Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907 Evening news

View All Front Pages

About The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907

The Copper Country Evening News was established in 1892 at Calumet in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. The wide northwest of the Upper Peninsula retains the name the “Copper Country,” as in its heyday it was the world’s greatest producer of copper. Confusion over the name “Calumet” results from its widespread use in the region. Calumet is the name of the surrounding township, founded in 1866; the village previously known as “Red Jacket” was officially renamed “Calumut” in 1929. Meanwhile, the neighboring village of Laurium, less than a mile to the east, was formerly known as Calumet until the Michigan legislature renamed it in 1895 after the famous silver mining town in ancient Greece. The township of Calumet was founded in 1866, one year after the then distinct Calumet and Hecla copper mines were first worked. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, all three communities effectively operated as one, dominated by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company. The latter was one of the most significant copper producers in the world, accounting for more than half of the copper output of the United States between 1871 and 1880. Calumet and Hecla was Michigan’s largest producer of copper every year between 1880 and 1901 with one exception.

The Copper Country Evening News switched back and forth in its early years between eight- and four-page formats. It was a daily paper (excluding Sundays) and was edited and owned by Frederick MacKenzie, who also served as township clerk of Calumet. MacKenzie was born in London in 1832. His father was a celebrated architectural draughtsman and watercolorist of the same name who worked with Augustus Pugin, designer of the interior of the rebuilt Palace of Westminster. After being passed over for promised civil service employment in London, MacKenzie moved first to Chicago, then Champaign County, Illinois, where he attempted farming. MacKenzie relocated to the Keweenaw to recover from a bout of malaria in 1865 and stayed, working initially in the office of Samuel H. Hill’s Pennsylvania Copper Mine at Delaware, Michigan. MacKenzie was later employed at the Holland & Patterson Hardware store in Hancock, before serving as a clerk under Thomas W. Buzze, supply agent for the Calumet Mining Company. During these years, MacKenzie also became a correspondent for the Detroit Free Press, publishing under the pen name of “The Parson.” He ultimately made a small fortune as founder of the Pioneer Lumber Company.

The Copper Country Evening News had grown out of the earlier (established 1881) Calumet and Red Jacket News, a weekly published each Friday, originally owned by a Matt Kelly. Kelly ceded ownership of the paper to MacKenzie in place of repayment of a loan. Under MacKenzie’s ownership, average circulation of the Evening News fluctuated between 800 and 1,200. A liberal Republican, MacKenzie’s politics were reflected in the articles of the Copper Country Evening News as evident in its enthusiastic “Victory” coverage and mockery of Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the November 5, 1896 edition. The paper’s circulation for 1895 was recorded at 1,345 at an annual subscription of $5. Demonstrating his family’s continued links to the mine company, MacKenzie’s daughter, Edith, married J.N. Cox, cashier of the C&H Mine Office. On Frederick MacKenzie’s death in 1902, his son Clyde took over the Evening News, before selling it in 1904 to the Mining Gazette Company, named for the Daily Mining Gazette located in nearby Houghton. In 1907, the paper was relaunched as the Calumet News.

Provided By: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907

Other Title

  • Evening news

Dates of Publication

  • 18??-1907

Created / Published

  • Calumet, Mich. : Fred Mackenzie, -1907.

Headings

  • -  Calumet (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Houghton County (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Michigan--Calumet
  • -  Michigan--Houghton County
  • -  United States--Michigan--Houghton--Calumet

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sunday)
  • -  -v. 15, no. 294 (Oct. 22, 1907).
  • -  Publisher varies.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 4, no. 47 (Jan. 6, 1896).
  • -  Calumet news (Calumet, Mich.) (DLC)sn 86086633 (OCoLC)14768241

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86086632

OCLC Number

  • 14768195

ISSN Number

  • 2374-1961

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Copper Country Evening News Calumet, Mich. 18??. (Calumet, MI), 18??. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86086632/.

APA citation style:

(18??) The Copper Country Evening News Calumet, Mich. 18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86086632/.

MLA citation style:

The Copper Country Evening News Calumet, Mich. 18??. (Calumet, MI) 18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86086632/.