildings are generally brick, two-story, commercial blocks, with Italianate references or Late Victorian Commercial in style, such as some traced to the 1870s, the Mulvey Block at 432 Iron, Winter & Seuss Market at 401 Iron, and Beaumont/Railroad Hotel at 217 Gold. Buildings could still be frame, such as the Marquette & Western Depot at 420 Rail, but others approached high style in brick and stone, such as the Cliffs Iron Company building at 101 South Pioneer, or perhaps nearly duplicate one built next door earlier, such as the Mulvey Building, today also addressed as 432 Iron.
The 1875 state gazetteer described Negaunee as a “flourishing city” with two banks, a weekly newspaper, Methodist, Episcopal, and Catholic churches, and “all the other accessories of a live business center.” The city had a population of 3,741 and its business listings in the gazetteer number more than one hundred entries (Polk 1875: 578-579). The Breitung Hotel opened as the city’s premier hostelry in 1880, and served travelers for decades (destroyed by fire in 1984). The recovery of the national economy from the panic of 1873 and the arrival of the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad in 1881 further enhanced the city’s links to other markets, and stimulated growth. It was noted at that time that “there are four brick blocks going up this season, besides general improvements in the appearance of the town… The Negaunee Herald… will occupy more commodious rooms in one of the new blocks when completed” (Western Historical 1883: 453). “Take all things into consideration, it would be a hard matter to find a town of like
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population that has better prospects for future growth, both as regards population and wealth, than Negaunee” (Western Historical 1883: 433). The 1881 state gazetteer commented that the city had “rapidly improved since our last issue and now has a population of 5,000,” and among the improvements noted an opera house (McDonald’s) seating 500 (Polk 1881: 868). That same year, James Foley built what is reputed to be the first brick house in the city, on the corner of North Teal Lake Avenue and Case Street. By the 1880s, the iron mine boom times had resumed and the economy had diversified a bit.
Bird’s eye view of Negaunee, 1881. Looking northwest. Iron Street is the first densely built street from the bottom of the map, and runs from the large, three-story building in the center of the map to the left. J. J. Stoner, Madison, Wisconsin, publishers.
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The 1883 History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan described the city thusly:
The universal prosperity of its citizens is displayed in many ways, but in none is this manifestation so much to their credit and to the glory of the city . . .as in the erection of the business blocks and residences, that are put up in a manner both substantial and of a higher grade of architectural finish than may be ordinarily seen in cities of several times its size. From the Chicago & North Western Track on west on Iron Street a number of new buildings have been generously sprinkled this season. East of this track, the work of improvement has not been so marked, yet the demand for better buildings is far more imperative, and enterprising citizens in this neighborhood will not stand another season of prosperity . . . without the tearing down some of the dilapidated eyesores and erecting in their stead business blocks to comport with the new order of things. One more season’s like the building of the present will put Negaunee in the front with other Lake Superior cities in the matter of neat and commodious business blocks (Western Historical 1883: 456).
Urban amenities appeared relatively early. Among the earliest were gaslight street lamps, which were installed in 1885. The 1887 state gazetteer noted “marked improvements” in the city that had grown to a population of six thousand with over 150 business listings, including some diversification in industry, five churches, and the opera house built in 1883, and relates that “the town enjoyed a building boom during 1882, when several handsome and substantial business blocks and houses were erected” (Polk 1887: 1311). In 1886, two railroads neared the completion of lines through Negaunee. The Mining Journal opined that, once completed, Negaunee would be the “transfer point” on the northern rail route. More importantly, all of the new rail traffic was expected to increase the number of passenger trains through the city, and “largely increase the present transfer business.” Then, according to the newspaper, “Negaunee will… have not chance to complain of its railway service” (Mining Journal Nov. 6, 1886).
Much of the growth in the city’s population was the result of an influx of immigrants. These people provided Negaunee with both a ready workforce and diverse ethnicities. Many people from differing ethnic groups came to Negaunee to work in the mines – the Finns, the Italians, the Swedes and other nationalities seeking economic opportunity. Typical of these were Finnish immigrants who worked primarily as iron ore miners or in some capacity related to mining. In 1880, the Finnish language newspaper, Amerikan Suomalainen, advised Finns to try mines it named across the iron range and Marquette County for work, and if unsuccessful, “travel always to Ishpeming and Negaunee, which is the county’s center and largest place of employment” (Kaunonen 2009: 23). By 1903 thousands of Finns were living in Negaunee and Ishpeming and others were still migrating. In the 1910 census, while most were still engaged in mining, others had delved into other economic pursuits. By 1920, Finns formed the largest foreign-born group in Marquette County (Robyns 2020). As one of the largest towns in the iron ore region, Negaunee attracted many laborers from Finland. Finland-Swedes, those from Finland who spoke Swedish, were a distinctive subgroup, and Negaunee was “among the best-known and most populous locations for Finland-Swedes in Michigan” (Roinila 2012: 17).
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Swedes were also prominent in Negaunee during this period. The greatest wave of Swedish immigration to Michigan took place in the 1870 through 1900 period, and by the 1880s and 1890s much of the immigration was settling in the growing cities and mining communities (Hancks 2006; Christensen 2013). In the Upper Peninsula, and particularly the iron mining counties of Dickinson, Iron, Marquette, and Menominee, they established substantial Swedish communities (Hancks 2006: 25-27). In Marquette County many Swedes first moved to Ishpeming beginning in 1868, “the mother colony for Swedish immigrants,” before moving to Negaunee and other locations (Mead 2012: 43-44). They arrived in Negaunee because of the employment opportunities offered by the mines.
Also prominent in Negaunee’s development were Italian immigrants, who began arriving in Marquette County in the early 1860s. Batista Barasa settled in Negaunee in 1871 and developed real estate holdings, including the Barasa Iron Mining Company, the only iron mine in the Upper Peninsula owned by Italian immigrants (Magnaghi 1987: 10). By the late 1870s Italians were attracted to Marquette County by chain migration, where an immigrant sent glowing reports of their new circumstances to friends and relatives in Italy and encouraged them to join them. Because of the relative density of early arrivals, Negaunee became a destination for early Italian immigrants (Magnaghi 1987: 13). In the late 1880s the rate of Italian arrivals in Negaunee increased, and by 1910 Italians comprised fifteen-to-sixteen percent of the labor force on the Iron Range (Magnaghi 1987: 47). The December 15, 1887, issue of the Negaunee Iron Herald reported “hundreds of Italians” were working on the western extension of the DSS&A railroad line.
Organizations were formed that were closely linked to the different nationalities. Some of them, such as the Scandinavian Society and the German Aid Society, were safety nets that provided money when members were unable to work due to illness or the primary breadwinner was killed. But there was also Chevaliers de Lafayette, the Sons of Saint George, and the Negaunee Baseball Club (as early as 1889) (Holland 1889: 316-17). The founder of the Danish Sisterhood, Christine Hemmingsen, emigrated with her family from Denmark to Negaunee in 1873. In 1883, after the death of a friend and inspired by the Danish Brotherhood of America, Hemmingsen organized a funeral benefit society for women. By 1910 the Danish Sisterhood had grown to 119 lodges with six thousand members across the United States (Jensen 1983; DSA 2014). The S.H.&E.F. of A., a Scandinavian benefits and social group, was prominent enough to erect its own hall on Gold Street in 1909. These groups, along with the many churches divided along ethnic lines, gave immigrants a place to socialize and speak their native language. New immigrants found help and advice as well as the companionship of fellow countrymen. As the ethnic divisions blurred through marriage and the shift to speaking English, many of the ethnic groups disappeared.
During this period the mines continued to expand and increase production and employment induced many immigrants to flock to the region. Embodying the relationship between mining, profits, commerce, and investment in Negaunee’s downtown is Edward Lobb. Lobb was the proprietor the Railroad Hotel and Saloon at 217 Gold Street in the 1870s. Lobb was born in Cornwall in 1849 and immigrated to America, and to the Lake Superior region to work in the mines in 1869. After seven years he began business as the Railroad Hotel and Saloon on Gold Street, but maintained his interest in mining (Western Historical 1883: 461). In 1887 he and three other principles sold their holdings in the Buffalo Mine, east of Negaunee, for 200,000 dollars
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(Montreal River Miner 1887). In 1889 he was the president and general manager of The Queen iron mine, and the superintendent of the Prince of Wales Mining Company both near Negaunee (Lawton 1889: 31). Lobb prospered enough to build the Lobb Block at 215 Gold Street in 1890. When he died in 1893, his death was noted in newspapers statewide, describing him as “a wealthy mine owner and stockholder in several mines” who left an estate of 200,000 dollars (Times Herald 1893; Ann Arbor Register 1893)
The city’s population grew by twenty percent to 6,078 in 1890, and by nearly another fifteen percent to a population of 6,935 in 1900 (CUPPAD 2016: 11). The growing city warranted a new post office, which opened in 1891 in the now-demolished Sundberg Block. The Negaunee- Ishpeming Street Car Company connected the two cities in 1892 (and ran for over three decades until competition from the automobile caused it to cease operation in 1927) (Koski 2015d), and, in 1896, the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad completed a line from Marquette to Negaunee (MDOT 2014). The city was also “lighted by electricity,” and had a water works, a large public library and “handsome and substantial business blocks” (Polk 1893: 1215).
The state gazetteers in the 1890s carried well over two hundred business listings for the city. These businesses illustrate the diversification of the city’s economy, still heavily dependent on the mines but also including significant contributions by a large steam saw mill, a large planing mill, and a sash and door factory.
All of this activity resulted in continued building, and the business district along Iron and Jackson streets boasted numerous substantial business blocks. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the period illustrate that in the 1890s, the east end of the district was anchored by the substantial brick Iron Cliffs Company’s Offices on south Pioneer Street, and the city’s long-time premier hostelry, the Breitung House (demolished), just south of it. The variety of businesses along Iron Street expanded but saloons were by far the most common at twenty, about twice as many as the next most common business, dry goods-clothing, and there were a half-dozen grocers, as well as several meat markets, drug stores, confectionary stores and hardware stores, barbers, and even a Chinese laundry. Jackson Street was anchored at the east end by the City Hall and Jail in the 300 block (replaced by the current building in 1915), and the current location of Memorial Park in front of the City Hall was occupied by the fire department’s Engine House No. 1. Gold and Silver streets were fully occupied, mostly by brick and brick veneered buildings, still commonly occupied by railroad hotels and saloons.
Eleven buildings, nearly fifteen percent (11 of 75) of the historic district, were constructed between 1885 and 1899. These are generally moderately-sized brick business blocks such as the Lobb Block, built in 1890 at 215 Gold , the sandstone-faced 1899 Oscar Field building at 302 Iron and the stylish block at 340 Iron, but also one of the district’s landmarks, the Mitchell M.E. Church, built in 1899, from plan book designs provided by architect Benjamin Price, at 207 Teal Lake Avenue. There is also the handsome brick Second Empire and eclectic Iron Cliffs Company Building, at the corner of Jackson and Pioneer streets, erected in 1887 from plans by Marquette architect J. B. Sweatt (now serving as the Administration Building for Negaunee Public Schools). Overall, the other brick commercial buildings from this period combine to create the consistency of scale and setback that help determine the character of the district’s streetscape.
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During the 1890s many of the current, contributing buildings in downtown Negaunee were erected. Jacobsville sandstone and Portage Entry brownstone, continued to be popular building materials in the early part of that decade, providing mostly visual interest in buildings constructed primarily of brick. Other native stone was used in rubble constriction in side and rear walls. In the later part of the decade, as Beaux Arts Classicism and use of lighter shade materials such as limestone came into favor nationally and in Michigan, sandstone fell out of fashion with architects. Most of the buildings from this era were at least two stories high. The first floor was retail. If the lot was wide enough, two long and narrow shops maximized the rent the building’s owner could collect. The downtown retailers included clothing stores, dry goods, meat markets, confectioners, grocery stores, jewelers, drug stores, cigar factories, and numerous saloons. Few of these businesses stayed in one place for long. There was a constant shuffling of tenants. Some went out of business, especially if there was an economic downturn resulting in a reduced demand for iron ore. Others moved to bigger quarters once they could afford to do so and were quickly replaced by new tenants. One thing was constant though, business blocks usually were not unoccupied for long, because these blocks were Negaunee’s premiere retail location.
The second floors of the buildings were devoted to a mixture of uses. Some buildings provided office space, which was rented by professionals, and occasionally housed county offices, as well as music teachers, beauty shops, tailors among other concerns. In a few instances living space doubled as retail, especially with milliners and hat makers. Another prominent use for the second floors was for club rooms. There were many different social groups that met in Negaunee. Fraternal societies, ethnic groups, secret organizations and social clubs were all present in Negaunee as a constant over the decades. Some, such as the Odd Fellows and the Masons, were established as early as the late 1860 and peaked in membership in the early 1900s.
Religious contributions to city life expanded with the population, estimated to be 6,500, and in addition to the Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, there was also Episcopalian, and as the ethnic groups in the city continued to grow, Finnish and Swedish Lutheran churches (Polk 1893: 1215). The city’s directories from this period noted dozens of fraternal and social organizations, some based on ethnic affiliation.
Negaunee, 1900-1919
Iron ore production on the Marquette Range continued to increase through the turn of the century and Negaunee benefited as a result. In January 1903 the Negaunee Iron Herald proclaimed that “Unless all indications are at fault, the coming season will be the most prosperous one that Negaunee has ever known. This will be owing to a great impetus to be given the town’s greatest single industry, mining,” and related how every mine was working to capacity, augmented by several new and reopened properties (Negaunee Iron Herald 1903a). City streets were being paved as the automobile began to exert its influence (Sawyer 1911a: 440).
The gazetteers noted in the early 1900s that the city’s estimated population of seven thousand (6,935 in the 1900 United States Census) was served by the Chicago & North Western, Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, and Lake Superior & Ishpeming railways, with depots clustered south of
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the city center (Polk 1903: 1359). The number and types of businesses carried on consistently from the earlier decade. Negaunee was taking on all aspects of a “modern” city. It had a gas and electric light works, a street car system was planned and a telephone system was proposed.
The 1910 United States Census indicated that the population of Negaunee had increased by nearly one-quarter and reached its historic peak at 8,640. The early 1900s were prosperous times for Negaunee, which the state gazetteers recognized as one of the most important mining centers in the Lake Superior iron district. The types of businesses are a mix similar to the earlier times, with, again, about twenty saloons leading the pack. Jackson Street had a few more brick veneer buildings. Gold and Silver streets south of the mid-block alleys were densely packed with four hotels and two saloons, all within sight of the combined depot for the DSS&A and C&NW railroads.
The city and business district continued to prosper, and buildings from this period comprised about one-tenth (8 of 75) of the historic district. The city built a new high school on Case Street in 1909 (since replaced by the Case Street School). Fraternal and social lodges were enjoying greater prominence, as demonstrated by the 1907 Odd Fellows Hall designed by Marquette architect John Chubb at 442 Iron, and the 1909 SH&EF of A Hall at 209 Gold, built by the city’s leading Scandinavian group. Purely commercial buildings, substantial and attractive, include the 1901 sandstone-fronted Shea Block at 304 Iron and the single-story Neely Building, built the same year at 432 Iron, one of the few single-story buildings in the district. Illustrating the impact of mining on the city in a different way, the LaFreniere Furniture building at 338 Rail, was built circa 1900 on Iron Street west of Tobin, but was moved here during the 1950s, when mine subsidence required abandonment of that area of the city resulted in some buildings being moved to new locations.
During the second decade of the twentieth century, Negaunee continued to develop as the city and business district continued to prosper. According to the 1911 Sanborn Map Company map for Negaunee, the city contained at least thirteen mines.1 These mines, along with those in Ishpeming and others in the Marquette Range employed nearly 6,500 men in 1909. The primary employer in the region was the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company (formed by merger of the Cleveland Iron Company, Jackson Iron Company, Iron Cliffs Company, and Pioneer Iron Company in 1891) ran ten mines with 1,700 employees (Eckert 1993: 486). In 1911, Negaunee was described as an established city on the main line of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad, the headquarters of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, which occupied “one of the largest and best-built structures in the city. Its opera house, city library and school buildings are also creditable.” Further, the Negaunee High School was completed in 1909 at a cost of 120,000 dollars, “one of the most modern and pleasing structures of the kind in the Upper Peninsula” (demolished) (Sawyer 1911: 427).
The wealth generated by the mines, that which was kept locally, is reflected materially in buildings from this period, comprising over fifteen percent (12 of 75) and many of the most notable buildings of the historic district. The period from about 1910 through 1919 marked
1 The mines identified in the 1911 Sanborn map include the following mines: Blue Mine, Cambria Mine, Lucy Mine, Maas Mine, Negaunee Mine, South Jackson Mine, Davis Mine, Empire Iron Company Mine, Hartford Mine, Rolling Mill Mine, Lillie Mine, Sunrise Mine, and Prince of Wales Mine.
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perhaps the city’s climax in terms of number and variety of quality buildings in the historic district. Many of the historic district’s most prominent buildings, designed by the region’s prominent architects, date to this period. Examples of the city’s importance and prosperity are represented by the 1910 Fire Hall at 200 South Pioneer, designed by Marquette architects Charlton & Kuenzli, and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic depot at 212 Gold Street, built the same year. Marquette architect John D. Chubb designed two of the city’s most prominent public buildings, the classically-inspired Manual Training School at 102 West Case in 1913 and the eclectic styled City Hall at 319 Case in 1914. He also enhanced the private sector with the Beaux Arts-inspired Negaunee National Bank built in 1910 at 318 Iron Street. Other notable commercial buildings include the D. Fred Charlton-designed Negaunee State Bank Building at 331 Iron, which was reconstructed in 1912 after a fire. Also of less style but worthy of note are two buildings associated with the city’s immigrants, the Finn-related concrete block 1911 Rytkonen Block (Star Theater) at 201 Iron and the Swede-related 1916 Pilo Block at 212 Iron. In addition, one of the city’s best-loved department stores, Lowenstein’s, was built in 1915 at 334 Iron from designs by Chicago architect W. F. Pagels, with assistance by its owner, Samuel Lowenstein. The very similar Kuhlman Block at 405-407 Iron was built the next year, in 1916.
Mining company profits and wages are also expressed in the historic district in its church buildings. Many Italians who worked in the mines attended and supported Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church at 102 West Case Street and sent their children to the church school and high school at 209-215 Peck Street. Its strong links to iron mining are revealed by the that while many parishioners pledged special gifts to rebuild the church after a fire destroyed it in 1919, the majority of the construction costs were financed from royalty funds collected from Cleveland- Cliffs on each ton of mined ore, pursuant to an agreement arrived at in 1904 (Negaunee Historical Society 2019c). However, the Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church at 207 North Teal Lake Avenue has perhaps a stronger association with the mines. This imposing building was constructed largely due to the efforts of mine captain (foreman) and agent and manager Samuel Mitchell (1846-1908). He had prospered because of his association with Negaunee’s mines, and donated most of the money required to build the church, supplemented by donations from the church’s members, many of whom worked in the mines. Mitchell first worked in a copper mine in his native England when he was fifteen years old, arriving in Copper Harbor three years later in 1864, and working in several copper mines there. He then began working in iron mines, first at Humboldt, in 1867, and then in Negaunee, when he arrived in 1870. In 1873, Mitchell advanced to the captaincy of the Saginaw Mine near Negaunee and soon rose to agent and general manager of the Saginaw Mining Company. In 1876 he organized the Mitchell Mining Company, and in 1883 he was in charge of the Negaunee Mine and retained control until its sale in 1900. In 1885, Mitchell expanded into the Gogebic Iron Range, where he acquired lands for thirty thousand dollars that he sold for over 100,000 dollars within a few years. Mitchell also operated a fleet of ore carriers on the Great Lakes (Evening News Association 1900: 341). In Negaunee, Mitchell was superintendent of the Jackson Mine in 1889 and by 1895 was President of the Jackson Iron Company and Blue Iron Mining Company, and Agent for the Negaunee Mining Co, all with mines at Negaunee (Holland 1889: 338; Polk 1895: 399). In June 1899, the Methodist Episcopal congregation planned construction of a new sanctuary at the corner of North Teal Lake Avenue and Case Street, and Captain Sam Mitchell gave five thousand dollars to begin the project. After its construction, the church was renamed Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church because Captain Mitchell gave more than eight thousand dollars toward the
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construction of the church, which was augmented by 1,638 dollars from the congregation (MUMC 2020).
The mines continued to be productive, but despite the catalyst of World War I demand, the vagaries of the national and world iron ore markets produced uncertainty. Mining production and perhaps prosperity peaked in 1919, and with it the area’s economic prospects. In 1920 the city’s population of 7,419 was nearly fifteen percent lower than the decade earlier, and the number of business entries in the state gazetteer had declined to under two hundred (Polk 1921: 1282- 1283). The built environment of the city matured with paved streets and street lighting and along the commercial arteries some older storefronts were replaced and others renovated. While the commercial streetscape and adjacent blocks generally remained fairly consistent relative to earlier decades, construction during this period significantly altered the complexion of the city.
Automobiles made their appearance in Negaunee in the early 1900s, although winter weather and poor roads usually confined these new machines to summer and fall use. In the 1920s the city began to benefit from its location on the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, which extended from Detroit through the Upper Peninsula to Wisconsin, and whose U.P. branch ran through Negaunee on its way between Rapid River and Wakefield. The new highway greatly improved automobile travel and travel access to the city (Michigan Highways 2020a).
Negaunee 1921-1939
The 1921 state gazetteer indicated the population of the city was determined to be 7,419 in the 1920 United States Census. This was a decline of almost fifteen percent from the previous decade. The number of business entries had declined as well, and now numbered less than two hundred (Polk 1921: 1282-1283). Perhaps in response, the city had begun to increasingly market the city as a center of tourism and recreation. The local market remained attractive for business, but neighboring Ishpeming seemed to attract the national store chains such as F. W. Woolworth, J. C. Penney, and Sears, Roebuck and Company. Still, Negaunee residents browse the aisles at the Lowenstein Department Store and could also see the latest movies at the city’s two theaters (Polk 1921: 1071).
In 1927 the mines in Negaunee were valued at more than fifteen million dollars (Ironwood Daily Globe May 11, 1927). Yet, by 1929 the city’s economy and prospects were dealt a significant blow when large-scale production at the region’s iron mines ended (Eckert 1993: 488). By 1930 the population of the city had declined more than ten percent in the decade, to 6,552.
Under ten percent (6 of 75) of the buildings in the historic district were constructed between 1920 and 1930. The largest projects related to Saint Paul’s Catholic Church, not surprising since it was among the city’s largest and supported by a variety of ethnic groups. In 1920 its new Neo- Romanesque basilica type church and Craftsman-influenced rectory were completed from plans by the prominent Detroit architectural firm of Van Leyen Schilling & Keogh. The Vista Theater, architecturally restrained for its type, one of the downtown landmarks and the anchor of its entertainment life for decades, was built in 1925 at 300 Iron Street from plans by Marquette architect, David E. Anderson.
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By 1930 the population of the city had declined more than ten percent since 1920 and stood at 6,552. As with many other communities across the country, the Great Depression impacted the city, although its population remained steady through the slow economy, and actually rose slightly to 6,813 by 1940 (CUPPAD 2016: 12). The federal government’s policies during the depression encouraged organized labor, and combined with the demand for iron required by the nation’s World War II armaments, enhanced Negaunee’s economy during this period. While the private sector was moribund, resulting in little construction between 1930 and 1940, the district still added not insignificantly to its stock of buildings, including some landmarks, totaling about twelve percent (9 of 75) of the historic district’s buildings and structures. Federal public works assistance accounted for a majority of construction during the 1930s. In 1936 the Case Street School (today the junior high school) replaced the high school and a third story was added to the Manual Training School, both projects were designed by Lansing, Michigan, architect Warren S. Holmes. Other federal assistance that same year enabled construction of the Silver Street Underpass, and in 1937, the Negaunee Post Office at 304 West Case. Veteran’s Memorial Park, in front of the City Hall, was built with the assistance of the federal National Youth Administration in 1938. Two other notable buildings, perhaps best viewed as “Parochial works” projects, were the construction of Saint Paul’s Parochial School and High School and Convent built in 1932 with requirements to use local labor and materials, from plans by the ecclesiastical architectural firm of O’Meara and Hills of Saint Louis, Missouri. Commercial projects were related to two gasoline filling stations, a classic “cottage” type at 126 West Main, and a functional blacksmith and auto repair shop at 207 North Silver.
Negaunee during World War II, 1940-1945
During World War II, little construction took place in the historic district.
In 1941 a number of improvement projects along US-41 were announced. These projects were meant to “meet growing traffic demands” on the “vital” north-south route through the Upper Peninsula. Among the projects were improvements to the highway between Negaunee and Ishpeming and the construction of the Carp River Bridge, three miles east of Negaunee (Escanaba Daily Press Mar. 5, 1941).
Negaunee in the Postwar Era, 1946-1959
Some gains in the iron range and local economy were associated with the increased demand for iron ore during World War II, but materials shortages hindered construction activity. After the Allied victory and the post-war economic recession, the gradual population decline of the city resumed. Between the end of the war and 1950, the population of Negaunee fell by five percent to 6,472. No major construction occurred in the historic district during World War II or in the immediate post-war period as the country returned to a peacetime economy and weathered a recession associated with millions returning to domestic life from military service. New projects in the historic district appear limited to the veterans monument added to the Memorial Park in front of City Hall in 1949.
Perhaps the most significant construction project in the city (though not the historic district) was the construction of the engine house of the Mather B mine of the Cleveland-Cliffs company and
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the creation of the mine shaft. By the end of 1948, the engine house was under construction and the shaft had been completed to a depth of nearly 1,900 feet. Once complete, the shaft would reach 3,100 feet below the surface and connect underground to the Mather A shaft, more than a mile distant (Escanaba Daily Press Dec. 30, 1948).
The number of mines in the Marquette Range number fifteen in 1945, a considerable decline from earlier in the century. These mines remained productive, but there were fewer of them and those that remained in operation were increasingly mechanized. A report prepared in June 1940 for the Work Projects Administration found that:
In 1880 it took a man a whole working day to produce a ton of iron ore. In 1915, working a shorter day, he was able to produce five times as much. Today, when the working shift is a fifth shorter than in 1915, the average output per man-shift is about 10 tons… Since the early 1920’s, the rapid increases in output per man have been primarily the result of technological improvements (Yaworksi, et al. 1940).
Technological advancements, as well as improved equipment and techniques, that began in the nineteenth century and continued through twentieth century profoundly changed how ore was extracted on the Marquette Range and in Negaunee. Added to these changes, the eventual exhaustion and abandonment of some of the mines in the city and the discovery of ore in locations beyond Neguanee (and nearby Ishpeming) had a significant impact on the economy and population of the city, both of which declined in tandem.
Mine subsidence also had a significant impact of the physical layout of the city. In the 1950s a nine-hundred-acre area of the city was deemed to be unsafe due to abandoned underground mine subsidence, an area generally extending west from Tobin Street, adjacent to the historic district. As a result, all properties were condemned, the residents forced to move, and all buildings were moved or demolished. About one-half the population was forced to move out of this zone, locally known as “Old Town” (CUPPAD 2016: 4-6).
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“Negaunee in Winter,” undated. Iron Street, looking west near intersection of Tobin Street. The Sundberg Block, at left, was previously listed in the National Register, demolished in 2016, and removed in 2020. The buildings in the background were moved or demolished in the 1950s as noted above. Photograph courtesy of the Upper Peninsula Regional Digitization Center. File number AC01a063.jpg.
The US-41/M-28 highway between Marquette and Negaunee was reconstructed in 1957. The project changed the road into a four-lane divided highway.
Negaunee, 1960-1970
Adding to this negative momentum, by 1960, passenger rail service to Negaunee had ended and the city’s population had declined five percent to 6,126.
The area’s reliance on iron mining received some support with the development of pelletization for lower grade ores that had begun in the 1960s. For Negaunee, the Pioneer Pellet Plant processed ore from the underground Mather B Mine, located west of the city. As mines shut down and economic opportunity declined, and by 1970, Negaunee’s population had decreased nearly fifteen percent to 5,248. Little construction occurred in the downtown between 1950 and 1970. When the Russo Bros. built their grocery store in 1965 at 401 Jackson Street, it was reputed to be the first new building downtown in decades (Negaunee Historical Society 2015e). The other project of note from this period is the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie lodge, constructed in 1944, at 311 Iron. In total about five percent (4 of 75) of the district buildings appear to date to this period.
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The City of Negaunee and the Historic District after 1970
The downtown suffered from the move of commercial activity northward from the traditional business district and was exacerbated by the development of the commercial strip that developed well to the north of the historic district, along United States Route 41. Fires and demolitions, some by government-sponsored “urban renewal” and blight removal, but also by the private sector, impacted downtown streetscapes. As buildings were abandoned by businesses or not maintained, they were viewed as obsolete and it was easier to demolish than to renovate or restore. The vacant lots were not quickly or easily redeveloped and today there are gaps in the streetscape in and near the historic district reflecting this trend. Other buildings that survived were renovated, often in an unsympathetic manner.
In 1979 the Mather B Mine, which was the last underground mine in the Marquette Range, ceased operation (Kaas 2018: 14). The First National Bank of Negaunee built a large new building downtown in 1975, but has since vacated the office, which is now occupied by the YMCA. Some four percent (3 of 75) of the buildings in the district date to this era, outside of the district’s period of significance.
The city’s gradual decline continued, and its population dropped to 4,568 in 2020, a loss of nearly one-half of its residents since the peak population of 8,460, over a century earlier, in 1910.
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
Areas of Significance: Criterion A Commerce, Social History, Transportation, Education, Government.
Commerce
As related in the general history of the city, commerce was always the primary foundation of Negaunee’s downtown. Iron Street has served as the city’s commercial heart since the 1860s and remains an important business center for the city despite the establishment of shopping centers, big box stores, motels, and other commercial development along United States Route-41 on the northern city’s outskirts. From the early decades when the first few businesses were established, continuing through the late twentieth century, the downtown blocks along Iron and Jackson and intersecting streets housed the greatest part of the city’s commercial activity.
The historic district buildings housed the entire array of commercial and civic enterprises of this growing city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Soon after the town was platted in 1865, Iron Street evolved to encompass a broad range of stores and services. The business district’s buildings housed general stores; grocery and dry-goods, clothing, boot and shoe, millinery, fruit and confectionary, jewelry, drug, hardware, and furniture stores and undertaking establishments; banks; bakeries; and butcher or meat shops; barber shops; livery stables and blacksmith shops; hotels and restaurants; billiard parlors and, the ubiquitous saloons. Upper stories of downtown commercial buildings housed not only living quarters but also a variety of physicians and dentists, opticians, attorneys, insurance and real estate agents, and small
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commercial establishments such as tailor, millinery, and jewelry shops, as well as fraternal lodge meeting halls, and some owners’ and rental apartments. The city’s social and recreation and entertainment needs were met by buildings in the historic district, which housed lodges, numerous saloons and pool halls, and several vaudeville or motion picture theaters. By the early twentieth century these types of businesses and occupations were joined or replaced by department stores; furniture and home furnishings, and auto-related businesses, including repair garages and auto dealerships and gas stations. Unlike many other communities, few national chain stores made their entry into the business district in the 1920s to 1940s as they did elsewhere across the nation. (It appears that Ishpeming, three miles to the west, was considered the same market area as Negaunee and had the national chains.)
Although a number of the downtown’s older commercial buildings have been demolished in the last several decades, the district retains a large body of older commercial buildings that possess a collective significance for housing much of Negaunee’s commercial activity over the years. These businesses represent an important community continuity that established and still maintains a true sense of place for most residents of Negaunee. While some buildings and businesses were owned by the same family for generations, other storefronts were occupied by a series of commercial enterprises offering the same or similar products or services, but under different names as the owner or tenant changed. The most common early establishments were general stores, dry goods stores and grocers – and saloons. Some are among the earliest of their type and others remained in business for decades either under a single family or a series of owners.
Banks were necessary to finance the businesses and people behind them and were among the city’s early prominent enterprises, becoming the anchors of downtown commerce. Bankers and their architects created monumental bank buildings that signaled to the banking customer the notion that their money would be safe and the bank was here to stay. High-style architecture and expensive materials reinforced this message, and conveyed the perception that the bank was a well-capitalized and cultivated institution (Chicago Landmarks 2012: 3). The lot on which the Negaunee State Bank Building was constructed at 331 Iron Street was previously the location of the Mitchell Building, constructed in 1873 for Captain John P. Mitchell’s private bank. In 1887, the First National Bank of Negaunee was established and moved here, followed in 1909 by the newly-organized Negaunee State Bank. Rebuilt in 1912 after a fire, the bank failed during the Great Depression (Mulligan 1995). The First National Bank of Negaunee was also located in this building during the early 1970s, when its original bank building at 350 Iron Street was razed and a new building erected (Range Bank 2010).
Among the most common stores in the downtown in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were grocers, always among the first stores established in newly settled towns, and key components of any business district. As mining companies initially established operations in remote locations, stores were needed for employees even before grocery businesses were set up by independent entrepreneurs. The Pioneer Iron Company opened a store in Negaunee in 1858 and the Iron Cliffs Company ran the Cliffs Store here from 1867 until 1887 (Reynolds 2015: 7- 9). Mining companies eventually exited the business to focus on their core business when independent stores were established. Among the earliest, D. G. Stone carried advertisements in the local newspaper and city directories stating that he had been in business in Negaunee since
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1864, and in the 1880s and 1890s claimed he was “the oldest store in the county” (Holland 1889: 320). Independent grocery stores were key features in the district and among the most numerous businesses from its earliest days until well into the twentieth century. Wholesale grocers were also a part of the scene. Many buildings have important and lengthy associations with the city’s grocery and meats-related trade. Between 1890 and the early twentieth century there were two John Erickson grocers in Negaunee, the Negaunee Iron Herald usually distinguishing them by location as “the Iron Street grocer” and “the Case Street grocer.” The latter, as J. Erickson, was at 117 West Case Street, and by 1910 he had a “large and well-equipped grocery establishment” (Sawyer 1911c: 810-811). After Erickson’s death, the grocery, continued as John Erickson & Son, with his son, Rudolph J., the proprietor. Rudolph had assisted his father for several years and had gained experience during World War I in managing the stock room of the properties division of General Pershing’s general headquarters (Negaunee Iron Herald 1921). The last advertisement found for the grocery was during Christmas 1929, and the last mention of the store in the local newspaper is in 1932, so it appears the business was a victim of the Great Depression (Negaunee Iron Herald 1929; Negaunee Iron Herald 1932a), although the building continued to house a grocery here under different owners into the 1960s (Paulson 2020). Another prominent early grocer was Miller Bros. at 320 Iron Street, where a grocery store was located in the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century. The 1889 and 1895 city directories place Miller Bros. grocery at today’s 320 Iron, with brothers John P. and L. (Louis) L. (Holland 1889: 338; Polk 1895: 509). L. L. Miller, in the 1860s became a clerk for G. D. Stone’s general merchandise store, and was employed there for fifteen years. In 1881, he formed a partnership with his brother and opened up the store on Iron Street, where they kept a general stock of flour, feed and provisions, groceries and glassware (Western Historical Company 1883: 462). Another early grocer with ethnic ties is Felix Chiabotto, who had a grocery and lived at 226 West Case in 1895, and is still listed as a grocer in Negaunee in the 1921 state gazetteer (Polk 1895:367, 508; Polk 1921: 1282). In 1914, he is referred to as a West Iron Street merchant, and this building had passed to grocer Dominic Dighera, where he remained until 1924 (Negaunee Iron Herald 1910e; Negaunee Iron Herald 1917; Negaunee Iron Herald 1924). The most recent building representing a long-term and prominent grocer in the district is the Russo Bros. Grocery Building at 401 Jackson Street. Carmello Russo Sr. worked in the mines for over fifty years and was known as the “Green Thumb” for his prodigious vegetable production. His children, Carmello, Francis, Charley and Tony, as young boys began distributing his vegetables by wagon. In 1938, they opened a store in Ishpeming that sold fruits and vegetables. Two years later, the family moved to Negaunee and opened a store on the west end of Iron Street. The business remained at its original site until 1953, when it moved to 318 Iron Street. In 1965, Russo’s Grocery moved to 401 Jackson, demonstrating their commitment to the downtown and building their supermarket. Their market, with Russo’s Slogan, “Where Ma Buys Meat That Pa Can Eat,” claimed to be the first major construction in the Iron Street business district in four decades (Negaunee Historical Society 2015e; Koskey Funeral Home 2007).
Closely related to grocers, independent meat markets were key features in the district and among the anchor businesses from Negaunee’s earliest days until well into the twentieth century. These stores often started out solely as butcher shops-meat markets but most eventually carried other staples and many evolved into groceries. In 1879, the Negaunee Iron Herald carried an advertisement for Winter & Suess, “corner of Iron and Silver streets” (401 Iron) (Negaunee Iron Herald 1879). The 1889 city directory has butchers Winter & Suess (Joseph H. Winter and
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Joseph E. Suess) here, who were also stock dealers (Holland 1889: 349, 362). Winter & Suess is described as a wholesale and retail dealer in fresh and salted meats, flour, feed, hay, grain and produce (Lewis 1895: 313). The firm was still in business in Negaunee in the 1921 state gazetteer and apparently through World War II. After the war, the Negaunee Iron Herald mentions Suess Market and Suess Super Market (Polk 1921: 1283; Negaunee Iron Herald 1948a). Just to the south along Silver Street, Winter & Suess had buildings housing their butchering, processing, and warehouse activities (today addressed as 342 Rail Street).
Sometimes run in conjunction with groceries, bakeries were an important node in the city, providing bread and other staples as well as other items that could satisfy a sweet tooth. In 1913, Joseph Torreano purchased the City Bakery on Peck Street from his brother, John Torreano, who had operated the business as Torreano & Company (Negaunee Iron Herald 1913). In 1925, the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that Joseph A. Torreano was erecting a new building at 206 Jackson Street that housed the City Bakery and his living quarters (Negaunee Historical Society 2015b; Negaunee Iron Herald 1925b). In 1927, Torreano had opened a meat and grocery business here and the following year a creamery was added to the building (National Provisioner 1927; Ironwood Daily Globe 1928b). Another popular bakery was the Twin City Bakery at 226 West Case Street, which the proprietors, Gischia & Baratona, moved into in 1924 (Negaunee Iron Herald 1924). During the 1930s through World War II newspapers consistently mentioned the bakery assisting with sales for community groups, and usually referred to the business as Baratona’s Bakery.
From the first days of Negaunee through the turn of the twentieth century, dry goods stores were an anchor of shopping activity in the central business district. These often evolved into department stores in the early 1900s. Established by local entrepreneurs, by the early-to-mid- twentieth century these stores were challenged national chains, in Negaunee’s case, located primarily “next door” in Ishpeming. The most prominent buildings and businesses through the decades include the following locations. John Shea has a half-page advertisement proclaiming “Oldest Store In The County” in the 1889 city directory, located on Iron Street selling Dry Goods, Clothing, Boots & Shoes and Men’s Furnishing Goods (at a now demolished building at 312 Iron) (Holland 1889: 320). The Negaunee Iron Herald reported in 1902, that John Shea was moving his stock of goods “into his new building” at 304 Iron Street, and the 1907 state gazetteer has a listing for John Shea selling dry goods (Negaunee Iron Herald 1902b; Polk 1907: 1530). Sanborn maps reveal that a Dry Goods, Clothing & Shoes store or Clothing & Dry Goods remained here through the 1911 edition. Morse Bros. & Company (Austin B. and William N.) has a listing for under the Dry Goods heading in the 1889 city directory at “401 Iron Street, Corner of Gold” (Holland 1889: 338, 363). Morse Bros. & Company was a dealer in general merchandise and produce, and owned and operated a large warehouse in Negaunee. William N. Morse arrived in Negaunee in 1869 to work in the Iron Cliffs Company store, before establishing the firm Morse Bros. & Company in 1879 (composed of John E., William N. and Austin B. Morse, and their mother, Mrs. Martha E. Morse – a true “family” business) (Western Publishing 1883: 462-63). The 1895 city directory has a listing for Joseph Lowenstein under the Clothing heading at 213 Iron Street (315 today, demolished), where he also resided, and the 1907 state gazetteer has an entry for Joseph Lowenstein, dry goods (Polk 1895: 393, 495; Polk 1907: 1528). In 1915, cousin Samuel Lowenstein apparently contributed to the design of the Lowenstein’s Department Store constructed at 334 Iron. In the 1921 state gazetteer, Lowenstein is not listed
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under Negaunee, but S & J (Samuel and Joseph) Lowenstein had a dry goods store in Ishpeming (Polk 1921: 1073). Lowenstein’s became a Negaunee institution, the place to go for residents to buy their clothing, shoes and sewing notions, with its motto, “Where Good Things Come From.” Three of Joseph and Ida Lowenstein’s children, Bertha, Rose and Leah, continued to run the store well into the early 1980s (LRM 2020).
From its earliest days, Negaunee has offered accommodations for travelers, including transient businessmen and visitors, newly-arrived residents, and commercial travelers. An 1873 traveler’s guide described Negaunee as having “a number of good hotels crowded with guests” (Beard 1873: IX). The Breitung Hotel opened on Pioneer Avenue opposite Iron Street as the city’s premier hostelry in 1880, and served travelers for decades (destroyed by fire in 1988). In the late nineteenth century, Gold and Silver streets south of the mid-block alleys were densely packed with four hotels, some with saloons, all within sight of the combined depot for the DSS&A and C&NW railroads. While no hotels are located downtown today, these buildings were built to serve travelers, and perhaps railroad workers, during the heyday of the primary railroad lines built to Negaunee, the Chicago & North Western and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic and their predecessors. The Beaumont Hotel at 217 Gold Street was hosting guests in 1873, becoming the Railroad Hotel and saloon a few years later, and then as the Windsor Hotel in the early 1900s (Sanborn 1884, 1888, 1892, 1902). An 1883 biography describes Edward Lobb as the proprietor the Railroad Hotel and Saloon, a business he began in 1876 (Western Historical 1883: 461). An 1875 edition of the Negaunee Iron Herald reported the Lobb, formerly of the Miners’ Arms on Iron Street, had taken possession of the Beaumont House on Gold Street, and the Beaumont House, A. Wheatland, Proprietor, is listed in Negaunee in Beard’s 1873 Marquette County directory (Negaunee Iron Herald 1875; Walker 1873: 106). The National Hotel (Sporley Hotel) at 208 Iron Street was in business prior to 1884, and in 1888, it is labeled as a Boarding House, adding a saloon by 1892, while the 1889 city directory has the Sporley Hotel and owner Christ. Sporley there (Sanborn 1884, 1888, 1892; Holland 1889: 345, 365, 347). The Garfield Hotel at 210 North Silver, in business by 1884, becoming the Negaunee Hotel by 1897, the Garfield House in 1902, and the Montreal Hotel in 1911, before becoming the Montreal Rooming House by 1928. In 1899, the Negaunee Iron Herald described the Garfield House Hotel, Alex McEwing, proprietor, as having “20 well furnished rooms” and “a nicely furnished dining room” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1899a).
Always important for providing the many specific items required by residents of a mining town like Negaunee, several hardware stores conducted business in the historic district, among the most long-lived and prominent is Neely Hardware in 432 Iron Street. In 1901, the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that Benjamin Neely was going to erect a new building to house his hardware store (Negaunee Iron Herald 1901c). He had previously built and was located in the 1882 Neely Block on the corner of Iron and Gold streets (demolished) (Western Historical 1883: 463; Negaunee Historical Society 2014b). Born in Baltimore in 1844, Neely moved to Houghton, Michigan, in 1860 where he learned the tinner's trade. In 1867, he came to Negaunee, worked three years as a journeyman, and then established his hardware business. His store carried a full line of heavy and shelf hardware, stoves and tinware (Western Historical 1883: 463). In 1914, trade journals reported that Benjamin Neely, Sr. was retiring and had sold his hardware business to J. A. Wasmuth & Sons, which had taken a long-term lease on the building. Neely was described as “one of the oldest living hardwaremen in this section, having established the
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business in 1867. Since 1901 he had conducted his business in its present building, erected especially for it” (Hardware Dealers 1914).
Jewelry stores were also a constant in the downtown, providing the city with “sparkle.” Among the most notable downtown businesses is the Wehmanen Jewelry Company. In 1955 the Negaunee Iron Herald described Wehmanen’s as “the oldest jewelry store in the city,” having been in business “over a quarter century” (would be c. 1925), the concern started by the father opening at 303 Iron Street before moving to 209 Jackson Street twenty years earlier (would be c. 1935), and in 1955, moving to its location at 327 Iron Street (demolished) (Negaunee Iron Herald 1955). The firm started as Wehmanen Bros. & Co. jewelers and Tailors at 303 Iron Street, moving to 208 Iron by 1933. The name of the firm became Wehmanen Bros. jewelers by 1937, before apparently again changing the store’s name to Wehmanen Jewelers by 1948, when they had moved to 209 Jackson Street. The store remained there for a decade, before moving up the block to 303 Iron Street (Negaunee Iron Herald 1927, 1933, 1937, 1948). A 2001 obituary for Victor Hugo Wehmanen (1906-2001), stated he joined his father Isak Nestor Wehmanen in Negaunee in 1928 and was in Negaunee for over forty years, retiring from Wehmanen's Jewelry in 1976, meaning the store was in business downtown for over half a century (Genealogybuff 2011).
Several furniture stores were located in the downtown through the decades, but most were relatively short-lived or the buildings housing them demolished. Among the long-term downtown businesses is LaFreniere’s Furniture at 342 Rail Street. LaFreniere’s Furniture was originally located along Iron Street west of Tobin, in the area condemned and abandoned in the 1950s due to mine subsidence forcing all the occupants to move, and all buildings were moved or demolished (CUPPAD 2016: 4-6). LaFreniere’s Furniture building was one of those moved, to its location on Rail Street (Paulson 2020). When moved, the existing adjacent brick buildings were joined to it and converted to warehouses and storage for the business. Leo LaFreniere was proprietor of LaFreniere’s Furniture until his death, after which his son, Donald J. LaFreniere, assumed ownership, continuing in business here for well over half a century, until about 2016 (Paulson 2020).
Barber shops always were mainstays in business districts, often occupying small storefronts or basements, and usually the gathering place for “regulars” to exchange news and gossip, and the most popular ones could remain in business for decades, often with the sole proprietor. Typical is the Bernard Building at 202 Iron Street. By 1888 through 1911, the basement here was occupied by a barber (Sanborn 1888 through 1911). The 1889 city directory has barber Philip Bernhardt here and living in the rear, and is listed as Philias Bernard in 1895 (Holland 1889: 323; Polk 1895: 363). Philias Bernard is described as “Negaunee’s Town Barber” (Negaunee Historical Society 2017b). A native of Canada, he immigrated to the United States in 1881, resided in Ishpeming for two years and trained to be a barber, before moving to Negaunee in 1883 and resided here until his death in 1940. Later, Eugene DeGabriele and Paul Remillard had barbershops here (Negaunee Historical Society 2017b).
Automobiles and the businesses that served them increasingly became integrated into the downtown economy from the first vehicles in the early 1900s up through the late twentieth century. The first automobile was reported in Ishpeming in 1899, so they must have appeared in
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Negaunee that year or shortly thereafter (Tichelaar 2018). From that point, automobiles exerted an ever-increasing influence on the daily lives of Negaunee residents, changes that were reflected in the built environment of the downtown. Streets were paved and widened, filling stations and garages and sales and service shops were constructed through the first half of the twentieth century. As state and county roads improved, designated downtown routes were also upgraded, but the draw of the central business district declined as businesses moved to where the traffic flowed, in Negaunee’s case, northward to the strip along United States Route-41. Related buildings in the historic district include the Rytkonen Block at 201 Iron Street. In 1931, the Negaunee Iron Herald reported that the Northern Motors Company of Ishpeming, having recently established a branch in Negaunee, had purchased this building, displacing the earlier occupant, Nestor Erkkila, who apparently also had an automobile-related business here. Northern Motors added to the display facilities and enlarged the workshop for its Ford dealership (Negaunee Iron Herald 1931b). Two garages were also located downtown: the City Garage, F. D. Klinglund and C. G. Bloom, proprietors, in the Neely Building at 432 Iron during the 1910s through the 1920s, and 216 Jackson Street, a garage that later became Central Taxi by the 1940s (Automobile Topics 1917; Federal Register 1944: 9844). In addition, there are two 1930s filling stations in the historic district, a former Texaco station at 126 West Main Street and a former Standard Oil Station at 207 North Silver Street. The latter was owned by a man named Pascoe in the mid-twentieth century and by a man named Gravedoni in the late twentieth century, the last owner before it closed (Paulson 2020).
Downtown Negaunee was the location of a number of venues that provided diversion and entertainment for the city’s residents. Appealing both to the general populace and the more refined elements of the city, were opera houses and theaters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and later, motion picture houses followed by the movie theaters. Theaters have been an important form of entertainment for city residents since the late nineteenth century, evolving through theatrical performances and vaudeville to nickelodeons and motion pictures. The first venues that could be called theaters in Negaunee were the Halls and Opera Houses. As early as the 1870s McDonald’s Opera House (demolished) was entertaining at Jackson and North Pioneer Avenue with traveling shows, with an 1880s review of the city stating that “music and drama” were “represented by an opera house” (Western Historical 1883: 452). Negaunee is fortunate to have three surviving buildings that housed theaters, including those combining Vaudeville with “motion pictures.” The Star Theater was built in 1911 at 201Iron Street, with the Sanborn map from that year stating “To Be Electric Theater.” In 1911, a trade journal reported that Jafet Rytkonen was erecting “a new business block” where partner August Allen opened a “moving picture theater” that was combined with Vaudeville (Motography 1911; Negaunee Iron Herald 1911a). Rytkonen and Allen also partnered in Negaunee’s Liberty Theater at 442 Iron Street, with the 1921 state gazetteer having them as partners in the Star Theater Company, proprietors of the Star and Liberty Theaters (Polk: 1921: 1283). The Liberty was constructed during an addition and renovation to the I.O.O.F. Building in 1918, occupying the street level. It had a “roomy” stage and “comfortable chairs” providing a capacity of 450. Otis Rule leased the theater for one year with renewal options, and the theater showed motion pictures and hosted vaudeville acts, with five theater dressing rooms on the second floor (Negaunee Iron Herald 1918a). Less than ten years later, Jafet Rytkonen, determined to build a more impressive venue, sold the Star, and in 1926 opened the third downtown entertainment venue, the national register- listed Vista Theater, a block away at 300 Iron Street. The theater opened on September 20, 1926.
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It played a variety of subjects and in 1938 reputedly was the first theater in America to feature a Finnish film, As Dream and Shadow, followed by similar films in 1937 and 1938, continuing to show Finnish films on a regular basis into the 1950s (Mining Journal 2019b; Gonyea 2008; Christensen 2004). Rytkonen ran the theatre until his retirement in 1950, after which his son, William, and son-in-law, Peter Ghiardi, took over management of the Vista. During the 1950s the Vista Theater and two theaters in Ishpeming, the Butler and the Ishpeming, were owned and operated by Jefry Theatres, Inc. (Mining Journal 1955). The Vista Theater closed after William Rytkonen’s death in 1972. In 1973, the Peninsula Arts Appreciation Council (PAAC) acquired the Vista and in 1975 began using it as a venue for amateur theater productions, musical programs and concerts, films, puppet shows, art exhibits, and arts workshops. In the 2000s, the group began restoration of the theater. PAAC continues to operate the Vista and in 2014 used a grant from the Cliffs/Eagle Foundation to install a digital projector and screen creating a venue that is both a playhouse and movie theater (CUPPAD 2016; Gonyea 2008).
Founded in the 1860s as a mining town, and expanding on that base through the decades, Negaunee developed a downtown that came to have its full share of venues where one could engage in “manly pursuits” – saloons, taverns, and pool halls. Negaunee was a mining town full of hard-working – and hard-drinking – workingmen. The saloon was a primary form of recreation in the city’s early days. The Sanborn insurance maps and early city directories bear testimony to the number of saloons. The Sanborns show that from 1884 down to 1911, the last series that indicate use beyond the word “Store,” saloons were the most common business type, remaining fairly constant at just under two dozen entries, although ranging from a dozen individual entries under the Saloon heading in the 1889 directory, to twenty under that heading in the 1895 edition (Holland 1889: 365; Polk 1895: 535). Although saloons were the most numerous downtown businesses, these closed in 1918 through state Prohibition, a status reinforced in 1919 through national Prohibition, when some converted to other forms of business such as soft drink parlors.
After Prohibition ended, some bars and taverns opened in buildings previously occupied by saloons. Among the more notable representatives in the district are Noll’s Café & Tavern at 220 Iron Street, which was occupied by a saloon in 1911, and after Prohibition, ended, by 1939 the city directory has this building’s occupant as Noll’s Café and Tavern, with Gust (August) Makela as manager living upstairs (Polk 1939; Paulsen 2020b). The 1930 United States Census had Gust as the proprietor of a soft drinks parlor, probably in this building (United States Census 1930f). In 1947 the city processed a transfer of the liquor license for Noll’s Café from Makela to Fred Wolford (Negaunee Iron Herald 1947). This building remained a combination tavern and restaurant after 1982, when John and Theresa Argall purchased Tino’s Bar & Pizza, and after John’s death in 2015, through today the business is run by Theresa and her children, remaining in the family nearly forty years later (Tino’s 2020). The building thus appears to have offered alcoholic refreshment, broken only by Prohibition, for over a century. Another, earlier saloon in business for decades is Christian Johnson’s saloon at 209 Gold Street, which was the occupant by the time of the 1884 Sanborn edition, also listed there in the 1889 city directory. This building continued to house a saloon through the 1911 edition, possibly up to Prohibition. An 1883 biography describes Johnson as a saloon owner who had arrived in Negaunee about 1878 (Western Historical Company 1883: 460). Sanborn maps reveal that a saloon has been at 302 Iron Street at least as early as the 1890s prior to the 1899 Oscar Field Building, and continuing
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through 1911. In 1898, newspapers reported that a fire had destroyed the Oscar Field saloon, indicating that Field was here in an earlier building prior to occupying the current one in brick in 1899 (Detroit Free Press 1898). In the earlier building at this location, the 1895 city directory reveals that Field was in the saloon business as Field & Erickson, and resided here as well (Holland 1889: 535).
Social History
Fraternal and other social organizations in Negaunee date back to the earliest days of the city. These organizations offered collegiality, educational and cultural opportunities, and status. Benevolent societies gave concrete assistance in times of trouble by providing sick benefits and funeral expenses. Immigrants to the United States founded an amazing array of clubs, lodges, benevolent associations, and women’s groups for a wide range of cultural, social, educational, and political purposes. Nationally the post-Civil War years were a time not only of massive expansion for older fraternal organizations such as the Masons and Odd Fellows but also for the founding of new ones. Many of the fraternal organizations were established to promote preservation and celebration of the heritage of specific nationalities or ethnic groups. The later nineteenth century also saw a proliferation of mutual benefit associations that combined a social, fraternal aspect with insurance plans for members by which dues provided some form of life, funeral, or injury or sickness insurance. The Ancient Order of United Workmen, founded in Pennsylvania, in 1868 and with a chapter in Negaunee, may have been the first fraternal mutual benefit association, establishing a death benefit in 1869. Such mutual benefit associations had their heyday in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth centuries when industrial accidents were frequent, governmental oversight of working conditions weak or non-existent, and company provisions for injured or sick workers inadequate or non-existent. In a mining town like Negaunee their value was recognized, and the benefits of considerable use.
Second stories of a number of Iron Street buildings were used for club rooms. The Masonic Order and Odd Fellows were active in Negaunee as early as the 1860s, and by the 1880s and into the 1890s, the Knights of the Maccabees, Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men, Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, and Ancient Order of United Workmen were all active (Holland 1889: 316-17; Polk 1895: 352-54). There was also a Negaunee Club for a number of years. Negaunee also had the Moose, the Elks, and the Eagles. All of these groups were important, not only to the members, but also to the city as a whole and to the commercial district. They became the glue that bound citizens together and continued to do so for many years. Not every group had their own club space, sometimes groups shared a space, or allowed other groups to meet on their premises. Like the retail spaces below, there was a constant shuffling of spaces. As a group gained enough members – and money in the treasury – they often move to larger or grander spaces or even built their own hall, as did the Odd Fellows in 1907 in the 400 block of Iron Street.
The Sanborn maps reveal a number of “halls” along Iron Street and intersecting streets during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some identified as public buildings. The most prominent appear to have been, as they were nationally, the Masons (F&AM, RAM), the Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), and the Maccabees (K.O.T.M.), and somewhat later, the B.P.O.E. (Elks). Most of these halls were located on the second floor of commercial blocks, and the many
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fraternal and social organizations had meeting places in them at specified regular times, weekly or monthly. City directories in the late nineteenth century identified over half a dozen buildings with specific halls, and over one dozen fraternal organizations individually listed in the front of the directories in the 1880s and 1890s (including temperance groups). Some have survived, such as Winter’s Hall (Masonic) and the Mulvey Block (Ancient Order of Hibernians), both in the 400 block of Iron Street, but most of these have been demolished, such as the A.O.U.W. Hall where a number of other groups including the Knight of Pythias and Knights of the Maccabees met, as well as halls in Boulson’s Block, McDonald’s Block, and the Cyr Block. The most prominent groups with surviving buildings in the historic district are presented here.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) Iron Mountain Lodge No. 122 I.O.O.F. was established in 1868. It was the second lodge in Marquette County, following Marquette’s by a little more than a year, and was always considered to be “one of the fraternal mainstays of the city and thousands of dollars have gone through its hands for relief work and the payment of insurance” (Western Historical Company 1883: 454; Negaunee Iron Herald 1908). In 1878, the Iron Mountain Lodge No. 122 I.O.O.F. moved into the rear of the second floor of “Mulvey’s brownstone block” at 432 Iron Street, which was being “transformed into elegant apartments for their purposes” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1878a, 1878b). The 1889 directory still has the I.O.O.F. Iron Mountain Lodge No. 122 meeting in the hall in the Mulvey Block (Holland 1889: 361, 317, 316). The lodge apparently met there until they constructed a new building nearby at 442 Iron Street in 1907 (Negaunee Iron Herald 1907a). The lodge prospered in finances and membership, and in 1918, the building was enlarged, with a second story that increased the lodge facilities, including a smoking and reading room and enlarged kitchen and dining room. The tile floor added to the lodge entrance was completed with the I.O.O.F. monogram (Negaunee Iron Herald 1918a). Michigan Lodge No. 1 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) was established in Detroit in 1843 (Ross 1916: 425; Tabbert 2003; Fraternalresearch 2012). Odd Fellowship thrived in industrialized Michigan, because it had an open membership that contrasted with qualifications required for the Masons (Ross 1916: 12; Atwood 2008: 6). In 1851, the I.O.O.F. became the first national fraternal organization to accept both men and women when it formed the Daughters of Rebekah (Tabbert 2003; Barry 2007). The I.O.O.F. grew quickly after the Civil War in response to industrialization and deteriorating social conditions. One of the attractions of membership was that most Odd Fellows lodges offered financial benefits for the sick and distressed members. From the end of the Civil War to about 1920, known as the "Golden Age of Fraternalism" in America, the Odd Fellows had lodges in every state and became the largest national fraternal organization (Gray 2015; Tabbert 2003). During this period, in 1903 the Michigan Odd Fellows founded the Odd Fellows Home of Michigan in Jackson, to take care of indigent Odd Fellows, their wives, widows, orphans and Rebekahs (Ross 1916: 559). By 1895, there were 23,447 Odd Fellows in Michigan, and 788,968 nationally, which rose to 30,120 in Michigan and 910,128 nationwide in 1901, and to the peak of Odd Fellows membership in 1920 at about 1.7 million members (New York World 1896: 297, 1902: 327; Tabbert 2003). But by 1960 membership was about one-half that of its 1920 peak (Tabbert 2003).
Free and Accepted Masons The Negaunee Lodge No. 202, A, F & A. M. (Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons), was the city’s first formally organized fraternal lodge, dating to 1867. The first meetings were held in a
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building offered by J. F. Pendill until 1870, when the lodge moved to a hall erected by Edward C. Anthony that same year, until 1878, when it moved to the Mitchell Building (all demolished). In 1889, the Masons were meeting in Winter’s Hall at 401-403 Iron Street, and by 1895, in the Masonic Hall at 228 Iron (demolished) (Western Historical Company 1883: 454; Polk 1895: 351). By 1895, the local lodge had 105 members (Grand Lodge 1895: 133). The group is still active, but is now Teal Lake Lodge #202 F&AM. Michigan had the earliest documented Masonic lodge west of the Allegheny Mountains when members met in Detroit in 1764, and by 1800 several others lodges were meeting, mostly around Detroit, including Zion Lodge, founded in Detroit in 1794 and still active today, but also including one on Mackinac Island. The Masons were an important proponent and supporter for the establishment of the University of Michigan in 1817. Zion supported the establishment of other lodges throughout Michigan, and in 1826, facilitated the founding of the Grand Lodge for the Territory of Michigan in Detroit. Lodges spread throughout the state in during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Negaunee, and although fewer in number today, still count 400 Masonic lodges in Michigan (Grand Lodge 2020).
Ancient Order of Hibernians The Ancient Order of Hibernians was meeting in the hall in the Mulvey Block at 432 Iron Street in 1889 and is listed in the 1895 city directory as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division No. 2, meeting in the “Mulvey Block, with Frank Mulvey as recording secretary (Holland 1889: 361, 317, 316; Polk 1895: 353). The person for whom the building was named, John Mulvey, served as Michigan state president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 1880 and had organized several divisions within the state, including at Detroit (Polk 1895: 400; Evening News Association 1900: 174; MHRS 1940: 34). The Ancient Order of Hibernians, founded in New York City in 1836, is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization whose members must be male, Catholic and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Originally its members protected Catholic churches from anti-Catholic forces in the mid-nineteenth century, but evolved to assist Irish Catholic immigrants, especially those who faced discrimination or harsh mining working conditions, and later was involved in Irish American political activity (Miller 1973).
Fraternal Order of Eagles The Fraternal Order of Eagles is one of Negaunee’s most active social and benefit organizations. The Fraternal Order of Eagles order was formed in 1898 by theater owners in Seattle, Washington. Touring theater groups promoted the order as they traveled across the country. By the early 1900s more than 1,800 local chapters, or Aeries, had been formed and total membership numbered more than 350,000, including Negaunee’s Aerie No. 1940. Members received free medical attention for themselves and their families, weekly payments in case of sickness, and a funeral benefit. The organization lobbied to create Social Security and Medicare. In 1926 the Eagles Ladies' Auxiliary was established (FOE 2020). Negaunee F.O.E. Aerie 1944 was organized on July 23, 1910, with sixty-eight charter members and had grown to eighty-five by 1911 (FOE 1912: 248, 267). In 1945 the Eagles met in the Kirkwood Block in the 300 block of Iron Street (demolished 2019). Eventually they constructed their own hall at 311 Iron Street and have met there since the 1960s (Negaunee Historical Society 2020).
Transportation
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Travel to and within Negaunee has evolved along with the city. To arrive at the city in its earliest days usually meant travel by the Great Lakes to Marquette and then traversing poorly-maintained wagon trails westward to the settlement. The need for an adequate means to transport ore from the mines resulted in early railroad connections, first to Marquette and then to Escanaba. Rail was the primary means of reaching the city until the early twentieth century. Surface transportation by road to and within the city improved through the years, at first on graveled surfaces, then macadam, and eventually concrete and asphalt as the automobile became an essential of daily life. State and federal highways firmly linked Negaunee to the rest of the state.
Railroads The Negaunee area’s first railroad, the Iron Mountain Railroad, was completed in 1857, connecting the Negaunee mines of the Marquette Iron Range to Marquette on Lake Superior – the first steam railroad in the Upper Peninsula (Meints 2013: 52). This line later was merged through a series of railroad companies including the Chicago & North-Western (C&NW) and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic (DSS&A), which eventually became part of the Soo Line, Grand Trunk System, and Canadian National Railway. In 1865 the Peninsula Division of the C&NW connected the village with spurs to the area mines and then to Marquette and Lake Superior, and within two years was completed to Escanaba; in 1872 the line was connected to others leading to Wisconsin and other points (Swineford 1876: 123-124; Sawyer 1911a: 426). These roads provided reliable transportation between mines and mills and foundries, which the Great Lakes shipping could not provide year-round. By 1875 the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad was advertising its connections with the C&NW at Negaunee, not only for business reasons, but also “the tourist and sportsman will find more of interest in a visit to this section than any other portion of the state” (Swineford 1876: 311). This railroad was followed in 1881 by the Detroit, Marquette & Mackinac. Later merged into the DSS&A, it provided service from Sault Ste. Marie and Saint Ignace westward through Marquette to Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, with a branch line to the Keweenaw Peninsula (Western Historical 1883; Michigan History 1969). However, in terms of passenger service the C&NW provided the most extensive service in the Upper Peninsula. In 1888 the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had assumed control of the line, and it was operated as an independent subsidiary until 1960. The DSS&A ended passenger rail service in the Upper Peninsula in 1958, in 1961, was folded into the CPR- controlled Soo Line, and since 2001, the former DSS&A has been operated by the Canadian National Railway (Meints 1992: 70-71; Gaertner 2009: 349; Meints 2013). The last passenger service to Negaunee ended in 1960.
The southern end of the downtown was delimited by the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic railroad rights-of-way, today’s Rail Street, where the city’s passenger depots were located. The city’s other major railroad, the Chicago & North Western, ran a line southeast through the historic district from approximately the Peck and Tobin streets intersection down through the Silver and Iron streets intersection to Rail Street, and had a freight depot west of Silver Street between Iron and Jackson streets (demolished). Negaunee is fortunate to have two surviving depots.
The Stick Style Marquette and Western Negaunee depot at 420 Rail Street reflects Negaunee’s early 1880s growth and development as a result of the expansion of the iron mining industry. This combined passenger and freight depot was built in 1880 to replace an earlier station which burned in October, 1879. The year after this depot was built, the Marquette, Houghton &
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Ontonagon Railroad bought out the Marquette & Western. The building was used as the main freight and passenger depot in Negaunee and until it was replaced by a larger depot nearby at 212 Gold Street in 1910. In 1912, this depot was moved a short distance across the railroad tracks to the location where it now stands, and was used by the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway as offices and storage until 1965. It is one of the oldest depots in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The depot at 212 Gold Street replaced the 1880 Marquette & Western Railroad combined freight and passenger depot when the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic and Chicago and North Western railroads built their union station here at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars (Engineering Record 1910). In March 1910, the Negaunee City Council had demanded that a new depot replace the existing one, because the city deserved a better station. The local newspaper ran a front-page headline reading, “Must Have New Depot, City Will Not Stand For Any More Dillydallying” (Negaunee Iron Herald 1910a). The DSS&A and C&NW met with the Michigan Railroad Commissioner and agreed to build a new depot. The new depot was called “Negaunee’s Christmas Gift” by the Iron Herald when it opened to the public on Christmas Eve (Negaunee Iron Herald 1910c). The article stated that although it was a “comparatively small structure,” it was a “veritable palace” compared to the one it replaced. It served the Duluth South Shore and Atlantic Railroad and the Chicago & North Western Railroad until it closed in 1965.
Surface Roads Access to and within Negaunee as a market center was constantly upgraded from the early-to- mid twentieth century. State and county roads were systemized and improved. During the 1920s, the city began benefiting from its location on the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, which extended from Detroit through the Upper Peninsula to Wisconsin, with a branch that ran through Negaunee on its way between Rapid River and Wakefield, greatly improving automobile travel and travel access to the city (Michigan Highways 2020a). During the Great Depression, federal public works assistance further enhanced aspects of the city’s transportation network.
The Silver Street Underpass and Rail Street Bridge grade separation project in the 200 Block North Silver Street was constructed in 1936 as a joint federal-state project. Construction was undertaken as part of the United States Works Program’s Grade Crossing Project division (Kalish 2017c). It was built by the Jutton-Kelly Company which completed other similar projects in Michigan during the Depression. The Silver Street Underpass project was important because it increased traffic flow and facilitated access to downtown Negaunee from the south, and permitted Silver Street to be designated as a segment of the Michigan Route-28 Business Loop (connecting to other segments along Main Street and North Teal Lake Avenue). In 1937, with the completion of the new Michigan Route-28 (M-28) / United States Route-41 (US-41) northerly bypass of Negaunee, the former route of M-28 / US-41 from the new highway from Negaunee continuing westerly to Ishpeming via County Road to M-35 at Silver Street was turned back to local control. The former route of M-28 / US-41 from Silver Street and County Road northerly via Silver Street, easterly via Jackson Street and Main Street, and northerly via Teal Lake Avenue to the new bypass remained a trunk line business route designated as part of M-35 (Michigan Highways 2020c). The city had a formal dedication of the “Silver Street Grade Separation” during a three-day Fourth of July celebration in 1937, which included local and state officials, a representative of the state highway commissioner, past and present mayors of
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Negaunee, as well as representatives from the railroad and mining companies (Negaunee Iron Herald 1937a; Negaunee Iron Herald 1937b).
Education
Schools The historic district was the location of most of Negaunee’s key public and Parochial school buildings from the community’s beginnings to the present time. As early as 1865, a schoolhouse built, replaced by a Union school the next year (Western Historical 1883: 452-453; Sawyer 1911a: 427). Sanborn maps reveal that the north side of Case Street between Pioneer and Teal Lake avenues has been the location of a school since at last the early 1880s. The Negaunee High School was completed here in 1909 at a cost of 120,000 dollars, “one of the most modern and pleasing structures of the kind in the Upper Peninsula” (Sawyer 1911: 427). Although this building was demolished, it was replaced by the Case Street School in 1936, which continues to educate students today as the Negaunee Middle School.
In 1913, the Negaunee Manual Training School was built from designs by architect John D. Chubb, who had designed the adjacent 1909 high school (American Architect 1913). In 1935, the federal Public Works Administration approved a loan and grant to add a third story to the school (Ironwood Daily Globe 1935). The adjacent high school building was demolished after the grades were moved to a new school on Arch Street in 1986, but the Case Street Grade School was then converted to Negaunee Junior High School and the Manual Training School was incorporated into it. Thus, the Manual Training School continues in use today, over a century after its construction. The 1935 federal Public Works Administration grant and loan funded the construction of the twenty-four room Case Street Grade School building on the site of the original Case Street School at 102 West Case Street (Ironwood Daily Globe 1935). This project was the largest of twelve federal Works Project Administration school projects in the Upper Peninsula at that time (Ironwood Daily Globe 1937; Kalish 2017a). Negaunee High School moved into the renovated former Mather B Mine facilities on Arch Street in 1986, and the original high school north of this building and east of the Manual Training School was demolished. Case Street School then became the district’s Negaunee Middle School, which it continues to serve as today.
Saint Paul’s school and high school are part of the Saint Paul’s Catholic Church parish complex that stands inside the historic district’s northern boundary. Negaunee’s Catholics sent their children to Parochial schools here for decades from the 1880s up until the late twentieth century. The school grades were taught by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, who arrived in Negaunee in 1882 and began parochial education in a newly-built school. They resided next door in the church’s old rectory after a new rectory was constructed. At that time, the church’s congregation numbered 350 families with about five hundred school aged children. The school built at that time was enlarged in 1909 due to increased enrollment. In 1932, the school and convent were torn down and Saint Paul’s High and Grade School at 209-215 West Peck and Saint Paul's Sisters of Saint Joseph Convent at 225 North Pioneer were built at a cost of 150,000 dollars. The teaching Sisters moved into the convent in 1932 where they lived and taught school for the next thirty-five years, which included high school students were bused from Ishpeming during the 1950s. In 1967, the high school was discontinued because of a shortage of teaching nuns, but
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education continued for children through the eighth grade until 1975, when all classes ended. In 1980, the convent was closed, although a few of the Sisters continued coordinating general education and visiting the sick, until in 1987, when the Parish Council sold the building (Brown 1951: 40, 51, 68, 87; Negaunee Iron Herald 1931a; Negaunee Iron Herald 1932b; Negaunee Iron Herald 1932d; Negaunee Historical Society 2013).
Library The Negaunee City Hall, built in 1914 and 1915 at 319 West Case, was designed to include the city’s library. In 1890, a group of Negaunee’s citizens agreed to establish a study and lending library. The resulting library’s first location was in the old city hall (the same location as the current City Hall), in two rooms on the second floor. With an inventory of 2,227 books, the circulation for the year 1902 was 6,021. When the old city hall was razed in 1913, the books were moved to the Negaunee High School for two years. After the new City Hall was built in 1915, the library occupied the greater part of the main floor and the formerly closed shelves were opened to the public (Negaunee Public Library 2015; Negaunee Historical Society 2016). The city library continues in the same location today, on the first floor of the building, over a century later.
Government
The historic district has always been the home of Negaunee’s civic government, housed in its City Hall, and its United States Post Office, housed at several locations across the historic district over the past 150 years.
City Government In 1865, Negaunee was incorporated as a village, which formed its police force in 1868, five years before it achieved city status in 1873. The 1884 and 1888 Sanborn maps show the Negaunee “Town Hall” in the middle of the block on the north side of Case Street between Pioneer and Kanter streets. By 1892 a City Hall and Jail had been constructed at the location of the current city hall, which replaced it in 1915, addressed as 319 West Case Street. In front of City Hall, at the intersection of Case and Jackson streets, is Veteran’s Memorial Park. A stone monument in this park reads, “ERECTED BY / CITY OF NEGAUNEE / WITH COOPERATION OF / NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION / 1938.” Nearby is a soldiers’ memorial board honoring those who served in World War II and later conflicts that was installed in 1949. Established in 1935, the National Youth Administration was a subdivision of the federal Works Progress Administration, whose goal was to enroll unemployed young men and women on public works programs. Their work areas included landscaping for public grounds (Living New Deal 2020).
The Negaunee Fire Department was established in 1868, and by 1876 consisted of two fire companies. The early stations constructed in Negaunee were utilitarian in nature, and Sanborn maps reveal that the primary “Engine House” in the 1880s was located where Veterans Memorial Park is today, west of the present city hall, at the intersection of Case and Jackson streets. In 1909, the City of Negaunee planned the construction of a new fire station, and leased land from the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company on which to build it. The city hired architects Charlton and Kuenzli to design an attractive and significant building, reflecting the pride of the city.
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Construction began in 1909 and the fire hall, at 200 South Division Street, was completed in 1910. It still served the city in this role today, well over a century after it opened.
Federal Government – United States Post Office Negaunee opened its first post office in 1858. Sanborn maps reveal that in the 1880s, the post office was located in the Negaunee Iron Herald Building on the south side of Iron near Gold Street, and then in the 1890s was in a building at the southeast corner of Silver and Jackson streets (both demolished). Later, before it moved to its current location at 304 Case Street in 1937, it was located on Jackson Street on the northwest corner of the Pioneer Street intersection (also demolished) (Negaunee Iron Herald 1925a). The current building was erected during the Great Depression with federal Treasury Department funding. The United States Post Office worked with the United States Treasury, and later the Public Buildings Administration, to create new post office buildings. The Post Office greatly benefited from the infrastructure investments of the New Deal. For example, emergency appropriation laws in 1934, 1935, and 1936 provided nearly 190 million dollars “for the emergency construction of public buildings throughout the country, the projects to be selected by the Postmaster General and the Secretary of the Treasury” (about 3.2 billion dollars in 2014 dollars). This program meant that “three times the number of post offices were built in this period as had been built in the previous fifty years” (Kalish 2015). Including Negaunee, these New Deal era post offices still serve hundreds of cities and towns across the country.
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Area of Significance: Criterion C Architecture
Occupying much of the south-central part of the current city limits of Negaunee, the historic district contains commercial, transportation, mining-related and residential buildings along with public and church buildings. Its architecture is representative of broad patterns of Michigan, Midwestern, and American architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and is distinctive in the local context and beyond. The buildings in the district date from the 1870s to the 1960s. The vast majority of the buildings appear to date from 1880 to around 1930, a date frame that corresponds with greatest period of growth and development in the city and that began with the development of the iron mines and establishment of railroad connections. The district contains the largest concentration of the notable architecture in the city.
The downtown streetscapes of Negaunee offer commercial, public, and other buildings presenting a mixture of sizes, styles, and building materials. While there are some architecturally distinguished examples of Romanesque, Neoclassical, and other architectural styles, most buildings have been renovated over the years and combine features of their original character with modernizations, typically rebuilt facades, from decades later. Aspects of the downtown architecture that stand out include (but are not limited to) the use of a distinctive building material, the brownish red Lake Superior sandstone from the central and western Upper Peninsula and the rubble stone from the mines near the city, in a number of buildings constructed between the 1870s and early twentieth century. Other significant architectural features of the district are the Romanesque-influenced buildings, the collection of buildings with Late Victorian commercial facades, the eclectic public buildings, the classically-influenced school buildings, and the Gothic-influenced churches. Notable buildings in the district include the 1899 plan book- Gothic of the Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church, the commercial “brownstone” architecture of the 1874 Mulvey Block, the 1883 Mulvey Building and the 1901 Shea Block, the Second Empire-influenced 1887 Iron Cliffs Company offices, the vernacular Stick style of the 1880 Marquette & Western depot and the functionality of the 1910 Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic depot, the eclectic 1910 Fire Hall and polychromatic 1914 City Hall, the Beaux Arts Classicism of the 1910 Negaunee National Bank Building, the classically-influenced 1913 Manual Training School, the 1920 Romanesque-influenced Saint Paul’s Catholic Church, the 1926 Vista Theater, a relatively restrained (for its genre) example of cinema style, and the restrained classicism of the United States Post Office and Case Street School, built 1936-1937.
The district is also notable because of the frequent use of Upper Peninsula sandstone and related mine rubble stone that occur through the blocks primarily along Iron Street with minor use occurring in the adjacent blocks. Brown-red Lake Superior sandstone deposits are found across the northern Upper Peninsula, extending through the Keweenaw Peninsula and from Marquette to Sault Ste. Marie. A durable and aesthetically attractive stone, it was employed in construction throughout Michigan and across the nation. The front leaf from the definitive study of this material (Eckert 2000) provides a summary that is easily applied to Negaunee:
From 1870 to 1910 the prosperity of the copper and iron mining, lumbering, and shipping industries of the Lake Superior region created a demand for more
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substantial buildings. In satisfying this demand, architects, builders, and clients preferred local red sandstone. They found this stone beautiful, colorful, carvable, durable, and fireproof. Because it was extracted easily in large blocks and shipped cheaply by water, it was economical. The red sandstone city halls, county courthouses, churches, schools, libraries, banks, commercial blocks, and houses give the Lake Superior region a distinct identity.
Over thirty Upper Peninsula quarries mined the stone between 1870 and 1915, and the industry peaked in the early 1890s (Eckert 2000: 50). As architectural tastes waxed and waned, demand fluctuated. After several years of depressed demand during the late nineteenth century, the industry rebounded around the turn-of-the-century. The total output of sandstone in Michigan peaked in 1902 and virtually ceased by 1914 as tastes evolved from these sandstones’ bright hues to light-hued marble and limestone of the more classical styles (Allen 1917: 191). The red and brown sandstone was used primarily in large public and commercial buildings, and to a lesser extent in substantial dwellings. There are a number of examples in the historic district built during the heyday of this type of construction. These include building facades constructed primarily of this sandstone, as well as others in which the distinctive material is used as architectural detail or ornament. Often, it was used for window and doors lintels and sills and more rarely as corner quoins.
Mine rubble stone, locally procured mine waste sandstone, was used in construction of some buildings in Negaunee. Its use probably occurred as early as the 1870s as a cheap and available construction material provided by the many mines operating in proximity to the city. The excavated stone in rubble form was used in foundations and sometimes in the sides and rears of buildings. The dressed sandstone from other sources like Jacobsville/Lake Superior sandstone quarries was used in the facade walls or building trim. In total, over one-fifth (16 of 75) of the buildings in the historic district employ sandstone to a greater or lesser extent. Buildings in which Upper Peninsula sandstone or rubble stone plays a role are:
Date(s) Address 1902-1911 214 West Case House (sills) Pre-1884 226 West Case Felix Chiabotto Grocery (first story) 1909 208 Gold SH&EFofA Hall (accents) 1890 215 Gold Lobb Block (accents) Pre-1884 217 Gold Beaumont / Railroad Hotel (accents) 1888-1892 220 Iron (accents) 1899 302 Iron, Oscar Field Building (dressed facade) 1901 304 Iron, Shea Block (dressed facade) 1892 308 Iron (accents) Pre-1884 320 Iron (Miller Bros.) (accents) 1912 331 Iron, Negaunee State Bank (rubblestone ground story, accents) 1888-1892 340 Iron (accents) 1874 432(436) (Mulvey Block) Iron (dressed facade) 1883 432 Iron (Mulvey Building) (dressed facade) 1888-1892 511 Iron (accents) 1884-1888 101 South Pioneer (accents, foundation)
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The examples of formal or high style architecture, usually from identified well-known architects, are the eclectic City Hall and Fire Hall, the Iron Cliffs Company Office, the Manual Training School, the Negaunee National Bank, the United States Post Office, Saint Paul’s Catholic Church and Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church. These generally appear to reference Romanesque and Classical style references, but perhaps are more accurately assessed as being eclectic in inspiration.
Commercial and Public Building Architecture of the District During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries construction in the business district was generally confined to one-part and two-part commercial blocks. Examples span the transition from Italianate and Late Victorian to the simplified Commercial Brick architecture that became widespread during the early twentieth century. Many of the commercial blocks constructed of brick retain the embellished cornices, including some executed in pressed metal. Architectural embellishment in the district varies among all building types and styles, but is generally restrained, with primary surviving elaboration confined to the cornice area. Classically inspired elements are most common on these cornices, while window treatment is often reduced to simplified square-head rather than arched and hooded lintels.
The Italianate blocks are typically characterized by their round and segmental-arch-head windows, often topped with decorative brick, metal, or stone caps. Their fronts are most often divided into vertical window bays by raised piers or pilasters, with the bays themselves spanned by arch treatments in the brickwork of the upper façade below the parapet. During much of the nineteenth century when architectural design professionals were not readily available in smaller towns such as Negaunee, sometimes two of what were likely originally separate buildings built were constructed in the form of closely matched fronts. Presumably this saved time (and money) in design work and made for a larger front in which the owner could take pride. (Rutter 2017). The prime example in Negaunee is the Mulvey Block and Mulvey Building at 432 Iron Street, built nearly a decade apart but appearing to present a single large commercial front.
The 1874 Mulvey Block and 1883 Mulvey Building is also a fine representative among the oldest surviving commercial buildings as Italianate blocks, typically characterized by their segmental-arch-head windows. Others in the district have been renovated and their decorative brick, metal, or stone caps removed. Their fronts are most often divided into vertical window bays by raised piers or pilasters, with the bays themselves spanned by arch treatments in the brickwork of the upper façade below the parapet.
The downtown also contains numerous examples of a slightly later generation of commercial buildings built during a time period when such overtly Italianate features as the round-arch windows were considered out of date. These buildings typically don’t display a specific stylistic influence, and are often labeled simply “Late Victorian” as a broad stylistic term defining the period in which they were built. Like the Italianate buildings, these typically had cornices as well, but almost always of metal rather than the wood often used in earlier times. By the 1880s and 1890s wooden cornices were increasingly being viewed as fire hazards both by local governments and by an insurance industry concerned with promoting fire-resistant construction in the wake of huge fire disasters such as the 1871 Chicago Fire and the many large fires that
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were ravaging smaller towns. In the historic district buildings that demonstrate the developing fire-proofing technology are fine examples pressed metal cornices, several of which appear to be products from the Mesker Bros. Iron Company catalogs: the J. Erickson Building at 117 West Case, unusual because it is a wood frame building; the 1899 Oscar Field Building at 302 Iron; the 1901 Shea Block at 304 Iron, and the latest example, the S. Pilo Block at 212 Iron.
These later buildings displayed a more eclectic approach to design, borrowed from a broader range of influences. Buildings continued to sport decorative cornices, but they were typically more scaled down in size and height and often of more simplified design, often with only a bracket at each end of the façade or at least more widely spaced. Typically, they use the three- bay form, with tall corbelled brick friezes exemplify the trend away from Italianate. All now have square-head rather than the round-arch windows so characteristic of Italianate. All have shorter or lower metal cornices displaying abstract forms without clear historical origins. Like the cornices, the metal flat-top second-story window lintels in all these buildings are presumably also stock architectural metal products in the tall corbelled brick friezes and metal cornices
While the district has a prime example of Second Empire style in the 1887 Cliffs Iron Company Building at 101 South Pioneer Avenue, it has few examples of the Romanesque Revival- influenced style popular in the later 1880s and 1890s although some provide the feeling of the style in either the rock-face masonry and or broad street-level arches. An example is the brick building at 220 Iron. Still other buildings reference the Romanesque style in their use of rock- face ashlar stone. The stone used is the distinctive red Lake Superior sandstone from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Use of the Lake Superior sandstones – from a number of quarries in widely scattered locations and in hues ranging from red to dark orange to brown – was widely used in the Great Lakes region and throughout Michigan, but at scattered locations. Its use peaked in the later 1880s and 1890s after railroad lines in the region were built, making it easier to ship longer distances, but went into a steep decline in the early twentieth century as lighter-hued stones such as limestone became more acceptable. The 1901 Shea Block at 304 Iron Street, with its broad sandstone bands, is perhaps one of the best examples of this type.
The Neoclassicism that is much better presented in Negaunee’s buildings had its beginnings with the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 had its impacts in downtown. Neoclassical commercial buildings in Negaunee, like those typical of such buildings across the country, are standard commercial buildings done up with fronts designed with a modicum of classical features. The Neoclassic elements are typically portrayed in the projecting modillion-decorated main cornice above a frieze with a triglyph-like raised brick detail. The ground-floor storefront is also often capped by a simple classical cornice. For public buildings, such as the 1913 Manual Training School at 102 West Case Street, the treatment is similar, confined to the upper cornice. The eclectic 1914 City Hall at 319 West Case also shows this influence, in its classical cornice and dentilled frieze, as does the 1910 Fire Hall at 200 South Pioneer Avenue, which also seems vaguely Romanesque in its broad, arched windows.
A popular, simple, and straightforward commercial alternative grew out of the older generation of Late Victorian buildings in the early twentieth century. This is reflected in buildings with square-head or low, segmental-arch-head windows with simple caps and their understated display of brickwork detailing, such as simple corbelled brickwork below the eaves. Raised
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quoins along the building edges and paneled friezes are common features. These no-nonsense buildings should be considered direct precursors to another early-to-mid-twentieth-century architectural expression called Commercial Brick, which employs variations in the patterns and colors of the brickwork to create the “style.” Typical are soldier- and rowlock-bond bands and panels of basketweave brickwork, and bonding of bricks in different hues. In its lack of interest in historicism Commercial Brick seems to have affinities to the Arts-and-Crafts movement that swept across the arts, including architecture, in the early twentieth century. Although more eclectic in nature, the 1926 Vista Theater at 300 Iron Street presents a range of decorative brick bonding patterns anchored by basketweave.
Residential Building Architecture of the District Though the district does not contain many residential buildings, several of those that do exist are architecturally notable. The largest number of residences are single-family houses, clustering on Case Street in the northern portion of the district. These houses possess collective significance as representative examples of house forms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries characteristic of Michigan and the Midwest.
The gable-front form, initially inspired in the 1830s by ancient Greek and Roman architecture, took on a life of its own as a popular house form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, often in houses of rather small stature. The reduction in classical references seen in earlier houses is typical of the late nineteenth century examples. In the district we have basic two-story houses such as 222 and 226 W Case, built about 1880, illustrating the gable-front house form as typically seen in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The district also contains a two-story gabled ell house that attained prominent in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, of which the substantial Foley House, built in 1881 at 101 East Case, is an example. Nearly square- plan but also grading to rectangular-plan two-story homes became a characteristic house form in the early twentieth century. They are so emblematic of the Midwest that they have been sometimes called “Cornbelt Cubes.” One form commonly built from the 1910s to the 1930s has become known as the Foursquare because both of its nearly square form but the general type seems much broader in variety. A fine example is the concrete block house built in 1910 at 215 West Case.
Some of these houses demonstrate the admixture of style influences in the first decade of the twentieth century. The pyramid-gable house at 214 West Case, built in the early 1900s, is an example of the eclecticism of the time. It combines colonial features – Tuscan-column porches, closed pediments, a keystone-arched front dormer, and dentilled eaves, with fishscale shingles in the pediment and a wrap-around porch more typical of the earlier Queen Anne style. Perhaps the most notable feature of this house is the use of contrasting colors in its brickwork, the buff of the body walls offset by the use of red brick in all window and door surrounds and at the exterior corners of the dwelling, which mimick quoins. Such use of contrasting colored brick in “decorative patterned brickwork” is usually historically associated with Dutch influence. It is most common in west Michigan in Holland and Zeeland, both communities with historically significant Dutch immigration and ancestry. Examples in that part of the state date to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Duma: 2005: 11).
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______9. Major Bibliographical References
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2009 Christensen, R. O. “Adams Building.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. April 27, 2010. National Register #10000218.
2011a Christensen, Robert O. “Sundberg Block.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. April 20, 2011. National Register #11000196.
2011b Christensen, Robert O. “Ontonagon High School.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. May 25, 2011. National Register #11000308.
2013a Christensen, Robert O. “Iron Mountain Central Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. September 25, 2013. National Register #13000763.
2014a Rutter, William. “Escanaba Central Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. April 7, 2014.
2014b Schumaker, Ryan. “Walter H. French Junior High School.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. December 30, 2014. National Register #14001097.
2015a Polzin, Barry J. “Holy Family Orphanage.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. October 5, 2015. National Register #15000701.
2015b Christensen, Robert O. “Braastad-Gossard Building.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing Michigan. December 29, 2015. National Register #15000946.
2015c Christensen, Robert O. and Sally J. Weaver. “Elk Rapids First Methodist Episcopal Church.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. December 29, 2015. National Register #15000945.
2015d Rutter, William and R. O. Christensen. “I.O.O.F. Centennial Building.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. December 29, 2015. National Register #15000944.
2016 DeKorte, Heater. “Portland High School.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan. August 8, 2016. National Register #16000508.
2017 Rutter, William. “Charlotte Central Historic District (Pending).” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan.
2018 The John Gately Company Keweenaw National Historical Park Blog. December 15, 2018.
2019 Rutter, William. “Sault Ste. Marie Central Historic District (Draft).” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. State Historic Preservation Office, Lansing, Michigan.
National Provisioner 1916 Trade Gleanings. National Provisioner Vol. 55 Part 18, October 28, 1916, p. 20.
1927 No title. Vol. 76 Part 2, p. 61
Negaunee Centennial Committee 1965 Negaunee Centennial 1865-1965. Negaunee Centennial Committee.
Negaunee Danish Sisterhood 2020 About Us. Web page of Christine Lodge #1, Negaunee, Danish Sisterhood of America.
Negaunee Historical Society 2013 History of Saint Paul’s Convent. Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter. December, 2013.
2014 Interesting Historical Dates 1850-1900; Remembering Our Street Car (1892-1927). Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter June 2014.
2015a New Look on the West End of Iron Street. Negaunee Iron Herald, May 8, 1925. Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter, June 2015.
2015b Celebrating 150 Years of Negaunee. The Mining Journal, July 9, 2015.
2017a History of City Hall Since 1865; Remembering These Businesses. Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter December 2017.
2017b Sharing His Talents, Builder of First Brick Buildings in City, James Foley; Property on Corner of Iron Street – Negaunee’s Town Barber. Negaunee Cemetery Walk Brochure (p. 2; p. 4). Negaunee Historical Society September 24, 2017.
2018a Negaunee Druggist Reminisces on Changes in Last 25 Years. Negaunee Iron Herald November 21, 1958. Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter December 2018.
2018b Determination from Shining Shoes to Owning Supermarket; Perala Funeral Home 102 Years Old. Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter September 2018.
2018c 95 Year History of the Negaunee Iron Herald; New Home for Negaunee Youth Center. Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter September 2018.
2018d “Historic Buildings from The Past.” Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter March 2018.
2019a “Eighty Years Ago.” Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter June 2019.
2019b Iron Street Business – (ca. 50’-60’s); Did You Know That a Church Turned into a Bar? Negaunee Historical Society Newsletter, March 2019.
2019c 2019c A Model Structure, Still Standing; 100 Years Ago. Historical Society Newsletter, October 2019.
2020 Kirkwood Block History Ends in Demolition 127 Years Later. Negaunee Historical Society web page.
Negaunee Iron Herald (Negaunee, Mich.) May 7, 1874-January 10, 1964.
Negaunee Public Library 2015 History of the Negaunee Public Library. Negaunee Public Library web site.
Negaunee Public Schools 2020 Facilities, Negaunee Middle School, Negaunee High School. Negaunee Public Schools website
New York World 1896 The World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1896. The World Vol. III No. 28, January 1896 (Odd Fellows), p. 297. The Press Publishing Company, Pulitzer Building, New York. On line document
1902 The World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1902. January 1902, p. 327. The Press Publishing Company, New York World, Pulitzer Building, New York. On line document
Oakpark 2005 Parking Restrictions OK’d for 400 Block Elmwood. City Oak Park website July 7, 2005.
Patronicity 2020 Negaunee Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Park. Patronicity web site, Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Paulsen, Virginia 2020a Personal communication, discussion with President of Negaunee Historical Society concerning 338 Rail, 342 Rail, 207 North Silver, 126 East Main and 117 West Case histories and occupants, May 9, 2020.
Peavy, Dany, Stevan Sliger, John Krystof, and Travis Dvorak 2020a Copper Country Architects Introduction (Charlton & Gilbert, Demar & Lovejoy, Charlton, Gilbert & Demars, D. Fred Charlton, R. William Gilbert, Edward Demar, Charlton, Gilbert & Kuenzli, Edwin O. Kuenzli, Charlton & Kuenzli).
2020b Copper Country Architects Buildings. Copper Country Architects – Buildings by Charlton & Kuenzli
2020c Copper Country Architects Buildings. Copper Country Architects – Buildings by John B. Sweatt
Pohl, Dorothy G. and Norman E. Brown 1997 The History of Roads in Michigan. Paper presented to the Association of Southern Michigan Road Commissions on December 2, 1997.
Polk, R. L. 1875-1939 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory. R.L. Polk & Co., The Tribune Printing Company, Detroit.
1895 Marquette City and County Directory 1895-96, Including Ishpeming and Negaunee, Vol. II. R.L. Polk & Company, Detroit (Negaunee: pp. 344-424).
Preuss, Arthur 1924 A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies. R. Herder Book Co., Saint Louis
Railway Age 1931 Construction (Jutton-Kelley Detroit, Wayne). Railway Age Vol. 91 No. 4, July 25, 1931 p. 154.
Record Publishing 1895 Portrait and Biographical Record of Northern Michigan. Record Publishing Co., Chicago.
Reynolds, Terry S. 2015 Muting Labor Discontent: Paternalism on the Michigan Iron Ranges. Upper Country, A Journal of the Lake Superior Region. Vol. 3, May 2015, pp. 5-28.
Rezek, Rev. Antoine Ivan 1906 History of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette, Vol. I. M. A. Donohue & Co., Chicago.
Rice, Sara 2001 Upper Peninsula Italians. Houghton, Michigan Genweb site.
Robyns, Marcus C. 2020 Finnish Immigrants on the Marquette Iron Range. Recorded in Stone, Voices on the Marquette Iron Range,
Roinila, Mika 2012 Finn-Swedes in Michigan. Discovering the Peoples of Michigan. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing.
Romig, Walter 1986 Michigan Place Names. Wayne State University Press, Detroit.
Ross, Theodore A. 1916 The Illustrated History of Odd Fellowship. Ross History Co., New York. On line document.
Sanborn 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan, May 1884, Images 1, 2, 3. Library of Congress web site.
1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan, June 1888, Images 1, 2, 3. Library of Congress.
1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan, November 1892, Images 1, 2, 3. Library of Congress web site.
1911 Image 1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan, September 1911 Images 1, 6, 7, 8, 12. Library of Congress web site.
1928 Sheet 3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan, June 1928, Sheets 3, 4, 10.
1928-1946 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan, August 1946 Sheets 3, 4, 10.
Sault Ste. Marie News
1888b City Brevities. Sault Ste. Marie News October 27, 1888, p. 1
1889a It’s A Busy Place. Sault Ste. Marie News May 4, 1889 p. 5
1889b A Cool Million, Improvements in the Soo 1889. Sault Ste. Marie News December 28, 1889 p. 1
1890 J. B. Sweatt, Architect and Builder. Sault Ste. Marie News March 22, 1890 p. 7
Sawyer, Alvah L. 1911a A History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and its People, Vol. 1. The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago.
1911b A History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and its People, Vol. 2. The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago.
1911c A History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and its People, Vol. 3. The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago.
Schaetzl, Randall 2020 Ishpeming and Negaunee, Boom / Bust Towns? Department of Geography, Michigan State University.
Scripps, J. E. and R. L. Polk 1873 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1873 (Ishpeming pp. 362-64). J. E. Scripps and R. L. Polk, Compilers, The Tribune Book and Job Office, Detroit.
Shettleworth, Earl G. 1948? Brief Biographies of American Architects Who Died Between 1897 and 1947. Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
Smith, J. Fairbairn and Charles Fey 1963 History of Freemasonry in Michigan. Printing Department, Masonic Home and School Fort Worth, Texas.
Social Networks and Archival Contexts (SNAC)
2020a Bowd-Munson Co. Douglass Houghton Hall, Michigan Technological University. SNAC – Social Networks and Archival Contexts website
2020b Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. SNAC - Social Networks and Archival Contexts web site.
Sutherland, James 1856 State of Michigan Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1856-7.
Swineford, Albert P. 1876 History and Review of Copper, Iron, Silver, Slate and Other Material Interests of the South Shore of Lake Superior. The Mining Journal, Marquette (L.S.), Michigan.
Tabbert, Mark A. 2003 The Odd Fellows. Masonic Papers. The Northern Light, December 2003. On line document
Vista Theater 2020 About The Vista. Vista Theater organization web site.
Walker, Charles I. 1873 Beard’s History and Directory of Marquette County. Hadger & Bryce, Steam Book and Job Printers, Detroit.
Walling, Henry F. c 1873 Atlas of the State of Michigan. R. M. & S. T. Tackabury, Detroit, Mich.
1873 Upper Peninsula, Scale Six Miles to an Inch. (Marquette County. Drawn, Compiled, and Edited by H. F. Walling. Published by R. M. & S. T. Tackabury, Detroit
1884 Atlas of the State of Michigan. R. M. & S. T. Tackabury, Detroit, Mich.
Western Historical Co. 1883 History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Western Historical Co., Chicago.
Westman, Erik G., ed. 1931 The Swedish Element in America. A Comprehensive History of Swedish-American Achievements from 1638 to the Present Day. Vol. 3 of 3. Chicago: Swedish-American Biographical Society,
Withey, Henry F. and Elsie R. Withey 1956 Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). New Age Publishing Co., Los Angeles, CA.
______
Previous documentation on file (NPS):
____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #______recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # ______recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ______
Primary location of additional data: __x_ State Historic Preservation Office ____ Other State agency ____ Federal agency ____ Local government ____ University ____ Other Name of repository: ______
Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): ______
______10. Geographical Data
Acreage of Property __c. 25 acres__
Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates
Latitude/Longitude Coordinates Datum if other than WGS84:______(enter coordinates to 6 decimal places) 1. Latitude: 46.500268 Longitude: -87.613800
2. Latitude: 46.501790 Longitude: -87.608671
3. Latitude: 46.498555 Longitude: -87.606676
4. Latitude: 46.497314 Longitude: -87.613821
Or UTM References Datum (indicated on USGS map):
NAD 1927 or NAD 1983
1. Zone: Easting: Northing:
2. Zone: Easting: Northing:
3. Zone: Easting: Northing:
4. Zone: Easting : Northing:
Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.) The following boundary description is based on field observations, GoogleEarth images and parcel boundaries as provided by the City of Negaunee Tax ID numbers map provided by the Marquette County Equalization Department (2015).
Property in the City of Negaunee, Marquette County, MI, described as follows: Beginning at intersection of center of W Peck St and N. Teal Lake Ave; then S along centerline of N. Teal Lake to pt in line with N line of 101 E. Case; then E along N line of 101 E. Case to E line, then S along E line of 101 E. Case to point in center of E. Case St.; then W along centerline of E. Case to pt in line with E line of 117 E. Case St; then S along this E line to S line of 117 E. Case; the W along S line of 117 E. Case, continuing to pt in center of N Pioneer Ave; then S along centerline of N Pioneer Ave to pt in line with N line of 126 E Main St; then E along this N line to E line of 126 E Main; then S along E line of 126 E main to pt in center of E main St; the E along centerline of E Main to pt in line with E line of 101 S. Pioneer Ave; then S along E line of 101 S Pioneer to S line, then W along S line of 101 S Pioneer to pt in center of S. Pioneer Ave; then S along centerline of S Pioneer Ave to pt in center of Rail St; then w along centerline of Rail St to pt in center of Division St; then N/NW along centerline of Division St to pt in line with south line of 201 Iron St; then W along S line of 201 Iron St to W line , then N along W line of 201 Iron St to pt in center of Iron St; then W along centerline of Iron St to pt in line with centerline of Marquette St; the S along centerline of Marquette St to S line of 301 Iron St; then W along alley at S line of 301 Iron St, continuing along alley and S lot lines of 305, 311, 317, 323 and 331 Iron St to pt in line with E line of 338 Rail St; then S along this line and E line of 338 Rail St to pt on centerline of Rail St; then W along centerline of Rail St to pt above E end of Silver St Underpass; then S along E side of Underpass / abutment and E retaining wall to S end of E retaining wall; then W across Silver St to W retaining wall of Silver St. Underpass; then N along W retaining wall and abutment to pt on centerline of Rail St; then W along centerline of Rail St to pt. in line with S line of 212 Gold St; then W/SW along S line of 212 Gold St to W line, then N/NE along W line of 212 Gold St to S line (SW corner) of 208 Gold St; then N along W line of 208 Gold St to S line (SW corner) of 511 Iron St; then N along W line of 511 Iron St. to pt in center of Iron St; then W along centerline of Iron St to pt at center of intersection with Tobin St; then N along centerline of Tobin St to pt at center of intersection with Jackson St; then E along centerline of Jackson St to pt. at center of intersection of W Case St; then E/NE along centerline of W Case St to pt in line with W line of 304 W Case St; then NW along W line of 304 W Case St to north line then E/NE along N line of 304 W. Cast St to pt in center of Kanter St; then NW
along centerline of Kanter St to pt in center of intersection of W Peck St; then E/NE along centerline of W Peck St to Point of Beginning.
Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.) This irregular boundary defines the area that includes downtown Negaunee’s historic buildings plus the historic school and church buildings that stand at the edges of the historic downtown area. These buildings constitute a cohesive and distinguishable entity. In addition, the excluded areas do not possess significance in the identified themes of the historic district. Specifiically, to the north, north of West Peck Street, are the city’s residential neighborhoods. On the east, generally east of Pioneer Avenue the district is adjoined by an old residential area with some modern commercial intrusions. To the south, south of Rail Street, is a broad area of cleared former mining and industrial land partially occupied by recent construction, and south of there is residential development. Rail Street forms a natural dividing line along the former rail line into the city. To the west, west of Tobin Street is an unoccupied area, formerly the location of buildings that were condemned and removed due to subsurface mine subsidence in the 1950s and 1960, today’s Jackson Mine Park, managed as a recreation area.
______11. Form Prepared By
name/title: _William E. Rutter, Jessica C. Flores______organization: _Preservation Forward, LLC______street & number: _P.O. Box 4490______city or town: _East Lansing______state: _Michigan___ zip code: 48826__ e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]______telephone: _906-399-9907; 517-220-5144______date:___June 30, 2020______
______
Additional Documentation
Submit the following items with the completed form:
• Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
• Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Key all photographs to this map.
• Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.)
Photographs Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels (minimum), 3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs to the sketch map. Each photograph must be numbered and that number must correspond to the photograph number on the photo log. For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and doesn’t need to be labeled on every photograph.
Photo Log
Name of Property: Negaunee Downtown Historic District City or Vicinity: City of Negaunee County: Marquette State: Michigan Photographer: Jessica C. Flores Date Photographed: July, 2019
Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of camera:
1 of 24: Case Street E 101, James F. Foley House, View NE 2 of 24: Case Street W 200 Block, North Side, View NE, Streetscape 3 of 24: Case Street W 304, U.S. Post Office, View NW 4 of 24: Case Street W 319, City Hall and Memorial Park 5 of 24: Gold Street 200 Block, West Side, view SW, Streetscape 6 of 24: Gold Street 212, Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic and Chicago & Northwestern Depot / Union Railroad Depot, View NE 7 of 24: Iron Street 200 and 300 Blocks, North Side, View NW, Streetscape 8 of 24: Iron Street 212, S. Pilo Block, View NE 9 of 24: Iron Street 220, Wehmanen Jewelry Store No. 1, View N 10 of 24: Iron Street 300 Block, North Side, View NE, Streetscape 11 of 24: Iron Street 300 Block, View NW, Streetscape 12 of 24: Iron Street 300, Vista Theater, View N 13 of 24: Iron Street 318, Negaunee National Bank Building, View N 14 of 24: Iron Street 331, Negaunee State Bank Building, View SE 15 of 24: Iron Street 334, Lowenstein’s Department Store (Jackson Street entrance), View SW 16 of 24: Iron Street 400 and 300 Blocks, View E, Streetscape 17 of 24: Iron Street 400 Block, North Side, View NW, Streetscape 18 of 24: Jackson 300 and 200 Blocks, South Side, View SE, Streetscape 19 of 24: Main Street W 122, Filling Station, View E 20 of 24: Peck Street W 209-215 St. Paul’s Catholic High School and Grade School, and Pioneer Street N 225, St. Paul’s Sisters of St. Joseph Convent, View SW 21 of 24: Pioneer Street S 101, Iron Cliffs Co. Offices, View NE 22 of 24: Pioneer Street S 200, Negaunee Fire Hall, View S 23 of 24: Silver Street N 200 Block, East Side, View S-SE, Streetscape
24 of 24: Teal Lake Avenue N 207, Mitchell Methodist Episcopal Church, View N
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Tier 1 – 60-100 hours Tier 2 – 120 hours Tier 3 – 230 hours Tier 4 – 280 hours
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Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 1 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 2 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 3 Streetscape- North Side of Iron Street - View looking Streetscape- Looking west down Iron Street, Negaunee, Streetscape- Looking west down Iron Street, Negaunee, NW MI MI
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 4 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 5 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 6 Vista Theatre at 300 Iron Street, View looking north North side of Iron Street- View looking northwest Streetscape- view looking east down Jackson Street
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 7 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 8 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 9 126 W. Main- At intersection of W. Main Street and 420 Rail Street- Marquette & Western RailRoad Depot- 331 Iron Street- Negaunee State Bank Building- view Route 28. View looking east looking southeast
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 10 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 11 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 12 212 Gold Street- Union State Depot- View looking west 334 Iron Street- Lowenstein's Store- View looking north 338 Rail Street- Lafreniere's Furniture Store- view looking west
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 13 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 14 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 15 Veteran's Memorial Park monument- object. View 304 W. Case Street- Negaunee Post Office- View 202 W. Case- Saint Paul's Church- view looking looking west. looking northwest northwest
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 16 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 17 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 18 102 W. Case- Case Street School- View looking west 101 (105) S. Pioneer Street- Negaunee Public Schools 220 Iron Street- Tino's Bar- View looking north Administration Building- View looking northeast
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 19 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 20 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 21 117-119 W. Case- J.Erickson Building- view looking 202 W. Case- Saint Paul's Rectory- View looking north Breitung Park- bandshell- community space- just west of intersection of Iron and Pioneer Streets south
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 22 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 23 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 24 102(116) W. Case Street- Negaunee Middle School- 442-432 Iron Street (north side)- streetscape- view 432 Iron Street- Chapper's Pub- View looking north view looking northwest looking northwest
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 25 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 26 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 27
East side of Gold Street- view looking east Streetscape- Iron Street- view looking east 319 Case Street- Negaunee City Hall & Library - view looking northeast
Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 28 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 29 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 30 208 S. Division Street- Negaunee Fire Hall- view looking 415 & 419 Iron Street- Washtown USA- view looking 318 Iron Street- Negaunee National Bank- view looking west south north Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic Michigan_Marquette_Negaunee Downtown Historic District District District Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 31 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 32 Photo taken by J.Flores_10/1/2019 33 301 Iron Street- view looking southeast 101 E. Case Street- view looking north 215 W. Case Street- view looking north
8/24/2020 Negaunee - Google Maps
Negaunee Michigan_Marquette- Negaunee Downtown Historic District
Imagery ©2020 Maxar Technologies, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2020 200 ft
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Negaunee,+MI+49866/@46.4989291,-87.6087287,688m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4d51c2834fba47b9:0x2d65221fcf0631f3!8m2!3d46.5090928!4d-87.6068721 1/1
Rock Kanter
Clark
Teal Lake
Snow
Case Peck
Pioneer
Main
Jackson
Tobin
Iron Lincoln
Pioneer
Marquette Division Rail
Gold
Silver
0 125 250 CITY OF NEGAUNEE Feet
Data Sources: State of Michigan Geographic Data Library, City of Negaunee, Marquette County GIS Parcels Contributing Parcels Downtown Historic District Rock
Kanter
Clark Tobin
Snow
Teal Lake
Peck Case
Pioneer
Main Jackson
Iron Lincoln
Pioneer Division
Marquette
Rail
Gold
Silver
0 125 250 CITY OF NEGAUNEE Feet
Data Sources: State of Michigan Geographic Data Library, City of Negaunee, Marquette County GIS
Downtown Historic District 15) 46.499868, -87.609181 23) 46.498536, -87.609367 31) 46.498231, -87.613692 1) 46.499452, -87.613697 8) 46.501331, -87.608637 16) 46.499598, -87.609007 24) 46.498963, -87.609353 32) 46.498505, -87.613679 2) 46.499457, -87.612785 9) 46.501444, -87.608927 17) 46.499653, -87.608806 25) 46.498855, -87.609986 33) 46.498437, -87.613424 3) 46.499782, -87.611872 10) 46.500996, -87.608017 18) 46.499041, -87.608509 26) 46.498526, -87.610007 34) 46.498847, -87.613421 4) 46.500065, -87.612057 11) 46.500683, -87.609041 19) 46.499041, -87.609004 27) 46.498540, -87.611249 35) 46.498853, -87.613683 5) 46.500211, -87.611632 12) 46.500416, -87.608867 20) 46.498242, -87.608498 28) 46.497865, -87.611232 6) 46.500812, -87.611997 13) 46.500246, -87.609632 21) 46.498133, -87.609038 29) 46.497924, -87.611792 7) 46.501790, -87.608921 14) 46.499791, -87.609507 22) 46.498526, -87.609042 30) 46.497867, -87.612041