Editing Gwinn, Michigan (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Gwinn Model Town Historic District 2009c.jpg|left|thumb|Houses near downtown Gwinn]]
[[Image:Gwinn Model Town Historic District 2009d.jpg|left|thumb|Police station in downtown Gwinn]]
[[Image:Gwinn Model Town Historic District 2009e.jpg|left|thumb|Building near river in downtown Gwinn]]
The area was acquired by the [[Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company]] (CCI) in 1902, which opened the Gwinn Mine in 1905.<ref name="Romig">{{cite book | last = Romig | first = Walter | year = 1986 | title = Michigan Place Names | orig-year= 1973 | publisher = Wayne State University Press | location = Detroit, Michigan | isbn = 0-8143-1838-X}}</ref> In 1906, the president of CCI, [[William Gwinn Mather]], commissioned the well-known Boston landscape designer [[Warren H. Manning]] to design a residential community to support the mining operations.<ref name = "state">[http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/70078.htm Gwinn Model Town Historic District] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606153101/http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/70078.htm |date=2011-06-06 }} from the state of Michigan, retrieved 12/22/09</ref> Mather named the community after his mother Elizabeth Lucy Gwinn. Streets were laid out and ground was broken for the first houses in 1907.<ref name = "state"/> Construction was primarily carried out between then and 1915.<ref name = "cs">[http://www.lalh.org/preservation/casegwinn.html Jane Roy Brown] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015208/http://www.lalh.org/preservation/casegwinn.html |date=2011-07-24 }}, Preservation Case Study: Gwinn, Michigan, 2006, Library of American Landscape History, Inc., retrieved 12/22/09</ref> Manning emphasized Gwinn's connection to the surrounding environment by preserving many of the existing trees and planting new ones.<ref name = "cs"/> Eventually, over 8 percent of the cost of the town's construction was allocated to outdoor improvements.<ref name = "cs"/>

The community became known as a "Model Town", a trace of which remains in the name for the local high school sports teams: the "Modeltowners".<ref name = "cs" /> It received a post office in 1908.<ref>{{cite gnis|2336734|Gwinn Post Office}}</ref> Although it began as a [[company town]], the direct involvement of Cleveland-Cliffs in the affairs of the Gwinn gradually decreased, and by the [[Great Depression]] the company had no hand in the operation of the town.<ref name = "state"/> Cleveland-Cliffs began divesting itself of real estate in the town, and by 1946 had sold the last of the houses it owned.<ref name = "state"/> The nearby Austin Mine was also operated by Cleveland-Cliffs, which developed the Austin community in 1911 to provide residences for miners and their families. Similarly, New Swanzy took its name from the [[Swanzy Iron Company]], formed in 1883.<ref name="Romig" /> The original Swanzy, located further to the northeast in Forsyth Township, was the site of the Escanaba River Land & Iron Company. Swanzy was a station on the [[Chicago & Northwestern Railroad]] and had a post office from October 1889 until December 1905.<ref name="Romig" />

On June 24, 2002, Gwinn was listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as the "Gwinn Model Town Historic District, Forsyth Township, Marquette County, Michigan". The historic district encompasses the sections of Gwinn that were platted during the time Cleveland Cliffs was involved in the town's affairs.<ref name = "state"/> Although the original Manning Plan for the town was never fully implemented, the section of town that was platted remains faithful to the Manning plan.<ref name = "state"/>

In 2015 it was rated by ''[[Business Insider]]'' as the most affordable town in Michigan.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/most-affordable-small-towns-2015-2?op=1 |title=This map shows the most affordable small town in every state |journal=[[Business Insider]] |first1=Andy |last1=Kiersz |date=March 4, 2015  |access-date=March 4, 2015}}</ref>