Ironwood City Hall

The Ironwood City Hall was a government building located at the corner of McLeod Avenue and Norfolk Street in Ironwood, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980,[1] designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1975,[2] and demolished in 1989.[3]

Ironwood City Hall
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Michigan State Historic Site
Location	McLeod Ave. and Norfolk St., Ironwood, Michigan
Coordinates	46°27′16″N 90°9′58″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1890
Architect	George Mennie
Architectural style	Romanesque, Vernacular Richardsonian
Demolished	1989
NRHP reference No.	80001856[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 28, 1980
Designated MSHS	May 14, 1975[2]

History

The city of Ironwood was first settled in 1885 as the commercial center of the newly opening Gogebic iron range.[2] The city was incorporated in 1889, and hired architect George Mennie to design a new city hall. This building was constructed the following year. It initially housed the city jail, police department, fire station, library, and city offices. The library was moved in 1901 and the city offices in 1923; since then the police and fire departments exclusively used the building.[3] In 1918, a horse barn and a metal stairway were added to the side facade.[2] The building was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1975 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, but was demolished in 1989.[3] The site now houses the Gogebic County Transit.[3]

Description

The Ironwood City Hall was a two-story, rectangular, vernacular Richardsonian structure with an exterior of tan brick with smooth brownstone belt cornices on a foundation of rough cut brown sandstone.[2] The hip roof was covered in steel, and an eighty-foot-high tower, originally capped with a pagoda-roofed open turret, was located on one corner. There were several ground-floor entrances, including a tower entrance, a double door for fire equipment, and entrances to the police station and library. The windows were rectangular and symmetrically arranged, with decorative windows in wall dormers on the upper story. Decorative trim, including gable pilasters and finials, chimney caps and cornices, appeared bulbous and weighty.[2]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "Ironwood City Hall". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
3. Ironwood Historical Society. "Take a Walk Through Ironwood in the 1950s". Ironwood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved December 25, 2011.