The Daily Mining Gazette - Published: Friday, March 23, 2007 Print Article | Close Window A town, historically speaking Lake Linden being looked at for National Register CAPTION: Kurt Hauglie/Daily Mining Gazette The Harris Block building at the south of Lake Linden is one of the reasons the village is being nominated for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. By KURT HAUGLIE, DMG Writer LAKE LINDEN — There are many old towns in the United States, but it takes certain features to qualify a town to be a historic place, and some people think Lake Linden has those features. Lake Linden is currently under study for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places by Kim Hoagland, architectural historian at Michigan Tech University and Stephanie Atwood, masters candidate in industrial archeology at Tech. During a Fourth Thursday in History presentation by the Keweenaw National Historical Park at the Lake Linden-Hubbell High School auditorium Thursday with about 50 people in attendance, Hoagland said she was asked to do a study of the feasibility of the village being named a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. “It’s a project that started with a request from the village,” Hoagland said. Hoagland said Atwood did research on the history of the village, and some of her other students did a survey of the existing buildings. “We evaluated each building one by one, and from that we drew boundaries (for the district),” Hoagland said. There are several criteria for evaluation to be placed on the national register, Hoagland said, including significance in history, association with significant historic events, association with well-known or important people in history and having distinctive architecture. “I think Lake Linden will have no problem with that,” she said. In order for a structure to be considered as historic, Hoagland said it must have integrity, meaning the openings (doors and windows), materials, porches and ornamentation must be appropriate to the time they were built. Although a building may be worn down and dilapidated, Hoagland said that wouldn’t necessarily preclude it from being considered. “Condition isn’t an issue,” she said. However, Hoagland said some features will disqualify a building from being considered, such as changes in size and location of doors and windows, materials, such as vinyl siding and additions such as garages or other rooms. “The national registry form actually makes you add up contributing (factors),” she said. Hoagland said the preliminary boundaries for the proposed Lake Linden historic district are along Calumet Avenue from south of town near the Houghton County Historical Museum north to about St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and three or four blocks east and west of Calumet Avenue. Atwood said Lake Linden’s history is significant because it was the largest of the mill towns in the area of the Portage Lake Shipping Canal and because it served the largest mine operator, the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co. Originally called Torch Lake, Atwood said there are several myths as to how the village acquired the name, but the one many historians think is most likely has to do with the fact that the Native Americans living in the area at the time the French Canadian explorers were in the area used to fish on the lake at night with torches and nets. In the 1850s, Atwood said C&H opened its mill closer to the Torch Lake and soon after the village began to grow. Mine officials chose the area for several reasons, including that it was downhill from their mines in Calumet and it was on Torch Lake, which was protected and it was deep. “It’s a glacial lake,” Atwood said. That depth meant it could hold a lot of dumped stamp sands left over from the copper milling process. Although there is uncertainty as to exactly when and why the Village of Torch Lake was renamed to Lake Linden, Atwood said it was officially incorporated as Lake Linden in 1895. Several businesses became prominent, such as the Joseph Bosch Brewing Co. and the mercantile retailer William Harris. A fire in 1887 destroyed 75 percent of the structures in the village, including the Bosch brewery and the Harris building. Both rebuilt, and although Bosch eventually moved west of Houghton on the shipping canal, Harris rebuilt and his building, the Harris Block, still stands. John Rosemurgy, KNHP historical architect, said if an area receives designation as a historic district, there are no restrictions on private property owners, who can do what they wish to their property. “It’s honorary only,” he said. There are advantages to keeping property historically accurate, however, Rosemurgy said. There are both state and federal tax breaks for doing so. Rosemurgy said there are several existing historic districts in Houghton County: Calumet Historic District, established in 1989; Quincy Mine, established in 1989; the residential neighborhood of East Hancock, established in 1980; Shelden Avenue in Houghton and Quincy Street in Hancock. The largest historic district in the area, with more than 1,000 structures, is the Laurium Historic District established in 2004. Hoagland said the report for the nomination for Lake Linden to be placed on the Historic Register should be finished in May. It first must be sent to the State Historic Preservation Office Board of Review. If the board thinks the village meets minimum requirements, a representative will probably make a site visit. If the SHPO officials approve it, the report will be sent to the offices of the National Register of Historic Places for consideration. The whole process could go well into next year. Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com