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Keweenaw National Historical Park Headquarters, Calumet
January 14, 2025
Present:
Commissioners
- Glenn Anderson, State of Michigan (President)
- Karin Cooper, Houghton County (Secretary)
- Dan Jamison, at-large (Treasurer)
- Thomas Helppi, Calumet Township
- Gerald Juntunen, Commissioner, at-large
- Mary Sears, Franklin and Quincy Townships
- Andrew Ranville, Village of Calumet
Executive Director
National Park Service (NPS)
- Wendy Davis, Superintendent
- Amber Kraft, Interp and Education
- David Dean, Interp and Education
Decisions and Announcements
- Announced the start of the 2025 Keweenaw Heritage Grant program cycle with minimum of $115,000 in awards available.
- The Commission voted to begin the process of strategic planning. Meeting to be held in February.
- Approved travel for Ex. Dir. Gohman to two conferences in May: MHPN in Sault Ste Marie, MI and Society of Industrial Archeology in Buffalo, NY.
A.1. Call to Order
A regular meeting of the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was opened at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 14th, 2025.
A.2. Introductions
Guests:
- Karen Hintz, Keweenaw County Historical Society.
- Leah Polzien, Main Street Calumet
- Megan Haselden, Village of Calumet
- Vince Kanthak, Painesdale Mine & Shaft
A.3. Approval of Agenda for January 14th, 2025
- Motion made by Cooper. Seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0).
A.4. Approval of Minutes of October 8th, 2024
- Motion made by Cooper to amend and accept minutes to address typos under Decisions and Announcements. Seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0).
B.1. Superintendent’s Report
A. Staffing updates:
- David Dean was hired to fill the Interp and Education lead assistant position in October.
- Karl Deitzler was hired to fill the Landscape Architect position and should be joining the park in early February.
- The Historian position was not filled over the fall.
- John Arnold took another position, meaning the Historical Architect position is currently vacant.
- Two additional staff attached to AML/IRA funding will be starting soon as well. An architect position is filled and awaiting onboarding, while a shared archaeologist position (with Isle Royale NP) began in December.
- A Facilities Manager position was open (now closed). A certified list of candidates is being created for future interviews.
- Seasonal hires related to facilities, interp, and museum departments are being filled in the coming weeks. Some are newly hired, while others are returning hires.
- Two Media Interns are currently working at the park on the continued Copper Traces online education program.
B. Project updates:
- The Administrative History of the park is ongoing. Interviews are completed and the document is in the drafting stage.
- A new Facilities dept. facility is sorely needed. The park is brainstorming ideas and looking for locations, etc. to fill this need.
- The C&H Warehouse development into a multi-park curatorial facility is in its final design stage and up for review.
- Awaiting on a federal budget. Continuing resolutions make it hard to plan. Specifically in regard to Abandoned Mine Lands-related projects.
- Working with the commission to secure $250,000 in annual agreement money. $150,000 of which to support safe-ing projects related to historic mining resources.
C. Technical Assistance updates:
- A site report for the Delaware Mine is being developed after a NPS and Commission site visit last fall. The report addresses questions/concerns from the new owners of the tourist mine, as well as recommendations from park staff to improve visitor experiences.
- A similar site visit to the Finnish American Heritage Center is also in the works.
- Congratulations to Hanka Homestead Finnish Museum for receiving a grant/award from the Historical Society of Michigan.
Questions for the Superintendent
None
B. 2. Executive Director’s Report
Keweenaw Heritage Grants
- Happy to announce this year’s Keweenaw Heritage Grant cycle. Applications are live and can be found on the park’s website.
- A minimum of $115,000 in awards are on offer this year.
- Applications are due Friday, April 4th at end of business.
- Awards will be announced by Friday, May 9th, with funds available May 27th.
- As always, eligible properties/entities must lie within the boundaries of the park, be an official Heritage Site, or located within three areas of historic significance, namely: the Cliff Mine, the western shore of Torch Lake, or the historic mining community of Painesdale.
Quincy Smelter Updates
- The commission and Quincy Mine Hoist Association are working on an updated interpretive tour for the Quincy Smelter property. The route is changing, as is the script. A focus will be placed on the process of smelting, as well as the themes of milling, transportation, and labor.
- The park and commission are working with PAL (The Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc.) to conduct a Historic Resources Survey of the Quincy Smelting Works. An HRS, as defined in NPS Cultural Resource Management Guidelines (NPS-28), is a key baseline document that provides a historical overview of a park or region and identifies a park’s cultural resources within historic contexts.
- Already producing draft chapters for review.
FY25 Planned and Proposed Projects
- Working with the park’s Interp team to develop a Heritage Site “guidebook” for sale in the Visitor Center or other gift shops. No hard date on completion or format as of yet.
- This guidebook could contain the respective sites’ missions, themes, resources, and expected visitor experiences. General info. Nothing that would change year to year like cost.
- We’re awaiting the approval of our annual funding agreement with the park. Once in hand, a few “safeing” projects are in the works.
National Historic Landmark Designations
- The Quincy and Calumet amended NHLs were finally approved in December. This closes the book on those amended landmark designations that began over 8 years ago. Both now align more closely to what is on the ground today, and not what was on the ground in 1989 – when they were first designated.
B.3. Requests to Commission and Financial Reports
a. Budget/Finance
- Motion to approve billing in the amount of $4,367.10 made by Juntunen and seconded by Helppi. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0)
- Motion to approve payroll and tax payments in the amount of $18,028.99 made by Cooper and seconded by Sears. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0)
- Motion to approve travel expenses for the Executive Director to attend the Michigan Historic Preservation Conference in Sault Ste. Marie (~$900) and the Society for Industrial Archeology Conference in Buffalo, NY (~$2200) made by Jamison and seconded by Juntunen. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0)
- Motion made by Karin Cooper to initiate a strategic plan for the commission, beginning with a brainstorming session in February to identify, categorize, and prioritize goals and objectives for 2025 and beyond. Seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0)
B.4. Commissioner Reports
A. Juntunen informed the commission of the Ontonagon County Historical Society’s desire to return the Ontonagon Boulder to the Keweenaw (from the Smithsonian). Superintendent Davis informed the commission that the back room of the park’s Visitor Center was structurally sound enough to support the boulder, if/when it can be secured.
C.1. Comments from legislators or legislative staff
None
C.2. Comments from Keweenaw Heritage Site representatives
A. Vince Kanthak of Painesdale Mine & Shaft updated the commission on work at the site.
- REJ is about to start working on the upper levels of the shaft house as part of a 2024 Keweenaw Heritage Grant. The wooden ore bins are to be emptied (~100 tons of rock) in order to keep them from falling apart and open the area up for visitors.
- Continuing work on rehabbing the hexagonal 100-gallon water tank building. Asbestos exterior tiles were removed and new supporting infrastructure has been built so the building is standing and braced more securing.
- Tar paper is now wrapping the structure, and this summer new look-a-like tiles will be put on it to replicate its historic look.
- The next project is working on re-shingling and siding the 1902 Captain’s Office.
- May also require new windows.
B. Hintz, Keweenaw County Historical Society, updated the commission on:
- Over 20,000 visitors to the KCHS sites this year. Most are coming to the lighthouse complex.
- Continuing to work on the Fog Signal (giftshop) building. Accessibility has improved, now need to look at the roof.
- Developing a grant application for continuing work at the lighthouse. Scoped the project with John Arnold before he left the park.
- KCHS is very appreciative of the commission for their two year grant cycle completion windows and their ability to work with the sites to accommodate scheduling and contracting issues.
C. Jamison, Calumet Theatre, informed the commission of new work at the theatre.
- Redone the dressing rooms under the stage.
- Period correct furniture has been added to the dressing rooms.
- The projectors have been restored and reinstalled in the projector room.
- While working on the box office, the original tile floor was uncovered.
- A new boiler should be installed and ready shortly. This is the end of a years-long struggle to replace the heating system for the theatre. Keweenaw Heritage Grants, Certified Local Government grants, and local fundraising has all worked together to make this happen.
C.3. Comments from the public
A. Polzien, speaking on behalf of the Bring Back Calumet* group (BBC), informed the commission of an ongoing historic preservation project directed at the Ruppe Block building on 5th Street, Calumet. The current owner is in liability and holds insurance on the building, but can no longer contribute to it’s upkeep. The Build Back Calumet group is working to raise funds to conduct a phased stabilization of the building to get it in redevelopment-ready mode for a future developer.
- The façade is the prime attraction on the Ruppe Block building, but the first phase of this project is to raise $50,000 to stabilize the back end to prevent a collapse at the rear of the building. Just over $25,000 has been raised so far, including a $5,000 pledge from the commission.
- The fund being created is directed at the Ruppe Block building for now, but it will continue to exist to fund other similar projects in the Calumet Township area. Keweenaw Community Foundation is holding that fund.
- After the initial $50,000, another $150,000 will be needed to fully stabilize the building for additional work.
- That work would require roughly $600,000 or so needed to make it redevelopment-ready. This includes roof demo, a new roof, and new exterior walls, basement rehab, and parking spaces in the rear.
- The commission is not being asked to contribute more at this time. This is merely an update on the project and the BBC’s intentions going forward.
- A press release will be going out shortly followed by the fundraising push.
* Bring Back Calumet consists of Keweenaw National Historical Park, its Advisory Commission, the Village of Calumet, Calumet Downtown Development Authority, Main Street Calumet, Houghton County Land Bank, and Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance.
D. Motion to Adjourn
Moved by Ranville and seconded by Jamison at 2:01 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0).
Next public meeting to be held Tuesday, April 8th at 1:00pm at Keweenaw NHP Headquarters
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