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Historically speaking

Village of Palmer developed over years

Davidson’s department store was a Palmer mainstay. (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

PALMER — In 1844, survey reports by William Austin Burt, indicated a rich body of ore, which was Called the Cascade Range. A village was settled almost in the middle of an old Indian trail, located at the headwaters of the Escanaba River.

The Palmer Mine opened in 1864. The first settlement around the outcrops, was called Cascade, after the beautiful waterfalls found on a nearby stream. When it was incorporated as a village in 1889, the population was 600 people and it even had a telephone connection to all parts of the world.

In 1873, when the post office was established, the name of the village was changed to Palmer, to avoid confusion with Cascade in Kent County, Michigan.

The new name was taken from a Pennsylvania merchant, Waterman Palmer, who had heard about the rich ore deposits. As soon as the land was surveyed in 1848 Palmer purchased 160 acres from the government as a mining venture. There is no evidence that he ever visited the area.

In 1871, the first shipments of ore were sent to the Escanaba ore docks. Palmer had claim to several small mines, the Richmond, Wheat, Palmer, Gribben, Carr, Pittsburgh and Lake Superior, Howe, Isabella and the West End properties, Home, Platte, Maitland and Cascade.

There were many consolidations and it is very difficult to follow the progress of the Cascade Range.

The Pittsburgh and Lake Superior Iron Company controlled the mines, leased them out or sold them.

No individual owned a house or land in Palmer around 1890. The town was owned by the company, which built houses and rented them out to the work force.

In 1893, the population was 1,110. Palmer had one department store. It also served as a post office. Business magnates in Palmer were the Davidsons, Honkavaaras and Kirkpatricks. And there was one resident physician, Dr. Richard Burke.

The Davidsons owned the general store, Honkavaara’s ran a transportation service, everything from horse drawn to the first bus that ran to Negaunee. Later to become a service station for automobiles.

They also plowed the roads to Negaunee. About 1894, Palmer got its own saloon, which was in the building that later served as the Temperance Society. The saloon was permitted by the mining superintendent who claimed that this would save the horses a lot of unnecessary torture, given by the countless number of times the men would travel to Negaunee to satisfy their thirsts.

Palmer had its ups and downs and after 1910 things started looking up. The Richmond, Maitland, and Isabella mines were producing ore. In 1924, a $75,000 school was built.

It served as a gathering place for public meetings, entertainment activities and community events.

It was named after the Kirkpatrick family. The Kirkpatrick school served students from elementary through high school. In 1942, the high school closed and the students were bussed to Negaunee.

In 1958, the Richmond Township school district was annexed to the Negaunee District. In the 1960s, the Kirkpatrick school was demolished and a new school, Pineview, was built on the east side of town.

In the early 2,000s, all Richmond Township school age children were bussed to Negaunee. Palmer has been home to three churches, serving the faiths of Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists.

In 1881, a large brick residence was built for Joseph Kirkpatrick Sr., one of the founders of Palmer.

It was located on what is now Kirkpatrick Avenue. It was a tall brick house with a narrow porch on the front and south sides. It had impressive fireplace chimneys on the north and south sides.

A large staircase ran through the center of the house. There were marble fireplaces and a large ballroom. The Kirkpatricks had servants and horsemen. They were devoted Presbyterians and drove to Negaunee each Sunday. The Palmer road was not in good shape and in 1874, Mr. Kirkpatrick at hos own expense fixed it. Negaunee later felt guilty and reimbursed him.

The Kirkpatricks entertained lavishly and threw many gala events which the young folks from Negaunee drove out to, to enjoy dancing in the ballroom.

Hayrides from Negaunee often ended up at the Kirkpatricks home. Later in the 20th century the house stood deserted and empty and the windows were boarded up and it became Palmer’s “haunted house.” Brave Palmer boys would break in and played basketball in the spacious attic. The house was finally torn down. Although many small mines stopped producing ore, the Mighty Empire, an open pit mine, began operations in the late 1990s with 1,000+ employees and a payroll of $80 million, producing 175 million tons of pellets. All operations at the mine ceased in 2016.

Davidson’t department store was operated by the Trewhellas as a grocery store, coffee shop and laundromat, but no longer in operation.

The village of Palmer still has a small store for picking up the daily necessary items, Fran’s Service station and the Cascade Bar.

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