Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The Calumet Village Hall and the Calumet Theatre, although adjoined, were built at different periods. The Village Hall, on the left, was constructed in 1886. The second floor of the hall is occupied by the Red Jacket Ballroom and Community Hall. In 1900, the theater section, complete with two balconies, was added, requiring extensive renovations to the Village Hall. The building’s main boiler failed in 2017.

CALUMET — The State Historic Preservation Office has authorized the village to begin working with a local contractor to move ahead with installing a new heating system in the Village Hall building, which includes the Calumet Theatre.

“The contractor was in here two weeks ago to measure the surfaces,” said Dan Jamison, Calumet Theatre Co. Board Chairman. “He’ll be working with a specialist, a boiler expert in Detroit. They’re going to compare notes and they will come up with an appropriate boiler size.”

The surfaces measured are the overall size of each of the metal radiators.

“The project itself — this one,” Jamison said, “is for the boiler replacement and peripherals.”

Two additional grants are for restoring radiators and systems in the theater side of the building and for the Village Hall side.

“So, the SHPO grant is for the boiler and controls,” he said, “and the other two grants for the Hall and the ballroom above it.”

In August of this year, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced that the village, in partnership with the Calumet Theatre Company, was to receive a grant to rehabilitate the heating system of the Calumet Theatre and Village Hall, which has been without adequate heat for several years.

Making the heating system fully operational will prevent deterioration in the building, which is part of the National Historic Landmark Calumet Historic District, and allow the village to move forward with phased preservation efforts in the rest of the building,” the announcement states.

At the time of the announcement, Village Manager Megan Haselden had said that with funding from SHPO, they will be able to restore the heating system to the entire building, allowing them to gather the community for more cultural events throughout the year, and will be a catalyst for the ongoing restoration and rehabilitation of this historic building.

Jamison said that the contractor, Marty Trevethan, is the only one in the Upper Peninsula licensed to work with boilers in the range of 1 million BTUs.

“Marty seemed to think that it would only take a couple of weeks after the boiler is ordered, and arrives, to put it in,” Jamison said.

Jamison said that currently there is no estimated date for that, but he is meeting with Travethan this week to put together his proposal.

His proposal will include ordering the boiler from the manufacturer, along with the control system and parts necessary to installing the unit.