Winona, Michigan is an unincorporated community,

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'' ...

and one-time

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

of Elm River Township in

Houghton County, Michigan Houghton County is a county in the Upper Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 37,361. The county seat and largest city is Houghton. Both the county and the city were named for Michigan State geolog ...

. It was once home to over 1,000 individuals in 1920, but today is home to as few as 13. It is located 33 miles to the south of the city of

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townshi ...

off of M-26. In its heyday, Winona had restaurants, a brewery, sports teams, churches, boarding houses, a train depot, a saloon, stores, boardwalks, a school, five neighbourhoods, a dance hall and a barber shop. Only a school, a church, and a few homes remain intact. The community began with the foundation of both the Winona and the King Philip Mining Companies in 1864; it was in that same year that the two mining companies sunk shafts on Native American copper mining pits in what are now called the Winona and King Philip Mines. The town of Winona had sprung up around these mines. The Winona Mine itself was composed of four separate

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection, ...

, which had thirteen years later produced more than 16,000,000 lbs of pure refined copper, making it the largest of the two mines by far by both area and profit. In the year 1911 the King Philip Mine was purchased and subsequently absorbed by the Winona Mining Company, thus becoming part of the Winona Mine. The Winona Mine closed in 1923 due to low prices and demand for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Houghton County, Michigan Populated places established in 1864 1864 establishments in Michigan Houghton micropolitan area, Michigan {{HoughtonCountyMI-geo-stub