Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Laurium, MI

Laurium is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County, in the center of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, in the heart of the Copper Country — the first major copper mining region in the United States.

The village was incorporated in 1889 under the name Calumet, and in 1895 the state legislature renamed it Laurium after the famous silver-mining town of ancient Greece.

Laurium was founded as a company town serving the Laurium copper mine, which later became part of the Calumet & Hecla mine, and it was home to the wealthier members of Keweenaw society, including mine owners and captains.

Laurium's population peaked at 8,537 in 1910 during the copper boom, when the village was one of the most prosperous communities in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The 2020 census counted 1,864 people in Laurium living in 800 households, packed into just 0.65 square miles of land.

In 1900, Laurium had 5,643 residents, of whom 2,286 were foreign-born, reflecting the waves of immigrant miners — including a large Finnish community — who settled in the Copper Country.

Many of Laurium's grand houses and mansions built by wealthy mine owners are now participating locations in the Keweenaw National Historical Park.

The Laurium Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, covers nearly the entire village; more than 90% of its structures are residential, most built between 1880 and 1915.

The grandest house in Laurium is the Thomas H. Hoatson House, a large Classical Revival mansion now operating as the Laurium Manor Inn.

Legendary Notre Dame football player George Gipp — 'the Gipper' — was born in Laurium, and a memorial to him stands at the corner of Lake Linden Avenue and Tamarack Street.