|
|
CALUMET
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Albion Station Glassworks
The transfer station of the Houghton County Traction Company was a busy place for decades after the streetcar lines were constructed in 1900. Here cars came and went from three directions: Calumet; Laurium and Hubbell; and Mohawk. A streetcar stopped every 15 minutes during operating hours. Mining families welcomed a chance to get out and shop or visit.
To Alexander Agassiz, CEO of Calumet & Hecla, the car line was trouble, necessitating many trestles to go over C&H's existing tramways for rock cars. Furthermore, historian Larry Lankton adds in Cradle to Grave, "he did not want trolleys to transport worker unrest."
Today this little-altered frame building seems perfectly suited to being a museum/workshop. Here are Dick Dana's bottle collections from the four-county area (Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon) and his glass-blowing studio, where recycled bottles are melted and blown into traditional, functional forms like vases, plates, bowls, and carafes, usually in earth tones, displayed and sold in the front room.
Visitors are welcome to observe glass-blowing whenever Dick or an apprentice are at work. Woodcarver Stuart Baird (Dick calls him "world class") is at work mornings, creating birds of prey like a peregrine falcon, or a broad-wing hawk, or a kestrel.
A dark, library-like museum room houses medicine bottles, many, many beer bottles, soda bottles, whiskey jugs, and more. Milk bottles are in a room with a cream separator, wringer washer, and ice box. Then there's depression glass, dishes, and a wood stove.
On Rockland just north of Pine in Albion Location east of Calumet and north of Laurium. From U.S. 41, 3/4 mile north of the blinker light at the National Park Headquarters, look for M-203 intersecting on the left. Turn right onto Pine. Or look for sign on U.S. 41 heading toward The Hut. (906)337-0257. Open from May thru Christmas. From June thru color season open Mon-Sat 10-5. Otherwise open 11-4. Handicap access: 2 steps to enter. Single steps between rooms.
Downtown Calumet. Bustling again, downtown was hopping 24 hours a day when the mining boom was at its zenith, from 1890 to 1913. Today it features Ste. Anne's ethnic museum, lavish historic taverns, plus outstanding shops and galleries: skis, bikes, copper books and gifts, minerals, jewelry, beads, art glass, Ojibwa pottery, beads, and more ...
more
Coppertown Mining Museum and Gift Shop. Mining aficionados, woodworkers, and those interested in machines, foundries, and labor and Copper Country history won't want to miss this seasonal museum. ...
more
Calumet Theatre and Village Hall. One of the Kewenaw's glories, the elaborate 1899 opera house looks much as it did when touring stars played here in mining days. Authentically restored paintings and ornament. A memorable venue for concerts, films, plays. Tours available. ...
more
Norwegian Lutheran Church. Norwegian Lutheran Church resembling Old Country architecture, once a wreck, being painstakingly restored. ...
more
Calumet's North End. Cheap, often ornate historic storefronts have attracted several original shops: a bookshop/coffee bar, art gallery, dazzling antiques/gems/jewelry store, and the area's best frame shop. ...
more
Site of the 1913 Italian Hall Disaster. 73 people, mostly children, died in the stampede that followed when someome yelled "Fire!" in the Italian social hall. It was the 1913 copper strike's defining event, memorialized in song by Woody Guthrie and others, and in story, photos, vivid websites, and a film. ...
more
St. Paul the Apostle Church. A magnificentl Catholic church built by Slovenians between 1903 and 1908. Seasonal afternoon tours show off the splendid stained glass, paintings, and altar. ...
more
C&H Library/future Keweenaw History Center. Built by the wealthy Calumet & Hecla copper company as a community library, this unusual stone-faced building contains office and work areas of the Keweenaw National Historic Park. Some day it will house the Keweenaw History Center. ...
more
Keweenaw Convention and Visitors Bureau. Free tourism and history handouts and knowledgeable advice. Booklet and website include all Keweenaw parks and natural areas. A highly recommended stop for anyone spending time in the area. ...
more
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site of the 1913 Italian Hall Disaster
|
A memorial park marks the site of a famous, horrible, and needless tragedy. At the Italian social hall's 1913 Christmas party, during the fifth month of the bitter copper mining strike, someone apparently yelled, "Fire!" ? People rushed down the stairs, ignoring shouts that there was no fire. 73 died, mostly children, trampled and smothered, in a stairwell whose doors opened inward and were said to be locked shut.
1913 Massacre, Woody Guthrie's moving song, blamed mining bosses for the unsolved deed - a logical conclusion, though the perpetrators were never found. The subject of Italian Hall is riveting, especially to people passionate about labor history. One was the late Tom Katona, who recently died of a stroke at the age of 49. His site is www.angelfire.com/mi2/1913 . Another is photographer Eric Munch, whose studio (906-337-5084) is a few blocks away at 57467 Tenth Street. Eric took a series of evocative black-and-white photos of Italian Hall after it had been vacated awaiting demolition.
Still others moved to action by the song and the Italian Hall story are New York filmmakers Louis Galdiere and Ken Ross. They have been making a film of the song and the story for over five years. Their outstanding website, including photos, song lyrics, and audio of Woody Guthrie singing the song, is at www.1913massacre.com. Their aim is to use archival photos and lots of interviews (with Calumet people and with many others, including singers like Odetta, Ani DiFranco, Arlo Guthrie, and Pete Seeger) to create an experimental film about hope and survival, about the redemptive power of music, and about an American town's struggle with its past.?
Is Calumet actually struggling with this part of its past? It seems rather that, as the strike recedes into the simplified past, public opinion overwhelmingly takes the miners' side of what was a complex situation. The filmmakers' 1913 Massacre web site will take you to a lot of places well worth exploring - from the Iron Range of Minnesota to the filmmaking world of the Lower East Side of New York. The very accessible filmmakers would love some help and money, too. A recent grant from the Puffin Foundation has enabled them to research the music of the Upper Peninsula in 1913.
The Italian Hall Disaster, together with the widely published photographs of dead girls looking like angels in the temporary morgue in the village hall, created widespread sympathy for the victims' families at every level of Copper Country society. Previously the local press had successfully branded strikers as socialist agitators. The Mining Gazette was then obviously a mouthpiece for mining officials and copper interests.
Historian Larry Malloy has written a book focussing on the downstairs doors and the architecture and immediate events involved with the disaster. The doors themselves can be seen at Coppertown mining museum here in Calumet. An opera about the Italian Hall tragedy, "Children of the Keweenaw," premiered in the Calumet Theatre adjoining the ballroom/morgue.
Italian Hall was used as a gathering place for decades after 1913. Eventually it fell empty, like so many other Calumet buildings. It was demolished in 1984, over much local opposition. Local people will often relate the eerie scene of how the building refused to succumb quickly to the wrecking ball. Ask Bill about it across the street at Bill's Electrical Supplies. He was there.
On the west side of downtown at Seventh between Elm and Pine/M-203. The monument is the arched sandstone doorway set back from the sidewalk. The building's site is now a lawn.
Return to Calumet
|
|
