Wakefield, Michigan
| Wakefield, Michigan | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Nee-Gaw-Nee-Gaw-Bow (Leading Man), by Peter Wolf Toth (1988), to honor the Chippewa Indians; it is located on the lakeside pier next to the Wakefield Visitor’s Center and was carved from one piece of pine donated by the Ottawa National Forest. It is one of Toth's Whispering Giants.
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 Location of Wakefield, Michigan |
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| Coordinates: 46°28′34″N 89°56′21″W / 46.47611°N 89.93917°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| County | Gogebic |
| Government | |
| • City Council | Mayor Joseph R. DelFavero Mayor Pro Tem John C. Granato Robert J. Blaskowski Amy Tarro Kay A. Wiita |
| • City Manager | Richard Brackney |
| • Treasurer | Sherry Ravelli |
| • City Clerk | Jennifer Jacobson |
| Area | |
| • Total | 8.59 sq mi (22.25 km2) |
| • Land | 8.02 sq mi (20.77 km2) |
| • Water | 0.57 sq mi (1.48 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,539 ft (469 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 1,851 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 1,807 |
| • Density | 230.8/sq mi (89.1/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 49968 |
| Area code(s) | 906 |
| FIPS code | 26-82780 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1622046 |
| Website | http://www.cityofwakefield.org |
Wakefield is a city in Gogebic County, Michigan, United States. It is located in the western Upper Peninsula. The population was 1,851 at the 2010 census.
The city is situated within Wakefield Township, but is politically independent. It is on U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) about 10 miles (16 km) east of Ironwood and the Wisconsin border. M-28 has its western terminus in the city.
It is home to Sunday Lake, Indianhead Mountain Resort, Gogebic County Medical Care Facility, and Gogebic County Community Mental Health Authority. Once a mining town, the economy is now based upon the forest industry, goods and services, and tourism.
George Mix Wakefield, born February 6, 1839, in Henderson, New York, a son of James Patterson Wakefield and Hannah B. Hall, had the town site of Wakefield platted in May 1886; the general location was already being referred to as "Wakefield" as early as the fall of 1884. His parents moved their family to Waukesha County, Wisconsin in October 1844. Mr. Wakefield became interested in logging and real estate and acquired vast tracts of land in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the 1870s and 1880s. Together with various other capitalists he built sawmills and logged the pine forests of the area, and later became involved in mineral exploration. He was one of the parties who held interests in the mineral rights to the Sunday Lake mine, as well as a few nearby properties.
Mr. Wakefield moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1879 and established a real estate business, dealing in timber and mineral lands in Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas, and Alaska. He was secretary-treasurer of the Ontonagon River Improvement and Boom Company, organized in 1880. They made it possible to float logs out to Lake Superior and built a sawmill on an island near the mouth of the Ontonagon river in Ontonagon, Michigan.
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