Gay, Michigan

The school house at Gay, MI

The town of Gay probably get more attention because of its name and of its local pub, “The Gay Bar,” than other towns in the Keweenaw Peninsula.  Yet, the city on the Eastern shore of the peninsula was once much larger and vibrant. The old school, built in 1927 and recently threatened with demolition, now serves as a repository of artifacts and memories of a town that once was. I imagine that children once look out the windows, daydreaming while staring at the impressive the 236-foot smoke stack of the Mohawk Stamp Mill. Soon after the school opened, however, the mines close in 1932 when tin prices collapsed. Deprived of the primary engine of growth, the town began hemorrhaging people. In 1922, the Gay boasted approximately 1500 citizens; today that number is less than 100. As the population declined, the school closed in 1961, train service ceased in 1964, and the post office was shuttered in 1988.

An old house on Main Street