The Keweenaw Printing Company appears to have been established in 1906 in Mohawk, Michigan. The company was incorporated in 1907. On October 14, 1908, the first stockholders association meeting was held in the company’s office in Mohawk, and the primary stockholder, John P. Petermann, was elected president. Subsequent meetings were held at his home in Laurium. Other prominent local citizens who served on the board of directors included Albert E. Petermann, Johnson P. Chappel, Edwin Smetheram, and Fred J. Martin. A July 4, 1909 photograph shows that the company had an office or salesroom in a building on Oak Street in Calumet at that time. At the February 20, 1914 meeting of the board of directors, it was decided that the Mohawk printing plant and the Calumet salesroom, which was by then on Portland Street, should both move to a single location. John Petermann was authorized to sign a five year lease for the first floor and basement of the Union Building on the corner of Fifth Street and Red Jacket Road, in Calumet. They rented the space for $140.00 a month from the Union Building Association which was primarily comprised of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Hecla Lodge, No. 90 and the Free & Accepted Masons Calumet Lodge, No. 271. In times of financial difficulty, additional stocks were sold; most appear to have been acquired by relatives of John P. Petermann and Fred J. Martin. On August 31, 1937, the board of directors decided to renew their corporate charter which had expired on January 4, 1937, for a second thirty year term, in spite of the financial ups and downs experienced by the company during the previous thirty years. In June 1957, Myrno E. Petermann, who had a 64% interest in the company, and Ethel H. Martin, who had a 36% interest in the company, agreed to sell the company to L. Gordon Cowan for the sum of $4,500.00. It appears that around 1970, Gordon Cowan sold the company to Roger Little, who moved the Keweenaw Printing Company to the first floor of the First National Bank building in Laurium. By the mid 1970s, the Keweenaw Printing Company was unable to stay in business and was forced to discontinue operations. (Excerpted from National Park Service, catalog number KEWE 2705).