County Past
Home › Michigan › Keweenaw County

Keweenaw County, Michigan

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
42historic places
—earliest paper
1861formed
2,046pop. 2020
9cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 42 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1970; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Isle Royale National Park, Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Michigan is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Keweenaw titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

18 of 42 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

42 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
ALGOMAIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
AMERICAIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Brockway Mountain DriveEagle Harbor TownshipDistrict2017
CHESTER A. CONGDONIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
CUMBERLANDIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Central Mine Historic DistrictCentralDistrict1974
Central Mine Methodist ChurchCentralBuilding1970
Church of the AssumptionHoughton TownshipBuilding2000
Copper Harbor Light StationCopper HarborDistrict2012
EMPERORIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Eagle Harbor Coast Guard Station BoathouseEagle Harbor Rd.Building2012
Eagle Harbor Light StationEagle HarborBuilding1984
Eagle Harbor SchoolhouseEagle HarborBuilding1972
Eagle River Historic DistrictEagle RiverDistrict1984
Edisen FisheryIsle Royale National ParkBuilding1977
Fort WilkinsCopper HarborDistrict1970
GEORGE M. COXIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
GLENLYONIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Gull Rock Light StationCopper HarborBuilding1984
HENRY CHISHOLMIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Holy Redeemer ChurchEagle HarborBuilding1972
Houghton County Traction Company Ahmeek Streetcar StationAllouezBuilding2000
Ishpeming Fire TowerHoughtonStructure2021
Isle Royale Light StationIsle RoyaleBuilding1983
Johns HotelIsle Royale National ParkDistrict1997
KAMLOOPSIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and Golf Course ComplexCopper HarborDistrict1980
M 26-Cedar Creek CulvertEagle Harbor TownshipStructure1999
M26-Silver River CulvertEagle Harbor TownshipStructure1999
MONARCHIsle Royale National ParkSite1984
Manitou Island Light StationCopper HarborStructure1984
MinongIsle Royale NPDistrict2019
Minong Copper Mining Historic District NHLIsle Royale National ParkDistrict
Minong Mine Historic DistrictIsle Royale National ParkDistrict1977
New Feldtmann Fire TowerHoughtonStructure2021
Ojibway Fire TowerHoughtonStructure2021
Passage Island Light StationHoughton TownshipSite2006
Rock Harbor LighthouseIsle Royale National ParkBuilding1977
Rock of Ages Light StationIsle RoyaleBuilding1983
Sand Hills Light StationMohawkBuilding1994
Tobin Harbor Historic DistrictEagle HarborDistrict2019
US 41-Fanny Hooe Creek BridgeGrant TownshipStructure1999

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Keweenaw was formed in 1861 (1861-03-11) from Houghton.

KEWEENAW created from HOUGHTON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Keweenaw County population from 1870 to 2020 (Census historical series).

7,1564,4281,7011870188019201950196020002020
1870188019001920194019501960198020002020
4,2054,2703,2176,3224,0042,9182,4171,9632,3012,046

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

National Park Service sites nearby

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
kewePark unit17.3 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

9 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 9 of 9 listed
NameLatLon
Ahmeek Cemetery47.3088-88.40344
Cemetery Island Cemetery48.09653-88.57
Cliff Catholic Cemetery47.36666-88.30833
Cliff Cemetery47.37533-88.31045
Copper Harbor Cemetery47.46723-87.89574
Eagle River Cemetery47.40602-88.29927
Fort Wilkins State Park Cemetery47.46623-87.85901
Isle Royale Cemetery47.91638-89.01777
Pine Grove Cemetery47.45407-88.17037

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Keweenaw County, Michigan

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.