 | | While the things on display look cherry-picked, they are mostly contributed by locals. This recently donated phonograph is a delight to behold. | The handsome 1901 Carnegie Library building is now home to an exceptional collection, focused mainly on Dickinson County. There are some items few local museums have, such as a 3,000-year-old copper knife or a 20-foot-long dugout canoe from 1650
Exhibits are based on individual people's collections. One room after another reveals amazing delights, such as the exquisite bird egg collection of a local young woman. The collectors or their kin were allowed to do their own thing and draw on their own memories in creating the tightly condensed tableaux. The results are visually engaging.
 | | A museum full of treasures, like this rare 1873 rifle. It was made by Winchester with a very short barrel for stage coach drivers, who could pull it up to use at a moment's notice. Iron Mountain had to rely on stage coaches until the 1920s, when passenger trains finally arrived. Before that one had to go to Quinnesec to catch the train. | There's not much in the way of interpretation, but many quirky details make up for that. The trapper's cabin is modeled after Jack Woodlock's on the Fence River. After his right leg was amputated due frostbite, he earned his livelihood with his team of horses and by making artificial legs like the one on display. There's the office of the Oliver Mining Company, a Prohibition-era wine press with fake grapes, Tom Izzo & Sons cobbler shop, dairy memorabilia including the giant roadside milk bottle by the Asslin Creamery in Norway, and lots of clown images and props from Leo LeFebvre.
Prominent businessman Robert Hoyle's collections of tin soldiers and minerals are here, and his wife's Native American beadwork. Indian curios and illustrations of romanticized Indians in popular art have their own poignant and ironic interest. From Mario Fontana's School of Aero, a propeller has a nifty logo of a bee.
Music-making was a key component of small-town life. A clarinet, cornet, and concertina are shown with an ad for accordion classes and photos of the Works Project Administration concert band and Ford Motor Band. (Art Van Damme, who virtually invented accordion jazz, was born in nearby Norway, Michigan, in 1920 and asked for lessons after hearing a record at the age of nine. Four and five hours of daily practice led to playing in a local theater.)
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 | | Colorful old toy banks which propel coins into their vaults. The center one is especially rare. | Other exhibits move through the area's history, from indigenous peoples and fur-trading to lumber camps and mines that brought most of the populace to these parts. Many museum standbys are here, including gun collections; specimens of minerals, fossils, and mounted wildlife; and an unusual range of shops and professional offices: doctor, shoe repair, barber, pharmacist, etc., with an ice house, barn, blacksmith shop, etc. in the basement.
 | | A full-scale old stable brings to life a once-common aspect of the pre-automobile era. | For a coherent overview of Dickinson County history, look through the excellent selection of local history books in the gift shop. The hardcover Born from Iron: Iron Mountain, Michigan 1879-1979 pulls together a historical overview, memories of the town that used to be, short histories of various ethnic groups, and oral histories with lots of photographs.
Appointments may be made to use the archive.
E. Ludington at Iron Mountain St. in downtown Iron Mountain. (906) 774-4276. Open regularly from Mem. thru Labor Day, Mon-Sat 10-4 Central Time. Call for spring & fall hours. Open daily from Mem. Day weekend thru Labor Day: Mon-Sat 9-5 Central Time, Sun noon-4. Call for spring & fall hours. Adults $5, ages 10-18 $3, under 10 free. Combined admission to both museums: $8/adult and $4 ages 10-18.
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