Photo courtesy of Keweenaw Historical Society. An early Central Reunion when the vast majority of the town's residents and businesses were still standing.

HOUGHTON TOWNSHIP — This Sunday, July 31, the Keweenaw County Historical Society will host the 116th Annual Central Reunion, with two church services, at 9 and 11 a.m. Pastor Lawrence Molloy will conduct both services.

The Central Mine location is site of the one of the true pioneer mining companies of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The Central Mining Company was organized on Nov. 15, 1854, after John Slawson, agent at the Cliff Mine, discovered the fissure vein on which the company was built. The mine was active until closing on July 20, 1898.

The town of Central was located in an ancient mining pit along an outcrop below a Greenstone Bluff. Cornish miners and their families flocked from Britain and with their extensive mining knowledge they helped make this a successful venture. The Central mine was unique in that it made a profit in its first year of operation and eventually 52 million pounds of copper were pulled from the earth underneath Central.

During its forty-four year lifetime, states the Central Mine Methodist Church website, two generations matured. Central was a leader through Keweenaw – in copper production, in the size of its population (over 1200 at its peak), and in the pride of its citizens in its mine, its coronet band, its handsome schoolhouse and its church. Since the first reunion of Central residents in 1907, the little church on the hill comes back to life in celebration and remembrance of those who worked and lived here long ago.

Central mine was organized on November 15, 1854 and finally closed on July 20, 1898.

Descendants of Central mining families gather each year, on the last Sunday in July, at the old Methodist Episcopal Church for the Central Reunion. Like their ancestors, the descendants of those Cornish immigrant families are proud of their church.

As early as 1856, according to historical records, worship services were conducted in the schoolhouse on the east side of town, conducted by the Reverend David A. Curtis who was attached to the Portage Lake Missions. Schoolhouses serving as Sunday meeting places was a common custom in frontier settlements throughout the United States.

Central Mine Location was a microcosm of frontier life in 19th century America. After the Cornish Methodist church was completed in 1868, it became the major focal point of religious and social life in the community for all who were members of it and for many who were not. It became a community center in the true sense of the word and offered many services to the townspeople such as planning the Fourth of July picnic for everyone, maintaining a circulating library and sponsoring programs at the school hall which were open to the public. Prior to the building of the new school on top of the bluff, the Central church provided space for public school classes to be held to accommodate the overflow from the original schoolhouse.

Due to declining population after the mine closed in 1898, likewise, the church closed in 1903. It was not forgotten, however. In Jan. 1907, the Keweenaw Central Railroad began operating in Keweenaw County, providing people the opportunity to return to visit their old home at Central. The first Central Reunion was held six months later, on July 21, 1907.

Today, the annual reunion continues, taking place on the last Sunday in July. The public is welcome to attend, of course, and are also invited to attend wearing period costume or clothing.

Central is located on US Highway 41 about five miles east of Phoenix, Michigan (map). Several miners’ homes still stand on the site. In 1996, the Keweenaw County Historical Society acquired 38 acres of the old Central site. Some of the residences are being restored, and a Visitors Center provides interpretive exhibits not only about the mine but also about the miners’ families, homes, schools and churches.