Quincy Mine Office: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Keweenaw National Historical Park, National Park Service

The Quincy Mine Office is located on one of several noncontiguous tracts of land owned by the National Park Service (NPS) that make up the Quincy Mining Company National Historic Landmark District (NHL), part of the Quincy Unit of Keweenaw National Historical Park. The park is on Keweenaw Peninsula, jutting into Lake Superior from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Mine Office is one of the administrative buildings within the historic landscape, connecting the historic mining industry with evidence of life in Quincy. The Mine Office building is a two-story structure displaying elements of both Richardsonian Romanesque and Classical Revival styles. Along with performing the function of administrative headquarters for the mine, the Quincy Mine Office served as a visible symbol of the company’s success. The building is located beside U.S. Highway 41, the primary route along the Keweenaw Peninsula. The period of significance for the NHL begins in 1846, when the Quincy Mining Company was founded to mine native copper deposits near Hancock, Michigan; it continues until 1931, when operations ceased due to a drop in copper prices during the Great Depression. This period is also used for the Mine Office cultural landscape, as it is a contributing property of the NHL District and the Quincy Unit of the park. As part of these broader landscapes, the Mine Office is nationally significant for associations with industry and engineering, and specifically the development of copper mining. The Quincy Mine Office landscape retains integrity and assists with the conveyance of the historic significance, representing an outstanding example of the growth and development of the United States copper industry from its earliest years through 1920. The Quincy Mine Office retains essential landscape characteristics and features from the period of significance. The historic integrity of the Mine Office property has been diminished by actions occurring over the seventy years between the end of the historic period and the time that the NPS purchased the property in 2001. Yet, overall, the Quincy Mine Office landscape retains considerable integrity from the historic period. The Mine Office building remains with few external changes, and circulation features such as a trace of the old Calumet Road (U.S. Highway 41) and the walks between the old road and the building are retained from the historic period. The historic character of the vegetation remains, including the hardwood stand behind the Mine Office, the clipped grass surrounding the building, and the rows of trees spatially dividing the series of buildings along the west side of old Calumet Road. Small scale features and archeological sites such as the partially visible utility trench, the stone base for the picket fence that historically enclosed the property, and the Quincy Mine Office Site Ruin are retained in their historic locations. Views within the historic district of the mining surface works and geological features are also retained. Together, these elements of the landscape aid in the interpretation of the site’s historic use and significance. The building continues to be used as an office by two nonprofit groups and Isle Royale National Park. Several other buildings from the historic period which would have been located within the boundaries of the NPS-owned property are no longer extant, and their absence diminishes the density of the series of buildings on the west side of the road. Although it is considered to be in poor condition, the Quincy Mine Office persists and continues to contribute to the significance of the overall cultural landscape.

Quincy Mine Office: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Keweenaw National Historical Park, National Park Service

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