Koss is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Menominee County, Michigan Menominee County ( ) is a county located in the Upper Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 23,502. The county seat is Menominee. The county's name comes from an American Indian word meaning "wild r ...

, United States. Koss is located in Lake Township, west-southwest of

Stephenson Stephenson is a medieval patronymic surname meaning "son of Stephen". The earliest public record is found in the county of Huntingdonshire in 1279. There are variant spellings including Stevenson. People with the surname include: *Ashley Stephen ...

Geography

Koss is located at the junction of S-1 Road and S-4 Road on the left bank of the

Menominee River The Menominee River is a river in northwestern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin in the United States. It is approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Dece ...

at an elevation of . Koss Creek, a tributary of the Menominee, flows west and south of Koss.''Swanson Quadrangle Michigan – Wisconsin, 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic)''. 1982. Map, 1:24,000. Reston, VA: U. S. Geological Survey. Koss is connected by road to Longrie to the northwest, Kells to the north (via County Road 577), Ingalls to the east (via County Roads 577 and 348), and

Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Thr ...

and

McAllister, Wisconsin McAllister is an unincorporated community located in the town of Wagner, Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. Geography McAllister is located at the intersection of Wisconsin Highway 180 and County Highway JJ east-southeast of Wausauk ...

to the south (via Country Trunk Highway JJ).

Name

Koss was originally named Fischer, after the Chicago clothing company Kuh, Nathan, and Fischer, which turned the local logging line into a railroad that extended north to Miscauno Island. After it was determined that there was already another Fischer post office in Michigan, the village was renamed Koss after the railroad auditor Otto Alexander Koss (1866–1940). Koss also served as secretary of the railroad and later as secretary of the Faithorn Printing Company; he was subpoenaed in 1906 in the criminal proceedings against the railroad's owner, John R. Walsh (1837–1911).

History

Koss was founded in 1893 at the site of a saw and planing mill. George P. Gunderson was appointed as the first postmaster on March 26, 1896. The Wisconsin and Michigan Railroad relocated its business office to Koss in 1897 because of its importance as a lumber town. The town had a population of nearly 2,000 before it was destroyed by a fire in 1900. The town was struck by fires again in 1902, 1908 (destroying 18 homes), and 1930. A

stream gauge A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation ("stage") and/or volu ...

was established at the Koss Bridge on June 21, 1907. The C. H. Worcester company store, managed by Samuel Mackevich, operated in Koss until 1909. The town went into decline, and the post office was closed on March 31, 1913. Koss was characterized as a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

by the 1940s. However, it still supported a small population and logging operations. In the 1940s, the Duffrin mill was sawing 2,000 to 3,000

board feet The board foot or board-foot is a unit of measurement for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. It equals the volume of a length of a board, one foot wide and thick. Board foot can be abbreviated as FBM (for "foot, board measure" ...

of lumber a day from deadhead logs harvested from the Menominee River.

Koss Bridge

Direct road access to Koss from Wisconsin was created after the last Wisconsin and Michigan Railroad train ran on June 30, 1938. Marinette and

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

counties jointly purchased the abandoned railroad bridge south of Koss in July 1938 for $1,250 and converted it to single-lane road use. The Koss Bridge connects County Road JJ in Marinette County to S 4 Road in Menominee County. Prior to this, interstate road access to Koss was via a 480-foot steel bridge across the Menominee River west of Wausaukee connecting Pike River Road in Marinette County to Cedar River Road (County Road G 12) in Menominee County; that bridge was destroyed in a 1920 flood when an ice jam broke. The original Koss railroad bridge was built by F. S. Brown & Co. of Chicago in 1894 and was one of the longest

Pratt through truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or s ...

bridges in the region, measuring . It was replaced by a new bridge in 1991.

Recreation

The Koss Bridge has served as the starting point for an annual canoe race held on the Menominee River. Koss Park, a fishing site with a small boat ramp, is located on the Menominee River southeast of Koss.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Koss include: *Samuel Mackevich (1876–1948), prominent Marinette businessman *

Sammy Powers Samuel R. Powers (May 26, 1897 – October 14 1969) was a professional football player who was an original member of the Green Bay Packers. He played for the Packers beginning in 1919, two years before the team joined the National Football Le ...

(1897–1969), professional football player for the Green Bay Packers

References

External links

Library of Congress. Photos of the Koss Bridge.
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Menominee County, Michigan Populated places established in 1893 1893 establishments in Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan