Wakefield Michigan Historical Society & Museum

11/05/2026

Today (and tomorrow) in Wakefield's History...
November 5th and 6th, 1960

Wakefield's Cardinal football team is named the top football team of all classes, nicknamed the "Golden Anniversary Team" for the Wakefield School System's Golden Anniversary in 1961. This team was undefeated and became the 1960 Upper Peninsula Midwest Champs.

In this photo are:
First Row: Robert Koski, Peter Petranek, William Knaack, Joe Yatchack, Everet Wertanen, Robert Smith, Joe Sanchez, Dewey Maki, Gene Ament, Jeffrey Drake (Manager).

Second Row: Vernon Carr (Assistant Coach), Don Sawaski, Robert Orlich, Daniel Ahonen, Richard Valesano, Richard Ferrando, Robert Erickson, Michael Radowski, Tom Miheve, Richard Johnson, Roman Yatchak (Coach).

Third Row: Joe Green, Tom Neznanski, Larry Orth, Steve Yatchak, John Lane, Arnold Perry, Carl Krueger, Tim Williams, James Hodge.

Fourth Row: Joe Del Favero, Donald Hocking, David Londo, John Franck, Hayward Anderson, Gerald Hakamaki, Terry Korpi, John Howe, Gary Antilla.

10/31/2026

Happy Halloween! 🎃
Our museum will have treats available during regular trick-or-treating hours today.

10/22/2026

Thank you to Ms. Yon and her 1st Grade class for stopping by our museum today for their field trip! We had a great time with them at the museum. 🎃

10/17/2026

An interesting look at the Pabst Mine Disaster and the recent memorial service held at the Ironwood Memorial Building. Thank you to everyone who was a part of making this event a success!

Centennial Memorial for the three men that died in the famous mine ...

10/10/2026

Due to unforseen circumstances, we will not have any events this year for WE CARE's Sweater Weather event. We do plan to return with our usual events next year. We're open Wednesdays and Fridays through the winter, thank you for a great season!

10/03/2026

No, those aren't ghosts upstairs... 👻
We're happy to announce that our second floor will be having central heating installed and that both floors will now be fully air conditioned. Mukavitz Heating & Cooling will be handling the installation.
Just a reminder that our second floor is closed this week and that we're only open Wednesdays and Fridays 1pm-4pm until next spring!

10/02/2026

In honor of Wakefield-Marenisco's homecoming week, here is another glimpse into the past. Here is Wakefield-Marenisco's first Homecoming Court from 2004, the first Homecoming under the newly consolidated school district. Honorary royalty were King Hank Backman and Queen Suzanne Backman.

10/02/2026

It's homecoming week at Wakefield-Marenisco! To celebrate, here are some clippings from Wakefield High School's 1975 Homecoming, 51 years ago.

09/27/2026

Our museum will be closed tomorrow (Monday, September 28th) due to the scheduled city-wide power outage. We will be back open on Tuesday from 1 PM - 4 PM.
Also, our final day of the summer season will be September 30th. Effective October 1st, we will be shifting to our winter/off-season hours of Wednesdays and Fridays 1 PM - 4 PM. We will also have our second floor temporarily closed off for the second week of October (5th through the 9th) for the installation of a heating system on our second floor and entire-building central air conditioning.
Thank you for your understanding and for supporting us this summer! Updates are coming for next year!

09/22/2026

It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of one of our volunteers, Jan Oberg, who passed away suddenly early this morning.

Jan generously gave her time and passion to our museum, between weekly volunteering, assisting with museum events, and of course being one of our volunteers most involved with our toy display at the Gogebic County Fair. Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences go out to her family and friends during this sad time. She will be dearly missed.