Editing Calumet, Michigan (section)

== History ==
[[File:Calumet5thStreet.jpg|thumb|left|Fifth Street, looking north, Red Jacket circa 1910]]
[[File:CalumetHecla.jpg|thumb|left|View of Calumet & Hecla Company town circa 1910]]

What is now Calumet was settled in 1864, originally under the name of '''[[Red Jacket]]''', for a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] Chief of the [[Seneca tribe]]. Until 1895 the name "Calumet" was used by the nearby town of [[Laurium, Michigan|Laurium]], [[Michigan]]; present-day Calumet was not legally named so until 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digarch.lib.mtu.edu/showbib.aspx?bib_id=603837#|title=MTU Digital Archive}}</ref>

Red Jacket grew due to the copper mines in the area. It was incorporated as a town in 1867. The copper mines were particularly rich; the Boston-based [[Calumet and Hecla Mining Company]] produced more than half of the United States' copper from 1871 through 1880.<ref>Horace J. Stevens (1902) ''The Copper Handbook'', v.2, Houghton, Mich.: Horace J. Stevens, p.1457,1466.</ref>  In addition to copper mining and smelting, the region also supported the [[dairy]] industry and truck [[farming]]. Many immigrants (from Poland and other countries) settled there in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://calumetmi.blogspot.com|title=The Polish Pioneers of Calumet, Michigan|website=calumetmi.blogspot.com}}</ref>

[[File:Calumetvictims-1913.jpg|thumb|left|Italian Hall Disaster victims in rough caskets, 1913]]
By 1900, Red Jacket had a population of 4,668, and [[Calumet Township, Michigan|Calumet Township]], which contained Red Jacket and nearby mining towns, had a population of 25,991. However, in 1913, Red Jacket suffered from the [[Copper Country Strike of 1913–1914]], and the population began to decline. In the same year, the town was the site of the [[Italian Hall Disaster]]. Striking miners and their families were gathered on [[Christmas Eve]] for a party in [[Italian Hall]], when the cry of "fire" precipitated a stampede that crushed or suffocated seventy-three victims, over half of them children under ten years old. The identity of the person(s) who started the stampede has never been determined. Folk singer [[Woody Guthrie]]'s 1945 song, "[[1913 Massacre]]", is based on this event.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/calumet-italian-hall-disaster/|title=Zinn Education Project|website=zinnedproject.org}}</ref>

Loss of wartime demand caused the copper price to drop following [[World War I]]. With the decreased demand for copper, thousands left Red Jacket in the 1920s, many moving to [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]], [[Michigan]], where the [[automobile]] industry was booming.

During the [[Great Depression]], almost all mines were shut down. As a result, many miners and their families left to find work. In 1950, the population of Calumet was 1,256 people. Small-time mining continued in the area, particularly during [[World War II]], until it was shut down completely by a labor strike in 1968.

In 1984, Calumet's name was borrowed by Hollywood. Calumet was moved from Michigan to Colorado, where it was invaded by Soviet paratroopers in the original ''[[Red Dawn]]'' film.  Producer and screenwriter Kevin Reynolds was a seasonal resident of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

[[File:Calumet, Michigan panorama c1900.jpg|900px|thumb|center|Calumet c. 1900 from east (Oak Street in foreground; note the twin steeples of St. Paul's in right center)]]