The Ghost Town of Osceola, Michigan: Just One Mine Shaft Remains
The ghost town of Osceola in Houghton County was/is an unincorporated community that was conglomerated with a bunch of other copper towns in the Keweenaw Peninsula. This is not to be confused with Osceola County which is just west of Clare, or Osceola Township in Livingston County. Nope - this is wayyy up in the U.P.
You'll find the location approximately one mile south of Calumet between Store Street and Millionaire Street. The land where the former mine was is now an empty area of dirt.
According to Michigan Place Names and Visit Keweenaw, Edward Hurlbut discovered the copper mine in 1875 and created the Osceola Consolidated Mining Company. By 1877 the population had grown to 1,400. The company platted a village around the mine and named the town 'Osceola'. A post office named Opechee opened in 1882 and for a while that was what the village was called.
In 1905 the number of residents was 1,900 and aside from the post office and mining company, the town had a boarding house, church, dentist, doctor, general store, meat market, news agency, printer, and school. Different references have different dates as to when the town name was changed permanently to Osceola: 1909 or 1910 or sometime in the 1910s.
Even with the addition of another mining facility in 1917 – the La Salle Copper Company – and other nearby companies, the population dwindled. In the 2000s, one or two mine shafts are the only things still standing that shows there was once a village by the name of Osceola.
Ghost Town of Osceola
MORE MICHIGAN GHOST TOWNS:
The Ghost Town and Orphanage of Assinins
The Ghost Town of Pines, in Schoolcraft County
The Ghost Town of Rugg, Michigan
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