The Miscowaubik Club is writing a new chapter in its Copper Country history. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)

CALUMET TOWNSHIP — A once premier social club in Calumet, the  Miscowaubik Club, is writing a new chapter to its history in the Copper Country, and is inviting the public to an open house on Thursday, June 11, from 5-8 p.m.

“Please join us for our Open Houses on Thursday, June 11th and Saturday, June 1,” the club’s social media page states. “Whether you are a current/former member and want to learn more about the new vision for the next chapter of the Club, or someone who has always been curious – this is for you.

“We will have light snacks and refreshments and historical tours of the building.”

The building has a long history with connections to many of the most recognized U.S. industrialists. Originally built by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company as a mining captain’s residence, its most famous resident was Mining Captain Thomas Hoatson, Jr., whose father was the company’s superintendent. Hoatson, Jr. along with his brother James, and Charles Briggs, also of Calumet, organized the Bisbee Mining Company, which soon became the Calumet and Arizona company. Thomas Hoatson was a major contributor to the development of the Arizona copper mining industry. He was vice president and a director of the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company and the New Cornelia Copper Company and a director of the Verde Central Copper Company, the Merchants and Miners Bank of Calumet and the Keweenaw Copper Company. Hoatson and his wife, Cornelia, were the original owners of the luxurious mansion, now the Laurium Manor Inn, in Laurium.

Hoatson, who was a member of the Miscowaubik Club, grew up in the home that became the clubhouse.

In 1903, The Calumet and Hecla company converted the house into an exclusive club for it corporate aristocrats. Reserved for the most prominent U.S.industrialists and local elites, members included J.P. Morgan who, as one of the most powerful financiers, bought out Andrew Carnegie to form U.S. Steel. Henry Ford, another legendary industrialist, was also Miscowaubik Club member, as well as Harvey Samuel Firestone. Firestone, along with Morgan, Carnegies, and Ford, was one of the core giants of American industry in the early 20th century. Firestone rose to the top in 1906, when he secured an exclusive contract with Ford to supply tires for the Model A cars.

Another icon club member was Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph and the motion picture camera, which revolutionized social entertainment, particularly in the Copper Country.

The club’s decline reflected that of the once great Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, which capped its last shaft on the Calumet Conglomerate Lode in 1939. In 1940, Houghton County saw 46 percent of its population, nearly half, leave for other regions.

Although C&H’s working life ended in 1968, its exclusive Miscowaubik Club continued to survive. Today, the club is looking in a new direction.

“We are shifting from an exclusive dining model toward a vibrant social and recreational hub,” the club’s website states, “a genuine home away from home.”

The club’s membership committee says they are moving away from high fixed overhead toward a model where services scale with member demand.

The upcoming open house marks a renewed effort to introduce the club to a new generation while reconnecting with longtime residents who may not have visited in years.