MONTREAL

Region: Ironwood & the Gogebic Range

Wisconsin Mines

The mining location around the Montreal Mine, said to be the world's deepest iron mine at 4,337 feet, looks more like a tidy New England village today than a former industrial site. It's a pleasant place for walking or biking. Montreal's 132 white-painted company homes consist of four different models of Aladdin kit-built houses from Bay City, Michigan—not prefabs, but pre-cut and shipped with all the necessary components. Montreal houses even have porches—an almost unheard-of amenity in mine company housing.

Montreal (current population about 800) was a company town of the Cleveland-based Oglebay Norton Company, an idealistic, paternalistic company whose leaders believed that a contented work force would be easier to deal with. Oglebay Norton began in 1854 as a sales and shipping agent for iron ore. In 1890 the company took over operations of John D. Rockefeller's Lake Superior iron mines. When Rockefeller and Carnegie created their combined trust of mining, steel, and shipping in 1901, Oglebay decided to stay independent, focus on shipping, and develop mines of its own.

The City Beautiful movement in town planning was in full sway when Montreal was being planned. Oglebay Norton adopted its ideas in the town, beginning with its first 20 houses in 1907, the very year Gwinn, Michigan, another exemplary mining town, was being built. (Montreal had been inspired by the picturesque company town of Ramsay between Bessemer and Wakefield.) In Montreal, trees lined boulevards. Alleys served chicken coops and cow barns, and a common pasture and herdsman were provided for mining families' cows. The village recreational center sponsored plays, art classes, dances, and bowling. Vines, maples, and firs softened the outlines of industrial buildings. Today at the village's east entrance, vines cover the long, impressive machine shop on the south side of Highway 77.
A company nurseryman planted a vine of some kind by every house, and hostas as foundation plantings. Employees were given seeds and shown how to plant them. Land for children's play lots was left vacant at every other corner. The company mowed lawns, put up and took down storm windows to insure a tidy appearance, and painted Montreal's houses. White paint won out over the original plan for a subdued Arts and Crafts palette.

Many families appreciated this compensation for mine work. Some, however, resented this paternalism. Montreal Italians chose to build their houses in a neighborhood west of town.

Exhibits on the Montreal Mine and the lives of iron miners are at the Iron County Museum and at the highway rest stop in Hurley. When the mines here closed in 1963, 600 workers lost their jobs. Many went to the American Motors plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Homes were sold for $2,200 to $3,500. Skiing was then being developed as a linchpin of the area's postindustrial economy. Skiers from the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, and Chicago joined former miners and retirees in buying up the bargain homes, and they became important property owners. One well-heeled skier, Peggy Carter, bought 11 homes. She envisioned Montreal as a ski and summer resort and worked to recreate the historic Flambeau Trail over old logging roads. She helped start the Iron County Historical Society and led a movement to keep Montreal's houses white. The village is now on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places. History-minded rehabbers, however, did ruffle many local feathers by raising maintenance standards.

Eventually Peggy and George Carter took over the Iron Gate Inn. Now it's The Inn Bed & Breakfast, owned by Dick and Doree Schumacher since 1979. For a few years the Schumachers even operated a boarding school for promising high-school age skiers at The Inn and adjoining houses, but couldn't get permission for a planned expansion.

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PLACES AROUND MONTREAL TO

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