The Copper Country Firefighters Memorial Museum is one of two buildings in Calumet that will have permanent financial sources, thanks to endowments established by an anonymous donor. The other building is the Calumet Theatre. (Photo courtesy of Copper Country Firefighters Museum)

HANCOCK — An anonymous donor has established endowments for two of Calumet Village’s historic landmarks. The Copper Country Firefighters Memorial Museum building and the Calumet Theatre building will have permanent sources of financial support. The endowments were established through the Keweenaw Community Foundation (KCF).

Vienna Leonarduzzi, director of development and communications with KCF said the new endowment funds were created to help preserve the buildings that house the Copper Country Firefighters History Museum and the historic Calumet Theatre, ensuring these community-owned landmarks remain part of Calumet’s landscape.

“The purpose of the endowments is to provide long-term support and preservation of these buildings,” Leonarduzzi said. “Each year the endowments will distribute funds for upkeep and structural restoration.”

Since opening in 1900, the Calumet Theatre has welcomed generations of performers and audiences while remaining one of the community’s most recognizable historic landmarks. The Copper Country Firefighter’s History Museum, housed in the historic Red Jacket Fire Station built in 1898, preserves the region’s firefighting heritage through its collection of historic equipment, photographs, and artifacts. 

Both community-owned buildings are owned by the Village of Calumet and represent important pieces of the village’s history, identity, and architectural heritage. 

For the donor, preserving these landmarks is about protecting more than brick and mortar. 

“These buildings are more than historic structures; they are community assets,” the donor is quoted as saying in a KCF release. “They belong to the people of Calumet, and we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to steward them for future generations.”

Leonarduzzi said part of the intent of donor is to encourage locals, visitors, tourists and perhaps people who grew up in the area and have moved away, to donate and expand the endowments.

“The more gifts given, the larger the distribution will be to those entities,” she said, “so they could be part of preserving these buildings for the long-term.”