Winona, Michigan Explained

Official Name:Winona, Michigan
Pushpin Map:Michigan
Pushpin Label:Winona
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Michigan
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Houghton
Subdivision Type3:Township
Timezone:Eastern (EST)
Utc Offset:-5
Timezone Dst:EDT
Utc Offset Dst:-4
Elevation Ft:1276
Coordinates:46.8744°N -88.9072°W
Postal Code Type:ZIP code(s)
Postal Code:49965 (Toivola)
Area Code:906
Blank Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank Info:1622185

Winona, Michigan is an unincorporated community, ghost town and one-time boomtown of Elm River Township in Houghton County, Michigan. It was once home to over 1,000 individuals in 1920, but today is home to as few as 13.[1] [2] It is located 33 miles to the south of the city of Houghton off of M-26.[3] [4] In its heyday, Winona had restaurants, a brewery, sports teams, churches, boarding houses, a train depot, a saloon, stores, boardwalks, a school, five neighbourhoods, a dance hall and a barber shop.[5] Only a school, a church, and a few homes remain intact.

The community began with the foundation of both the Winona and the King Philip Mining Companies in 1864; it was in that same year that the two mining companies sunk shafts on Native American copper mining pits in what are now called the Winona and King Philip Mines. The town of Winona had sprung up around these mines.[6] [7] [8] The Winona Mine itself was composed of four separate shafts, which had thirteen years later produced more than 16,000,000 lbs of pure refined copper, making it the largest of the two mines by far by both area and profit.[9] In the year 1911 the King Philip Mine was purchased and subsequently absorbed by the Winona Mining Company, thus becoming part of the Winona Mine. The Winona Mine closed in 1923 due to low prices and demand for copper.

Notes and References

  1. News: Winona documentary to air on PBS. 6 June 2016. The Daily Mining Gazette. 29 November 2018.
  2. Web site: SWUP to Screen "Winona: A Copper Mining Ghost Town" by Michael Loukinen Mining Action Group. savethewildup.org. 2018-12-11.
  3. Book: Monette, Clarence J.. Some Copper Country Names and Places. 1975. 0-942363-04-3. Lake Linden, Michigan. 150–151.
  4. Book: Molloy, Lawrence J.. A Guide to Michigan's Historic Keweenaw Copper District: Photographs, Maps, and Tours of the Keweenaw - Past and Present. 2008. Great Lakes GeoScience . 978-0-979-1772-1-7.
  5. Web site: Documentary tells history of U.P. ghost town. 2016. The Iron Mountain Daily News. en-US. 2018-12-11.
  6. Web site: Winona Mine. 2018. mindat.org. 29 November 2018.
  7. Book: Stevens, Horace J.. The Copper Handbook. 1900. Houghton, Michigan.
  8. Web site: King Philip Mine. 2018. mindat.org. 29 November 2018.
  9. Spiroff. Kiril. A DIP NEEDLE SURVEY OF THE WYANDOTTE-WINONA AREA, HOUGHTON COUNTY, AND THE CHEROKEE AREA, ONTONAGON COUNTY. A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum. 5.