Stetter, R. Charles (Reuben Charles) 1919-2005.

R. Charles Stetter was born on January 23, 1919 in Laurium, Michigan. He attended the local schools, graduating from Calumet High School in 1937. After a short stint in Detroit, Stetter served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. After the war, he attended the University of Michigan, eventually earning a graduate degree in education. Following graduation, Stetter taught business and a Michigan History course at Roseville High School in Roseville, Michigan. In 1953, he accepted the position of principal at Calumet High School, holding the position until his retirement in 1977. Charles Stetter will long be remembered for his interest in the history of Michigan's Copper Country, particularly the history of Central Mine. He and his family had a residence in Central Mine from 1925 to 1993 and restored one of the few remaining residences left in Central Mine, the former house of the business manager and paymaster of Central Mine. Stetter was also involved in the restoration of the Methodist Church, publishing several histories on the subject. Charles Stetter passed away in 2005.

Johnson Vivian, Jr. was born in the United States and attended high school in the area. His father, Captain Vivian had a number of commercial interests, and in 1886, the younger Vivian, with assistance from his father, established J. Vivian Jr. and Company, a mercantile business, in Osceola. In 1894 the father and son established a branch of their mercantile business in Laurium, constructing a building on Hecla Street. At the time, the firm was taking a risk as the store's location was viewed as remote. However, the store was an immediate success, and by 1895 employed 50 people. Other merchants followed Vivian's example, and the block on Hecla soon became the commercial center of the area. In 1903, the store was the largest in the area. Johnson Vivian, Jr. took over his father's business when the latter died in 1909. He continued as a leading citizen in Laurium. He was the president of the State Savings Bank and the Palestra (the Laurium ice rink), a director of the Laurium Park Association, and on the Board of Directors of the Calumet Public Hospital. The J. Vivian Jr. and Company was in business until 1936.

Designed by Charlton and Gilbert, the J. Vivian Jr. and Company building was constructed in multiple stages. The original building, dating from 1894, was two stories tall and three bays wide, measuring 58 feet across. This soon proved too small, and in 1898 Charlton, Gilbert and Demar were contracted and a third story was added to the structure. In 1906, a fourth bay was added on the north side, bringing the total building width to 90 feet. A one-story addition to the rear was completed in 1974. The building is constructed in an Italian Renaissance Revival design from brick with sandstone trim. The structure has four bays, each with a two-story round-arched window. A cornice features alternating marble medallions and attic windows. Brick and sandstone piers divide the plate glass windows on the first floor.

Built in 1898 and designed by Charlton, Gilbert and Demar, the Vivian house is located on Pewabic and 3rd streets in Laurium, Michigan. It is a shingle style house with a Jacobsville sandstone first floor and the distinguishing shingles on the second floor. Numerous porches and porticoes project, including a squat round tower at one corner and a porte cochere on the opposite side.

R. Charles Stetter was born on January 23, 1919 in Laurium, Michigan. He attended the local schools, graduating from Calumet High School in 1937. After a short stint in Detroit, Stetter served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. After the war, he attended the University of Michigan, eventually earning a graduate degree in education. Following graduation, Stetter taught business and a Michigan History course at Roseville High School in Roseville, Michigan. In 1953, he accepted the position of principal at Calumet High School, holding the position until his retirement in 1977. Charles Stetter will long be remembered for his interest in the history of Michigan's Copper Country, particularly the history of Central Mine. He and his family had a residence in Central Mine from 1925 to 1993 and restored one of the few remaining residences left in Central Mine, the former house of the business manager and paymaster of Central Mine. Stetter was also involved in the restoration of the Methodist Church, publishing several histories on the subject. Charles Stetter passed away in 2005.

Central mine was organized on November 15, 1854 and finally closed on July 20, 1898. During its forty-four year lifetime, two generations matured. Central was a leader through Keweenaw - in copper production, in the size of its population (over 1200 at its peak), and in the pride of its citizens in its mine, its coronet band, its handsome schoolhouse and its church. The town was located in an ancient mining pit along an outcrop below a Greenstone Bluff. Cornish miners and their families flocked from Britain and with their extensive mining knowledge they helped make this a successful venture. The Central mine was unique in that it made a profit in it's first year of operation and eventually 52 million pounds of copper were pulled from the earth underneath Central.

Central is located on US Highway 41 about five miles east of Phoenix, Michigan. Several miners' homes still stand on the site. In 1996, the Keweenaw County Historical Society acquired 38 acres of the old Central site. Some of the residences are being restored, and a Visitors Center provides interpretive exhibits not only about the mine but also about the miners' families, homes, schools and churches (excerpted from "History of Central Mine," http://centralminemethodistchurch.org/centralhistory.html, accessed 3/2010).

The "Yesteryear House" in Central Mine, Michigan, was built before the Civil War as mining company housing for the mine clerk and his family. The house was the residence of the John F. Robert family from 1875 until the mine closed in 1898. The house was restored by the Stetter family, summer residents who leased (and eventually bought) the house from the Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Company. The Stetter family restored the house so that it looked as it may have during the Victorian era when the Robert family lived there; however, modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing and electricity were needed by the family when they lived there during the summer. An addition was added to the house in 1963, constructed of salvaged lumber, and gave the family a place to retreat to when tours were conducted. Formal tours began in 1962.

The house is included in the Central Mine Historic District and is also in the Historic American Buildings Survey. The Stetter family received a commendation from the American Association for State and Local History for their work in preserving the house and the heritage of the Keweenaw Peninsula.