Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Ironwood Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B+History
History · Ironwood Township

Ironwood Township dates to 1885, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Copper Peak. Below: 20 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1890.

1885founded
1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
20old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ironwood Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ironwood Township began

When was Ironwood Township founded?

1885

Ironwood Township dates its founding to 1885 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1890.

First census: 7,745 in 18902020 census: 2,214141 years

How historic is Ironwood Township?

B+

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1903.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Ironwood Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ironwood Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ironwood Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1885, from Wikipedia: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194025.5% of homes (±6.7) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register1 listing, 4.3 per 10,000 residents · typical MI town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 66%
NewerOlder

Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Ironwood Township’s 4.3 sits above most of its state (74% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1885.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.7 points).

Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Ironwood Township’s past

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

A town in postcards20 old photos, postcards and papers, 1880–1937.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Ironwood Township, and 7 old place names are still on the map.Boom and bustPeaked at 15,739 in 1920; 5,045 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · By decade

Ironwood Township, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1900s7 items
Iron Mines1880Iron MinesAurora iron mines1880Aurora iron minesNorrie group no. 31880Norrie group no. 3Portrait of unidentified couple, ca. 1890c. 1890Portrait of unidentified couple, ca. 1890Ironwood-city-hall-1905c. 1905Ironwood-city-hall-1905PostcardIronwood-mining03-1910c. 1905Ironwood-mining03-1910PostcardJ. B. Moore ("American medical directory", 1906 advert)1906J. B. Moore ("American medical directory", 1906 adver…
1910s10 items
Ironwood-Ambrose-1910c. 1910Ironwood-Ambrose-1910PostcardIronwood-Aurora-1910c. 1910Ironwood-Aurora-1910PostcardIronwood-Depot-1910c. 1910Ironwood-Depot-1910PostcardIronwood-Newport-1910c. 1910Ironwood-Newport-1910PostcardIronwood-Norrie-1910c. 1910Ironwood-Norrie-1910PostcardIronwood-Suffolk-1910c. 1910Ironwood-Suffolk-1910PostcardIronwood-mining01-1910c. 1910Ironwood-mining01-1910PostcardIronwood-mining02-1910c. 1910Ironwood-mining02-1910PostcardIronwood-mining04-1910c. 1910Ironwood-mining04-1910PostcardIronwood-mining05-1910c. 1910Ironwood-mining05-1910Postcard
1930s3 items
Mine machinery, powerhouse and lifts. Ironwood, Michigan1936Mine machinery, powerhouse and lifts. Ironwood, Michi…Warehouse and foundations of homes under construction at Resettlement Administration project. Ironwood, Michigan1936Warehouse and foundations of homes under construction…Foundation forms for homes under construction at the Resettlement Administration project1937Foundation forms for homes under construction at the …
1940s–1990snothing 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
Today1 recent
Downtown2007Downtown
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Montreal, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Auvinen CornerCamp DejacketHautala CornerHillcrestJunetNorth BessemerNorth Ironwood
Gone or out of use
Hillcrest Post Officepost officeMontreal Post Officepost officeMontreal Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Ironwood Township
Historic Indian Burial Grounds

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

People over time

Ironwood Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 15,739

Peaked at 15,739 in 1920; 5,045 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ironwood Township’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Ironwood Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ironwood Township.

Read it all →

Ironwood was settled in the spring of 1885. The town was incorporated as a village in 1887 and as a city on April 8, 1889. The township area north of the city was incorporated as Ironwood Township on April 8, 1889. In 1890 the population of Ironwood passed 7,500 and in 1900 it reached 10,000. Ironwood reputedly acquired its name when Frederic W. Rhinelander, president of the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western Railroad line, arriving by train at what was then little more than a wilderness camp, chose it to honor one of his employees, mining captain James (Iron) Wood. "Ironwood" is also a colloquial name for Ostrya virginiana, a common hardwood tree in the Upper Midwest.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ironwood Township, 1880 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archiveIron Mines
  3. 1885
    FoundingIronwood Township is established
  4. 1890In the archivePortrait of unidentified couple, ca. 1890
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Montreal post office opens
  7. 1905In the archiveIronwood-city-hall-1905
  8. 1910In the archiveIronwood-Ambrose-1910
  9. 1915Post officeThe Montreal post office closes
  10. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 15,739
  11. 1936In the archiveMine machinery, powerhouse and lifts. Ironwood, Michigan
  12. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Ironwood Township on the map, 1956 to 1999

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

Ironwood Township on the 1956 USGS mapIronwood Township on the 1999 USGS map1956North Ironwood sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Iron Mines
Retake this viewIron Mines, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Ironwood Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Copper Peak
Copper Peak
Sites
Copper PeakSite

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

Help out

Finish Ironwood Township’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 viewIron Mines: 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.

Wakefield Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBessemer Township1 historic placeA−Ironwood6 historic placesA−

Questions about Ironwood Township’s history

What year was Ironwood Township founded?

In 1885, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ironwood Township’s post office opened in 1903, and the census of 1890 counted 7,745 people here.

How does Ironwood Township rank for history?

Ironwood Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Ironwood Township?

One place: the Copper Peak (listed 1973).

How old are the homes in Ironwood Township?

26% of Ironwood Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1971.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (15), the Library of Congress (6), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.