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ISHPEMING
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Downtown Ishpeming. Unusual historic buildings house a large antiques store, a longstanding outdoors store, a classic Italian grocery, a specialty homebuilders' store with an upstairs gallery of art and home accessories, and a vintage Carnegie library ...
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Cliffs Shaft Mining Museum. See where miners dressed, walked through tunnel to cages to be lowered down in mine. Retired miners tell tales of work life, cave-ins, tragic accidents. Engaging mine model, artifacts, mineral specimens from Ishpeming Rock & Mineral Club. ...
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Lake Bancroft Park. In dramatic surroundings, you can picnic while enjoying good views of Ishpeming and its monumental mining headframes ...
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Jasper Knob, Cliffs Cottage and vicinity. Climb a huge outcrop of deep-red Michigan jasper (“the world's largest gemstone”) and get a nice view of Ishpeming's southeast side ...
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U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame & Museum. In a ski jump-shaped building, the story is told of how U.S. skiing developed from a minor sport brought by Scandinavians, enhanced by Hollywood, Sun Valley, and the illustrious WWII ski assault team ...
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Artisans Gallery & Clay Studio. A working pottery studio and quality crafts gallery showing U. P. pottery, painting, weaving, wood, and glass works. ...
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Da Yoopers Tourist Trap & Museum. The roadside attraction from a popular satirical U.P. comedy group combines free outdoor exhibits like the world's largest chain saw and deer playing cards at deer camp with Yooper novelties, books, and a good rock shop ...
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Al Quaal Recreation Area. This woodsy 300-acre city park offers a 1,200-foot iced toboggan run and swimming on Teal Lake ...
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Tilden Mine Tour. Tour the vast open-pit iron mine and taconite processing plant and see industry on an awesome scale ...
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Region: Marquette Range
ISHPEMING
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With a current population of about 6,600, Ishpeming stands out from all other iron-mining towns because it developed as the Upper Peninsula operations headquarters for Cleveland-Cliffs Iron, one of the country's biggest iron-mining companies for decades. The in-town skyline is punctuated by three monumental CCI headframes on Lake Shore Drive south of Lake Bancroft, on the west side of town. Headframes were where hoist ropes lowered and lifted cars (ore cars or, for miners, man cars) in and out of the mine shafts, some over a mile deep.
 | | An Egyptian-style mine entrance to Ishpeming's famous, fabulously productive Cliffs Shaft Mine. Cleveland Cliffs Iron could afford impressive architectural embellishments because of the wealth it had amassed from its decades as the leading supplier of U.S. iron ore. | Two of these big headframes were built of reinforced concrete to resemble huge Egyptian obelisks. They were designed by the noted Prairie School architect George Maher, according to the wish of CCI President William Gwinn Mather to combine beauty with utility. They stand out as aesthetic anomalies among the strictly utilitarian appearances of most other Upper Peninsula mining sites. (The Quincy Mining Company and Calumet and Hecla in Copper Country were among the few exceptions.)
The mines with the obelisk shafthouses were closed in 1955 with the opening of the Cliffs C Shaft. Its boxy headframe is even taller. It too was closed as new technology made it cheaper to mine the lower-grade ore bodies closer to the surface and concentrate the ore in easily shippable taconite pellets - a process visitors can see at the Tilden Mine tour, in summer by reservation only. One of the tall, striking obelisks is now illuminated at night as a reminder to motorists on U.S. 41 that Ishpeming, mostly obscured by a rail embankment, lies just to the south. ...continued below...
 | | Ishpeming's downtown is made invisible to U.S. 41 traffic by the railroad embankment built by Cleveland Cliffs Mining not too terribly long ago. Motorists must know just where to turn. Here Westwood leads south from McDonald's to the handsome obelisk shafthouse of the Cliffs Shaft Mine, now part of an interesting local museum complex about mining, rocks and minerals, and Ishpeming history. |
Mining has been so big here that Ishpeming even had two blasting powder companies through the 1930s. Today mining remains the basis of Ishpeming's economy, what with CCI's Upper Peninsula headquarters and approximately 1,800 high-paying jobs at the nearby Tilden and Empire open-pit mines.
Few new industries have developed here to replace the steadily lost mining employment over the decades. An exception is the Robbins Flooring Company on Greenwood Street just southwest of downtown. Using hard maple from U.P. and Canadian forests, it specializes in gym floors, making basketball courts for the NBA and NCAA as well as for Olympic competition. Sometimes Robbins employees work overtime to keep up with demand, turning out four courts a day. Still, they have to compete for the prized higher-grade northern hard maple with six other flooring mills in a 250-mile radius, three in the Upper Peninsula and three in Wisconsin.
After remaining at a population of about 9,000 from 1890 into the 1950s, Ishpeming has steadily declined to its present size. Its once-vital downtown is now dwarfed by the commercial corridor along U.S. 41 to the north, along which at least 15,000 to 20,000 cars pass daily. Its new downtown is "Country Village," a strip mall several streets deep on the north side of U.S. 41. Its buildings are so temporary and insubstantial in character that they look as if they could be hauled off at any moment to serve some more promising commercial opportunity.
Lately there's been more appreciation of Ishpeming's historic resources from many quarters. Rather than fading away, the memory of the late John Voelker (a.k.a. Robert Traver), trout fishing legend, author of Anatomy of a Murder, lifelong Ishpeming resident, seems to be gaining steam. He was a regular at both the Rainbow Bar down the hill from his house and the beautiful Ishpeming Public Library. A mini-museum honoring Voelker, the movie, and all manner of local lore is downtown at Congress Lounge & Pizza.
An Ishpeming Historical Society has been formed. It's located in the Cliffs Shaft Mining Museum complex. The ruggedly handsome stone 1891 City Hall on East Division has been renovated. City planners have prepared a feasibility study for the empty Mather Inn, the stately four-story downtown hotel, once a hub of activity at downtown's north end, on Canda at Main. Under its current owner, the hotel remains in limbo, however.
Still in demand are the fine old homes up on Strawberry Hill behind the Mather Inn. They were built for mine managers and business owners near the turn of the last century. Some mine captains had tunnels connecting their homes with the mine shafts they supervised.
Ishpeming has long been associated with skiing. Downhill ski-jumping contests, begun by local Norwegian residents, go back to the 1880s, the first held anywhere in the United States. The National Ski Hall of Fame on U.S. 41 celebrates Ishpeming's skiing history. Now ski poles adorn downtown streetlamps.
The famous wooden Suicide Hill ski jump, 280 feet high and 860 feet long, was built in 1925 on Cleveland-Cliffs Iron land between Ishpeming and Negaunee. It is still operated by the local ski club (906-486-4898).
Back to Marquette Range
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ISHPEMING
RESTAURANTS,
LODGINGS
& CAMPGROUNDS
These are our choices, not ads.
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ISHPEMING
RESTAURANTS
BUCK'S RESTAURANT
(906) 485-4534
A popular downtown gathering place, Buck's is known for its breakfasts, big portions, and daily specials, mostly $7. and under at lunch and dinner in . Dinners include salad, potato, vegetable. Some examples: turkey, pork and beef that's always fresh-roasted, never pre-cut; Saturday's steak and spaghetti. The Friday fish fry begins at 4 p.m. and features beer-battered cod, fresh lake trout and whitefish, pan-fried fresh perch, and deep-fried ocean perch. Mashed potatoes are made from scratch. The extensive menu includes meal-size salads and 60 sandwiches from $5-$7. Dinners are around $8. The interior has a whole new look, even more outdoorsy, with the familiar mounts of trophy deer and fish, new booths and carpet.
218 Main at Division/Business Route M-28, downtown Ishpeming. To get to downtown from U.S, 41/M-28, take 3rd (at Ski Hall of Fame), jog and go south to Division, the main east-west road. Open daily 5 a.m.-9 p.m. Wheelchair access: one step. Bathrooms are sufficient. Family-friendly. No alcohol.
CONGRESS LOUNGE & PIZZA
(906) 486-4233
A local landmark, the Congress is a family place and popular gathering spot. The bar has been here since an act of Congress repealed Prohibition in 1933- hence, the Congress name. Since 1957 it's been known for a distinctive, thin cracker-crust pizza with a tomatoey special sauce. A large pizza with the works is around $12. The only other food is cudighi (a spicy, wine-flavored Italian sausage patty) on a bun—$5 with tomato sauce, cheese, and mushrooms. Generations of local people have grown up on Congress pizza. If they've moved away, they stop in on vacations; it's packed here around the big July 4 homecoming.
Now that Guido Bonetti has completely retired, his son Paul has assumed his role as informal local historian. If you show any interest in Ishpeming, he'll tell you a lot. The walls are decorated with a museum's worth of local lore, about John Voelker, hometown sports, mining, and more. Paul created the interesting, revealing scrapbook on the making of Anatomy of a Murder (for sale for about $15). It reproduces his aunt's newspaper clippings from 1959, alongside interviews with John Voelker's widow shortly before her death.
106 N. Main a block north of Division/B.R. M-28 in downtown Ishpeming. Parking in rear off Bank. Open Tues-Sat 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Sun-Mon4-midnight.Handicap accessible: rear entrance. One step in front. Family friendly. Full bar.
MAMA MIA'S ITALIAN RESTAURANT
(906) 485-5813
A pleasant atmosphere and good Italian food with homemade sauces and hand-cut meat make Mama Mia's stand out. (The pasta is imported; owners Phil and Julie Barbiere like it better than fresh pasta.) Favorite dishes are the lasagna ($9.50, or $14.50 as a dinner with salad, antipasto, garlic bread and ice cream) and chicken fettuccini Alfredo ($10.75 and $1575). Tenderloin with lasagna is $17.95. Pizza and cudighi (spicy Italian sausage popular in Marquette County) or meatball sandwiches are another option (/$425).
207 E. Pearl downtown. From U.S. 41, turn south at the Ski Hall of Fame and take Third all the way to where it ends at the Peterson Auditorium of Ishpeming High. It faces Pearl St. Take Pearl two blocks west to restaurant. Park next door. Open daily from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., to 11 on Friday and Saturday. Wheelchair-assessible. Family-friendly. Full bar.
LAWRY'S PASTY SHOP
(906) 485-5589
This trim, cheery little spot has a very limited menu: good pasties in three versions. Traditional (beef, potato, rutabagas, onion) and vegetable pasties are $3.29 for the 12-ounce version, $4.09 for a 17-ounce beef pasty. A $2.69 breakfast pasty is filled with eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, and cheese. Cole slaw is the only side. The canoe livery is no longer in operation.
2381 U.S. 41 West, south side, just beyond the west edge of town. Open year-round 7 days a week, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. From mid-May through September open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wheelchair-accesible except for downstairs restrooms. Family-friendly. No alcohol.
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ISHPEMING
LODGINGS
BEST WESTERN COUNTRY INN
(800) 528-1234; (906) 485-6345; reserv.
An indoor pool, large rooms, and little extras make this 2-story facility, now grown to 60 rooms, an attractive place to stay. The lobby has a fireplace, free coffee, cookies, newspaper but no continental breakfast. The indoor pool is big enough for laps. There's a whirlpool, too. All rooms have coffeemakers. Free local calls, and free HBO. Now that local retailing has pretty much moved out to the highway, into a "country village" surrounded by parking lots, there's a lot to do within walking distance: McDonald's, Country Kitchen restaurant, Jasper Ridge brewpub, a popular bowling alley, movie theater, and a strip mall with a bookstore - so that developer Paul Argall markets his two motels and RV park here as "Country Village Resort." Don't expect much in the way of authentic history here; go downtown for that. 2007 rates for July into fall and winter: $91 for standard room, with whirlpool $111. less in spring and late fall. Special snowmobile and ski rates. Plug-ins for snowmobiles; on snowmobile trail. The nearby Best Western Jasper Ridge, under the same management, offers family suites, continental breakfast, and business accommodations with office chairs and workstations but no indoor pool.
850 U.S. Hwy. 41 West a mile north of downtown Ishpeming. Handicap accessible: some ADA accessible rooms; call for others. Family friendly: 17 & under free. Dogs: in smoking rooms.
JASPER RIDGE INN
(906) 485-2378; RESERVATIONS (906) 485-2378
See Best Western Country Inn for approximate location and nearby shops, restaurants, etc. Jasper Ridge, under the same ownership, is not as close to breakfast spots. It has 26 rooms on two floors, with an outdoor pool and meeting facilities. Rates include a continental breakfast. Rates for two doubles $100, $105 for a king with work desk, and $115 for a one-room suite with microwave and minifridge. All rooms have in-room coffeemakers, HBO, and wi-fi. On snowmobile trail.
1000 River Parkway off U.S. 41 by McDonald's. Children under 18 free. Some rooms wheelchair-accessible. No pets.
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ISHPEMING
CAMPGROUNDS
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