Calumet & Hecla General Office Building: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Keweenaw National Historical Park - Calumet Unit, National Park Service

The Calumet & Hecla (C&H) General Office Building is located in the Calumet Unit of Keweenaw National Historical Park in Calumet, Michigan. Calumet is located in the center of the prominent Keweenaw Peninsula, which extends about 100 miles into Lake Superior from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Copper Range forms a highland spine along the length of the peninsula, rising about 600 feet above lake level. The wealth of copper deposits brought several mining companies and industry-related developments into the area. The C&H General Office Building site is located at the intersection of Calumet Avenue and Red Jacket Road in Calumet Township. The masonry building is constructed of uncoursed stone rubble and brick. This structure, along with mature deciduous street trees, provides distinction to the landscape. The Calumet & Hecla General Office Building Cultural Landscape contributes to the Calumet National Historic Landmark District. The National Historic Landmark (NHL) nomination establishes the district's period of significance as 1864 to 1930. The period of significance for the particular landscape is the same, although it may be modified as research for the Calumet Unit Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) is completed. The landscape is nationally significant for associations with ethnic communities, mining towns, industry and engineering, labor organization, and westward expansion. The C&H Office Building represents the corporate component of the region’s copper mining industry, housing the company’s management and engineering functions. The company’s success was largely attributed to the considerable management of its labor force, as C&H developed, funded, and managed welfare programs, housing, schools, and social organizations for employees and community members. The C&H General Office Building landscape retains historic integrity because of the survival of historic landscape characteristics and features from the period of significance. The site retains a continued visual connection with several mining structures constructed by the C&H Mining Company, although others that once stood nearby are no longer extant. Visible from the General Office Building are the C&H Library, C&H management housing, and C&H mining structures along the various lodes worked by C&H. Integrity of materials and workmanship are retained for the landscape and are reflected primarily through the building and several landscape features. The feeling and association of the site as a mining company headquarters is retained, implied by the position of the building in the community and its orientation toward the Agassiz house. The site is located at the entrance to the community area, situated between homes built for the company’s managers and the industrial work area. The visual connection to other structures built by Calumet and Hecla on adjacent properties continues to contribute to the site’s feeling and association. In summary, the C&H General Office Building landscape retains integrity in aspects of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The current legal boundaries of the site were established when the successor company to C&H divided its real estate holdings for sale in the mid-1970s. The building currently functions as Park Headquarters Office for the Keweenaw National Historical Park.

Calumet & Hecla General Office Building: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Keweenaw National Historical Park - Calumet Unit, National Park Service

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