Ironwood Michigan - Days Past - Historical Photos

One of the many mines that were operating in Ironwood, MI.

This is a postcard from around 1900 of the Aurora Mine shaft F in Ironwood, MI.

Time to take a journey, a small look back at Ironwood in its heyday. Built on the Michigan / Wisconsin border in 1885, the area became known for its rich deposits of iron on what became known as the Gogebic Range. Mines sprang up all around Ironwood including the Norrie, Aurora, Ashland, Newport, and Pabst. Mining is not without its hazards.

Called the "man car," this dropped deep into the iron mines carrying miners to work.

Miners heading down deep into the mine shafts. They rode down sometime to nearly a mile underground. It could drop as fast as 1000 feet per minute.

In September of 1929, after unusually heavy rains, a portion of the Pabst Mine collapsed trapping 40 men. 3 men were killed when an elevator snapped, causing a rock collapse which trapped the others. A massive rescue operation began immediately. The only nourishment they had after their workday lunch ran out, was tea they made from birch bark scraped from the wooden planks lining the mine walls and heated with the miners’ carbide lamps. For five days they waited, while those on the surface frantically worked to reach the trapped miners. When they finally did, all of them were still alive. Over 5,000 residents gathered to watch the lucky miners emerge from the mine.

Ironwood football ahs been a staple of the community for 125 years.

This picture is of an Ironwood leatherhead football player. The only name I have for him is Ben.

Ironwood has always been a strong community. There are a large number of churches and always saw itself as an upright community, unlike its twin city on the Wisconsin side of the border, Hurley. The two towns are separated by the border and the Montreal River. In its early days Hurley was a dangerous town to be in, 60 saloons in one block, could lead to disaster at any time. Ironwood prided itself in being the opposite. Somehow the rough elements seemed to stay on the Wisconsin side of the river.

Ironwood had organized sports and schools that provided top notch educations. North Ironwood is the home of Gogebic Community College. Ironwood’s Luther Wright high school would the first built and to this day, the old high school is still educating an enrollment of 600 students.

Early historical photo of Ironwood, Michigan on Suffolk Street.

Early postcard view of Suffolk Street in Ironwood.

Because of the high producing iron mines, Ironwood was a prosperous town. Ironwood got its name, not because of the tree (Ironwood), but was named after one of the mining captains, James Wood. His nickname was “Iron”, so he was called Iron Wood. Many of Ironwood’s original buildings still stand and the remnants of the iron days stand as relics to its past. A tour around town can reveal many sites of Ironwood’s iron days of yore. It is a still thriving community that takes pride in its history.