216-220 6th St. Vertin Block

216-220 6th St. in downtown Calumet, MI.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Calumet, MI

Significance:

Contributing Structure to the Calumet National Historic Landmark District

MANAGED BY:

Private Property

Amenities

2 listed

Cellular Signal, Parking - Auto

Known as the 'big store' in the Copper Country, the Vertin Brother's Department Store sold many necessities and novelties to satisfy a variety of customers from the sophisticated socialite to the common miner. This corner was previously occupied by the Provincial House, a small wood-frame hotel and saloon. In 1891 Slovenian immigrants John and Joseph Vertin built the lower two floors of the existing building. Business boomed, and in 1899, two additional stories were added to the building according to designs by architect Charles Maas. Later, another one-story addition was made to the south side of the building, on a site formerly occupied by a barbershop and three dwellings. The heating plant in the Vertin building at one time supplied steam heat to handful of other nearby buildings. The store eventually expanded across the alley into the Caesar Block next door, which housed the menswear department. However, in 1985, with mines closed and thousands of families gone, the store shut its doors after nearly 100 years of serving the community.