Painesdale remains an unincorporated community, located in Adams Township, Houghton County on M-26. The town got its name from William Paine, a Boston businessman who worked mining, and was also responsible for the Paine-Webber brokerage.

The town's genesis began in 1899 when the Copper Range Company set up Champion Mine #4 just south of what would become Painesdale. The town was designed to conform to the copper load with tents springing up all over this new community, making it a “tent town”. By 1900 the mine was ready, and homes and buildings started popping up for miners, their families, and businesses.

Over the decades the miners worked as deep as 5,500 feet below the earth. In 1967, the mine closed for good.

Painesdale is now part of the National Register of Historic Places. Many old miner's homes still stand along with some original old building scattered around the area...but no businesses - except for churches and school - seem to exist.

The Painesdale high school, Jeffers High, is one of Michigan's Haunted locations...you can read all about it by clicking HERE.

If you visit, the old Champion Mine #4 is located south of Painesdale off M-26 at Painesdale-Chassell Road, with a handful of old homes and buildings surrounding it.
Painesdale make a great addition to your northern Michigan roadtrip!

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