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History · Eagle Harbor

Eagle Harbor’s post office opened in 1861, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 8 old photos and papers and maps from 1946 on.

1861first post office
5on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
8old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Eagle Harbor’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Eagle Harbor began

When was Eagle Harbor founded?

1861

The Eagle Harbor post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 69165 years
Founding year: the first Eagle Harbor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Eagle Harbor’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

5 historic places in Eagle Harbor

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Eagle Harbor came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Eagle Harbor.

Read it all →

Eagle Harbor is known in the Ojibwe language as Ginoozhegoong, meaning "place of the northern pike".

The earliest known non-indigenous settlement at Eagle Harbor was a log warehouse built in 1844. In 1845, the Eagle Harbor Mining Company was established there to mine copper. In 1853, the Eagle Harbor Schoolhouse was established. A post office operated at Eagle Harbor from 1857 through 1959.

The Eagle Harbor Light was first constructed in 1851. A rocky ledge originally obstructed entrance to the harbor for larger ships, but in the late 1870s a 14 foot (4.3 m)-deep channel was dredged at the entrance to the harbor.

ChaptersRecent history

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Eagle Harbor, 1793 to 1995

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1793In the archiveMap Of Location Of Light
  3. 19th century
  4. 1870In the archiveEagle Harbor, Amygdaloid Copper shaft house
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902In the archiveOld school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Justus Rathbone taught
  7. 1946On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1980In the archiveEagle Harbor Lighthouse, Michigan
  9. 1995In the archiveCopper Country Trail - Silver River Falls Sign
By decade

Eagle Harbor, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1790s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1790s1 item
Map Of Location Of Light1793Map Of Location Of LightMap
1870s–1900s5 items
Eagle Harbor, Amygdaloid Copper shaft housec. 1870Eagle Harbor, Amygdaloid Copper shaft houseGeneral view of works at Amygdaloid Copper Mountain, Eagle Harborc. 1870General view of works at Amygdaloid Copper Mountain, …Old school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Justus Rathbone taught1902Old school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Jus…Old school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Justus Rathbone taught1902Old school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Jus…Old school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Justus Rathbone taught1902Old school house at Eagle Harbor, Mich., in which Jus…
1910s–1970snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1980s–1990s2 items
Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, Michigan1980Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, MichiganCopper Country Trail - Silver River Falls Sign1995Copper Country Trail - Silver River Falls Sign
Today10 recent
Eagle Harbor P8240016 Lighthouse Tour2006Eagle Harbor P8240016 Lighthouse TourEagle Harbor P82400012006Eagle Harbor P8240001Eagle Harbor P8230070 Lighthouse2006Eagle Harbor P8230070 LighthouseEagle Harbor P82300692006Eagle Harbor P8230069Eagle Harbor P8230068 (warehouse now hotel)2006Eagle Harbor P8230068 (warehouse now hotel)Eagle Harbor P8230067 Lighthouse2006Eagle Harbor P8230067 LighthouseEagle Harbor P82300662006Eagle Harbor P8230066Eagle Harbor P82300652006Eagle Harbor P8230065Eagle Harbor P82300642006Eagle Harbor P8230064Eagle Harbor 037 35A2006Eagle Harbor 037 35A
On the map

Eagle Harbor on the map, 1946 to 1975

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Eagle Harbor. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Eagle Harbor on the 1946 USGS mapEagle Harbor on the 1975 USGS map1946Eagle Harbor sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Eagle Harbor.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Eagle Harbor, Amygdaloid Copper shaft house
Retake this viewEagle Harbor, Amygdaloid Copper shaft house, c. 1870

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Eagle Harbor’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Eagle Harbor’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewEagle Harbor, Amygdaloid Copper shaft h…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Eagle Harbor Township11 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Eagle Harbor’s history

What year was Eagle Harbor founded?

The Eagle Harbor post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (16), the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.